All of our campers are going to love the latest addition to Camp Pinnacle.
Every penny of profit over the past seven years has gone back into improving our campus and the camp experience. Last year, we rebuilt the dining hall, and what a difference it made! This year, we are putting the emphasis on fun and adding an incredible new activity—the Pinnacle Sky Park!
Construction begins on the Aerial Adventure Park (aka Pinnacle Sky Park) this week. This state-of-the-art project will be one of the most innovative adventure parks in the country. We want to emphasize that this is not a ropes course; the linear nature of ropes courses means it’s the same challenge every time you do it. A ropes course is something campers are happy to do once a summer. Our Sky Park, however, is something kids won’t want to stop trying while they’re at camp!
Because we focus on skill progressions in all of our activities (stealing a trick from video games), the Sky Park will feature different levels of challenge and different routes. Campers will be able to create their own routes, giving them total ownership of their experiences. This of course enhances personal growth and development through appropriate risk-taking.
We all know the wonderful sense of accomplishment we feel when we accomplish our goals, and we expect the Sky Park to be a great way to engender success and build self-confidence. As much fun, excitement, and challenge the Sky Park will add to the Camp Pinnacle experience, it will also be a tool to reinforce our Great 8 Outcomes.
The Sky Park will sit among the beautiful white pine trees behind the bike park and climbing tower. In conjunction with our friends from Alpine Towers, Inc., we will be sinking approximately 30 poles this week to host all kinds of sky-based events. These poles will have minimal impact on our forest—we’ll be able to install them without taking out a single large tree. At 30 feet high, campers will receive a white squirrels’ eye view, experiencing the tree canopy from a completely different perspective!
Due to the unique design of our Sky Park, an entire cabin of 10 kids will be able to participate at the same time, cheering each other on and celebrating their shared success.
Our Sky Park will use the new CLiC-iT Adventure Smart Belay System. This removes human error from the safety equation and gives campers the freedom to take appropriate risks. The entry tower is designed so several campers can access it at once, and then they’ll have three immediate routes from which to choose. From the second set of poles, campers will have six choices, and from the third set of poles, they can choose almost any combination of 28 different elements in almost any order. The possibilities are endless! There will be green routes, blue routes, black diamond routes, and even a double black diamond or two for the truly fit and brave! There will be a similarly fun exit tower as an alternative route down.
Construction started today, and we plan to be finished by the end of April. This will give us plenty of time to reinforce our safety systems, train our counselors, and fully integrate the Sky Park into our daily program.
We’ll keep you posted with photos on Facebook and Instagram as construction proceeds!