Zipline Nirvana - Zip Line Directory and Canopy Tour Directory

Michael Smith, President of AdventureSmith, Inc. responds to questions about Resmark Systems as a reservation and marketing solution for the Canopy Tour and Challenge Course industry and tour operators in general.Michael has 16 plus years experience in the challenge course industry as a facilitator/guide, builder, manager, trainer, and business consultant and holds degrees in Wilderness Leadership and Master of Training and Development.  Michael has worked with numerous Fortune 500 companies as a business consultant, facilitated hundred of challenge course programs for schools, teachers, and youth organizations, authored and published climbing guides, worked as a Chief Field Instructor for the Outward Bound School, and managed challenge course programs.   Through his work as a consultant in the canopy tour field he has helped to design and launch more than a dozen canopy tours in the United States, Canada, and abroad and has provided training, site feasibility and business planning services to more than 40 canopy tour and zip line operations.   Michael is currently the President of AdventureSmith, Inc., a niche consultancy focusing on business consulting, marketing, and staff training for zip lines, canopy tours, and adventure parks.  He is extremely excited about his two newest projects: www.ZiplineNirvana.com, a social networking site for zip line and canopy tour enthusiasts, and ArborTrek, a new canopy tour company with locations under development in the Northeast United States.Q: How quickly is the canopy tour industry growing?Canopy Tours first came to the United States in 2003, but it was not until 2005 that the boom really began. …

I both relish and abhor the growing popularity of zip lines and canopy tours.  I used to take great pleasure at the blank stares I received when people asked what I did and I had to explain the concept of a zip line or canopy tour... the freedom of flight... the opportunity to explore wild places... the chance to test one's reserves...  Always the storyteller, I loved observing as their imagination kicked in and, if even just for a brief second, my guest was transported to a place far away, dangerous, and often far more wild and adventurous than anything the real world could produce.  The growing popularity of zip lines in the media, however, has stolen this simple pleasure.  When I begin to explain the concept of a zip line or canopy tour these days, I am met with references to commercials selling cars, cruises, and cereal bars.  Like a good novel adapted for the big screen, the imagination that would be engaged through verse is lost to 30-second, dumbed-down trailers.  Rather than being transported to deep forests and wild places, the user is transported to a couch in front of their television with scenes crafted by Madison Avenue Ad Men.  And it's not just the simple pleasure that has been stolen, but the true adventure.  When I conceived of this web site, I was excited to go out and explore the vast array of courses that were being installed across the U.S..  In part, I was seeking inspiration…

As a consultant in a rapidly growing and changing market, I am often asked to take out my crystal ball and to predict the future. Are zip lines just a fad? In five years will they be a fleeting memory like the bungee jump once setup in the parking lot of the local mall? How many tours will there be in five years? What trends are emerging? And so on. For those that do not know me, I'm a talker. Give me a barstool, a beer, and a topic I am passionate about and I will talk your ear off until my wife calls me home. Here's the crux of the problem. Tomorrow is the start of the ACCT Conference. Normally, I would be thrilled because the annual conference provides me the opportunity to meet new people, catch up with old friends, and hopefully sell some product. Problem is, I talk too much. As a result, I don't always get a chance to answer everyone's questions. Since I am not presenting this year and instead sitting behind a booth, I have decided to share publically some of the industry data I have collected, to make some predications, and I will also throw in some far fetched and probably inaccurate estimates. A note about the information to follow: The information gathered in and presented here is based on the data mining of one person, late at night, over the course of many late nights. The quality of data is based on…

Before zip lines became a source a recreation and entertainment... before they were used for scientific study in the trpoical forests of Central America... zip lines served the very practical purpose of transporting goods and people across gorges, canyons, waterways, and vessels.  Following the Earthquate in May of 2008, residents in the Sichuan Province use a zip line to cross a bridge that had failed. [WSJ - photo: San Lang/European Pressphoto Agency]