I arrived at Top of the Rockies in Leadville, Colorado, late afternoon Monday and was able to talk to the manager, Oz, and the owner, Judy to set up a tour for the next morning.
I spent the night at Crystal Lakes where I had a beautiful view at 9,400 foot elevation.
I arrived early the next morning and rode the 6-ton Monster Truck up to the first zip platform. I then zipped 5 lines with views of the tallest peak in Colorado, Mount Elbert, as well as, the 3rd highest peak. 4 of the lines were dual lines so even though we had 20 people on the tour, we zipped pretty quickly!
We zipped over the tracks of the the Historic Leadville Colorado & Southern Railroad.
We were at an elevation of 11,200 feet. There was very little uphill walking, the walking we did was mostly downhill!
We saw continental divide views of 14,000 ft mountains, streams and canyons.
Absolutely beautiful views! Oz, the manager, was one of my guides and Carlos, Ben and Jay were the other 3. They used a block brake with a catcher on the end so that no one could slide back out onto the line. They also have a 2 trolley line.
Thank you Ewan for the pictures!
Top of the Rockies
6492 Highway 91
Leadville, CO 80461
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970-668-5323
800-247-7238
I arrived at Alpine Adventures, 15 miles west of Vail, about 10 A.M. and was able to get on an 11 A.M. tour. We rode up to the zipline in a Pinzgauer 6-wheel drive vehicle...the scariest part of the trip...just kidding!
The views of the canyon were magnificent, however, after 3 lines the rain was making the ground to ground landings very muddy, so we quit for the day. We walked up a short trail and the jeep picked us up! The views were so awesome I did not want to miss the other 3 lines, so I stayed overnight.
It was still early in the day, so I drove to Vail, about 15 miles to the east, to look around.
I arrived back the next morning about 8:30 A.M. for an early tour. It was raining on my drive there, but I figured if it was raining, I would go to the library and work. I was not going to complain about rain in Colorado. They needed it! However, when I arrived at 4 Eagle Ranch, it was not raining and the sun was coming out!
During the 2 - 2 1/2 hour tour, we were zipping over a very deep canyon and at times were over 250 feet in the air. The hiking is easy to moderate The views were amazing! There were rivers and streams. We were over the Alakai River which flows into the Eagle River and then into the Colorado River. Wow! What a view! We had a long zip through the canyon which was so cool! We could see waterfalls and unique cliffs. There was also a van at the bottom of the canyon that had been there 20 years. They use a block braking system and we ride on double pulleys. Lines up to a 1000 feet long!
We had a full body harness, so I went upside down a couple of times, but mostly I just rode and took in the magnificent views!
There was some hiking, but not a lot. My awesome guides were Kieran and Evan who took good care of us!
Alpine Zip Adventures
4 Eagle Ranch
Wolcott, Colorado
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970-926-9470
I arrived in Glenwood Springs in the late afternoon. I spoke with Kathy, who owns this zip, as well as, one in Idaho Springs, with her husband Keith, who was able to put me on a tour. This place has an awesome ropes course, but I was too tired to try it out. They have two 700 ft ziplines that cross over the Colorado River. I loved that because I could ham it up for the rafters below! It was a cool ride! My awesome guides were Hope and Evan!
Glenwood Canyon Zipline Adventures
1308 County Road 129
Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
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877-ZIP-RAFT (947-7238)
I arrived in Durango Thursday night and called the manager of Full Blast Adventures, Cody, and he set me up for a 10 A.M. tour for the next morning.
I arrived about 9 A.M. There were 12 lines through beautiful terrain with each line getting progressively longer and faster. My awesome guides were Matt and John John. We began with a 1/4 mile hike uphill. The walking wasn't hard, but I was having trouble breathing with an elevation of 8,000+ feet, so when Matt offered to drive me up on an ATV, I took him up on the offer. I loved the course and was able to go upside down...not sure I was allowed, oops. I also tried flipping off the deck, but kept going sideways. We had a great day. Thank you Damien for the awesome pictures!
Only 2 minutes from downtown Durango.
Paint ball and a slackline also available.
Block braking, so hands free for the zipper!
Full Blast Adventures
20673 Hwy 160 West | Durango, CO 81301
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970-759-9880
