After finishing a whirlwind of camp trainings to kick off the summer, I thought maybe I could put together a top 10  list of tips for the summer challenge course program.  I am realizing that this may be a bit off the mark timing wise as the programs  are already in full swing but it could be food for thought and reflection. 

I have spent the better part of my career in outdoor education and summer camp adventure programs. That is where I cut my teeth in the adventure world as many of you have in the past or are doing now. In my experience, running challenge course programs in that summer camp setting can be more of a challenge then some programs may care to discuss.  But these troubles are not relegated to the Camp world... they are just an easy target. So hopefully, the broader challenge course world can glean some information from below.

So here it goes... (approx.) 10 tips for the summer challenge course program.

1. Why do you have a challenge course?  This is a bigger question than it might seem. Do you have one just because the camp down the road has one or do you have an intentional adventure program that utilizes the challenge course as a tool to achieve an end result. It is easy for the camp world to get caught up in the game of keeping up with the Joneses.  A challenge course without a program is a big jungle gym with a whole lot of liability and risk. I would repeat... Why do you have a challenge course?

2. Who is your Challenge Course Manager? If you have a challenge course as part of your program someone needs to manage it. The question of who is a bigger issue. This should be someone who has adequately training in both the appropriate technical skills and in those skills necessary as a challenge course manager. If this is the year round Camp Director, great... make sure you have the background knowledge to make good decisions for your adventure program... maybe check out a Ropes Course Management training in the off-season.

3. Build a better staff, not a bigger challenge course. Wouldn't it be great if some of that capital development went into staff training and development instead of building the super cool, fast, exciting glitzy element.  Make the challenge course you have the best it can be before you go for the 600' zip line over the lake with a ring of fire in the middle. That translates to fund available to staff to get the training they need to succeed.

4. Do you have a training plan for ensuring quality programming? A camp analogy that has been kicking around lately is the comparison of your challenge course program to your waterfront program. You would not open your waterfront without qualified lifeguards and well thought out procedures. We have spent considerable time coaching programs to develop the proper procedures and training so that you can feel confident with your challenge course staff and the program they are delivering to your clients in an equally high risk program area. You should notice I did not say “certified lifeguards” (but we know that is what they are). Let’s take it one step at a time. That is a blog for another day. Certification may be a buzz in the adventure world but the heart of the issue is quality training and thoughtful program

5. In-house training vs. Professional training.

• Trainings by outside individuals or organizations are a vital piece of every organization's training plan. Additionally, in-house trainings that refresh and re-visit the various skill sets are invaluable to maintaining good practices among staff. However, it is not a good practice for a program to conduct internal trainings only. Often a staff person who attends a professional training provided by an external vendor may want to come back to train others on her staff. Too often these efforts include only a fraction of the time and content of the original training. They also tend to focus on technical skills only with insufficient time spent on the broader but equally important topics such as program design, proper sequencing, program philosophy, etc. These “second” and “third” generation trainings can result in diminished quality over time.

6. Where is your Annual Inspection report? Know what your annual inspection from your qualified challenge course professional says and make sure it does not just get filed away in an office somewhere. That inspection report should have information to inform your program about future repairs and maintenance issues.

7. Develop Local Operating procedures. Assure that your program has a set of Local Operating Procedures and that all staff are well versed in them. This is the key to continuity in the world of high turn over of camp staff. Have your challenge course vendor look over your LOP's and give you suggestions. You don't need to start from scratch either. There are plenty of organizations who will share (attention: Shameless High 5 plug), take for example the new High 5 Guide by Jim Grout and Nicki Hall with an accompanying sample LOP CD.

8. Challenge course maintenance tips- More on this to come in my next post but in addition to the annual inspection, programs should conduct their own inspections on a regular basis, both seasonal and daily.

• On a daily basis, all staff who are facilitating on your course should be attentive to the equipment they are using. Run ropes through your hands before you hang them, look at carabiners and belay devices before you use them. Wear on this hardware could be a sign of a bigger issue.
• Seasonally,  your course manager or some staff person who is familiar with the course construction can due more thorough checks as many things can occur that can alter the condition of the course between annual inspection dates.

9.  Repetitive strain injury (RSI) - while this is a real medical situation, I am using this more metaphorically.  If you program design dictates that staff members repetitively send people of the zip line for hours on end or belay the climbing tower for hours at a time... fatigue sets in and mistakes happen. Unchecked harness, lazy belaying, miss clips on the zip platforms, Stuff that keeps you up at night as a Camp Director or Challenge Course Manager. I guess this one goes back to why the "Why do you have a challenge course?" question. 6-8 hours of trapeze jumps does not sound like creative, sequenced programming. It sounds a bit like an amusement park.

10. Love what you do and do what you love. Okay so I was running out of ideas here and felt obligated by society to not leave the list at 9... had to be 10. But seriously, with all of this...this... stuff,  it is easy to forget that it is fun to run an adventure program. Fun. When all the details are in line... we get to have fun. and get paid. Not a bad life really.

Okay so that is 10. I hope you find some piece of information useful. Obviously my opinions on certain subjects will be skewed by my role as a trainer at a Professional Vendor Member of ACCT, but as I mentioned, I have spent the larger part of the last 15yrs in Adventure in the Camping world. I hope I speak from that perspective too.

Keep an eye out for another post soon with tips for challenge course maintenance between inspections.

Chris Ortiz