MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Spring 2020

20 BLUE MOUNTAIN NEWS Blue Mountain Resort’s latest green-season attraction is the ultimate treehouse. The Canopy Climb Net Adventure adds even more kid-friendly vibes with bouncy nets, slides and a watchtower. We talked to several of the key players behind the Canopy Climb. Mountain Life: Tell us what we can expect on the Canopy Climb. Graeme Dugale, Director of Recreation and Programming: It’s a series of nets linked together with tree houses and anchored in a main watchtower. You enter via this watchtower. (The inspiration for [it] was a wilderness fire tower.) From here you’re free to explore, bounce, roll around, jump, lie on the net and explore the tree houses. And all the while, you’re suspended on average about 30 feet off the canopy floor, within the nets. Chris Lewis, VP Resort Services: It’s almost like trampolines in the trees—the netting is tight enough that you get some tremendous bounce. ML: What was the impetus for the Canopy Climb? Were you looking to add another active family attraction? Rob Sheridan, Senior Director, Mountain Maintenance, Operations: We were looking for an attraction that would be entertaining for all ages. And one that was harness-free and would take guests up in the trees for views over the Village. ML: How did you arrive at the placement of the Canopy Climb? GD: We were spitballing a number of different locations considering things like proximity to the Village. We also needed a site that didn’t encroach on a ski trail. To this day, I don’t know how [BMR President] Dan Skelton found the location because it was not evident to any of us. It was over top of a ravine, which really added to the feel. It’s just below our high ropes and zip line attractions. And it’s visible from our Ridge Runner mountain coaster. ML: Can you tell us about how your operations team makes ideas like this come to life while still providing all that Blue Mountain already has to offer? RS: Our team worked with a lot of different people to make this come together. We had the netting design from our supplier but we had to build the access tower and deal with all the landscaping. We had to make adjustments around the water course that runs underneath the structure. And of course we did all of this while running and maintaining our other attractions. GD: We have a lot of specialized and skilled labour here. And I think at any given time, Funcha! [the Dutch net park engineering company who collaborated with BMR on the project] had about four or five of their staff members onsite. And where they were really skilled was in the netting. A lot of that came prefabricated, but where the nets attached to one another, or whether they’re attached to a wire or a post—that’s all pretty intricate. Rob [Sheridan] and his team did a lot of the heavy lifting of the poles and the compression bracing. And a lot of the carpentry work. The guys used an off-road Skylift. It had knobby tires and about a 70-foot reach. There’s not too many of those around. We had to plan quite far ahead to get access to these units. CL: I think what made the project successful was the collaborative effort, the specific local knowledge, and the technical knowledge from Funcha. And the crossover skillsets of our teams from winter to summer. This project brought forth a lot of the unique talent at BMR which allows us to be nimble and innovative. BEHIND THE SCENES AT BLUE’S CANOPY CLIMB NET ADVENTURE “The smiles were cheek to cheek and the eyes were wide with magic.” BLUE MOUNTAIN RESORT