Our conference in Denmark was entitled, “Exploring Heights” and on the fifth day of the conference we woke up at 6:30 am as usual, to catch the bus to “Kragerup Gods,” Denmark’s first and only high ropes adventure course. Once we arrived we were split into two groups. Those in the first group were the first to start the high ropes course while the second group had to wait one hour so that there wouldn’t be too big of a line. Since I was in the second group, we crossed the street to what looked like an old barn from the outside. But to my surprise once the big barn doors opened we were shocked to see a human sized foosball table and an archery station. Easy enough to say we were well amused for that hour playing several soccer games with our arms harnessed on a long pole. While I was busy playing human sized foosball with some of the German students Maxwell had got a bull’s-eye in archery.
Once the hour had passed and it was our time to take on the high ropes course we were all excited. After everyone had been harnessed we were taken though a quick demo of how to safely go about the high ropes course. I had already done something similar to this in Tremblant so I considered myself ready to take it on. There were four different adventure courses, all with different levels of intensity, green, blue, dark blue and red. Green being the easiest we all had to start there. A German boy and I were the first to give it a go. At first it was pretty easy but once we were all the way up to dark blue I started to get nervous. The German boy I was with, Moritz, didn’t seem to mind the height. Once it was lunch break, Moritz and I manned the BBQ’s and made everyone’s burgers and sausages. The lunch break was well needed but we still had the red course to do!
Half way through one of the sections in the red course I hit a wall. At over 40 feet above ground, I felt I could no longer push myself to beat this course. But then I remembered something my dad always says, “mind over matter.” If it were the same course but only 10 ft. off the ground it would be a piece of cake. So I overcame my fears and finished as much as I could with the time I had.
In all it was a great day. Not only did I become good friends with Moritz, but I had also challenged myself and found a way to conquer my fears. I had literally “explored the heights.”– Charles Laframboise ’13