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In my quest for new experiences this summer, I headed down the Venosc Telecabine to Les Deux Alpes’ Aventure Park. I’d heard great things about the park, which is a huge adventure playground in the trees with zip lines, foot swings and all kinds of obstacle courses off the ground.
On arrival you’re issued with a regulation blue jump-suit, gloves and harness. There is a safety video in various languages – including English, thank goodness – and the park supervisors are on hand to answer any questions and make sure your safety equipment is secured correctly. Once you’re ready, it’s off up into the trees.
The courses start gently and get progressively more challenging. Obstacles are linked by walkways through the trees and are marked yellow, green, red and black according to difficulty. There are also courses specifically for children, as there are height restrictions of 1m 55cm for the harder routes. Your harness has two karabiners that are always connected to the safety line, so if you do lose your balance, you’ll only fall into your harness.
We started with some gentle stuff such as giant steps, rope bridges and a short zip line. Feeling pretty confident, I hit my first challenge with the rope swing that throws you into a cargo net which you then have to climb to the next platform. Next it was onto the hand-first zip lines, where you literally haul yourself across from tree to tree. It’s a massive physical challenge if like me you’re low on upper-body strength, but it is great fun.
Within a few minutes we came across the bungee. It’s not part of the course but for an extra fee you can throw yourself off the tower of this baby 15m bungee into the net below. Feeling quite happy attached to the safety line, I decided to leave that one for now. I can always come back to it!
The next route was higher off the ground and we moved through barrels, across swinging steps and up more cargo nets. The tiring obstacles are interspersed with the more exhilarating zip lines, which keep you motivated. The other motivation is that it’s much harder to go backwards than forwards.
We then moved onto the harder red and black courses. By now I was feeling pretty tired and very hot, but the mental and physical challenge was becoming addictive and there was no way I’d be stopping for a break. That’s until I discovered my nemesis, the foot swings…
Suspended from the trees, the foot swings are wooden logs hanging horizontally between the trees. You’re clipped onto the safety line above, so nothing drastic can happen but it’s a real challenge of balance, core stability and nerves to get across. As you step onto the first swing it moves with your momentum and the idea is to use that momentum to take you to the next swing. I however, found myself clinging to at least two ropes, screaming and cursing my quest for adrenaline. Safely on the other side I was quick to blame good friend Heather – who works at the park – for inviting us down and trying to kill us!
After the black route we stopped for a drink and a break, which was well needed after I fell off the rope swing and second set of foot swings. No harm done except to my ego, thanks to the harness.
If you’re not too exhausted, it’s definitely worth tackling the final few obstacles in order to ride the 140m zip line, the Grand Tyrolienne. However, these final challenges are tough ones and by the end I was shattered. I was keen to try the Sensations course, which is much the same but with a net below the obstacles so you don’t wear a harness. I’ll put that on the list to do next time, along with the baby bungee and mastering those foot swings!
The Aventure Park is a great outing for families but you do need to be physically fit to fully enjoy it. It’s certainly the most physically and mentally exhausting activity I’ve done this summer! So, if you’re not sure and you’re going as a family, maybe let the kids play first while you suss-out the terrain.
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