It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s definitely not superman flying overhead at Timberline Resort in Canaan Valley. The resort, in cooperation with Wild West Virginia Outdoor Adventures, has opened its new all-season zip-line called TimberZips.
Opening for the new attraction was slated for January 31 weather permitting. It will operate year-round during the weekends, holiday weekends and for special large group events such as military or boy scout weekends.
TimberZips is already causing a stir as the only quad zip-line in the tri-state region (West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania). It allows for four riders to go at the same time on parallel lines, thus allowing families or friends to have thrill of the ride (or race for the more competitive) at the same time. Its 1,000 foot length also makes it one of the longest in the region.
Not for those afraid of heights, TimberZips stands an impressive 45 feet high giving you a birds eye view of the skiers below. The launching deck is reached by climbing four flights of stairs, no ski boots please! Reaching speeds up to 25 miles per hour or above, it can be quite the exhilarating ride as you speed along seated in a harness dangling from the cable by a pulley and lanyard. Not to worry though, at the end of the line you don’t just slam into the opposite side. There is automatic breaking at the bottom and the operators run a lanyard out to you which you grab and are pulled in.
Martin Brennan, a director of Wild West Virginia Outdoor Adventures said that their vision is: “To provide out-of-area guests and local residents with an unique and exhilarating experience. We are committed to bringing people into West Virginia to a new site or to add to a destination already existing.”
TimberZips began about two and a half years ago with ideas of what would work best for both sides of the cooperative. Construction began back in the fall and was only completed about three or four weeks ago.
Brennan said that Timberline has been wonderful to work with.
The attraction was built by INNER QUEST, a leader in the industry, whom WWVOA has worked with for over thirty years. Brennan noted that the owner of Inter Quest has ridden TimberZips himself. In fact it has had over 70 rides already before its opening while line were tensioned, brakes were adjusted, and safety checks were run.
Sherry Mauzy of Timberline said: “We’ve been waiting for this forever. In the summer we look forward to the more people that it will bring in. Everybody’s going to enjoy this because of the four lines, they can come do this together with their family.”
Not just good for Timberline and WWVOA the new zip-line is good for the local economy in the sense that it has created five to seven jobs per day of operation. At the time of writing of this article Brennan said that there were still some positions open. Although they would prefer someone with zip-line or outdoor attraction experience, a great attitude and willingness to be outdoors many hours a day would be something they would look for in an employee (18 or older). All employees of the zip-line go through a specialized training on site which includes things like harness procedure, operations, release forms, connecting, etc..
If TimberZips is something you’d like to try, tickets can be purchased at Timberline Group Sales. Currently you sign up for a block of time at $20 per ride or $35 for two trips. Group discounts will be given for groups of 20 people or more.
For more information call Martin Brennan at 540-820-6837 or Timberline Resort at 304-866-4801.
