So I went to Kit Carson park in Escondido, CA for a church Memorial Day picnic today. At some point a frisbee got stuck up in a eucalyptus and no amount of throwing shoes and a volleyball was working out. As it turns out, I had just dug out the ole climbing gear and inspected my ropes and put my gear/rope bag in my car. So, tree climber to the rescue. Unfortunately, by the time I got back with my gear, the frisbee had been liberated, so I decided it was a nice day to stretch about a 100' zipline for my 7 and 3 year old.
My first throw of the throw line resulted in a stuck weight although it was a nice throw for not throwing in over 3 years! No problem there, quick monkey's fist and 3 tosses, and I had a line up. Timber hitch to the trunk and a nice 3-1 on the other side and we're in business. I put an alpine butterfly up at the top with a pulley for a separate brake line for me to slow a rider from below if needed. Another pulley on the tension line and a short webbing loop for the kids to have something to hold on to and not get fingers in the pulley. I'd pull them up the line with the brake line attached to their rear gear loop and then let them go. We got quite a few onlookers as the kids took turns putting on the kid harness and taking rides down the zipline. It was about a 16'-18' drop over 100'. And at the end, I body-thrusted up on a Blakes hitch and set a second pitch with the tail end to get up to and free the stuck throw bag.
Fortunately, no one came around to tell me I couldn't be in the trees. Plenty of kids asked for a turn, which I politely declined for reasons of liability.
