Ropes course
A structure consisting of several masts or poles connected by various elements (rope bridges, beams, etc.)
A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high elements, low elements, or some combination of the two. Low elements take place on the ground or above the ground. High elements are usually constructed in trees or made of utility poles and require a belay for safety.
Terminology
Ropes courses are referred to using several different names, including Challenge Courses, Ropes Challenge Courses, Teams Course, and Low Ropes, as well as more idiosyncratic names such as the Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience (Project COPE) course (used by the Boy Scouts of America).
An Aerial Adventure Park (or "European-Style" Adventure Park, Tree-Top Adventure course) has a more recreational purpose.
Other related terms include obstacle courses, assault courses and commando courses, although these terms also have slightly different meanings, often more associated with military training than with education and training for the general public.
History
It is unclear where and when the first ropes course was created. Obstacle courses have been used by the military to train soldiers as far back as the ancient Greeks. Those courses, however, were primarily used for the training of extremely fit individuals and not necessarily aimed at the development of unremarkable persons as is common practice on ropes courses today. The use of belay and risk management systems on such courses was limited and often non-existent.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ropes course” is a structure consisting of several masts or poles connected by various elements (rope bridges, beams, etc.). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ropes, course and structure, not as a finished interpretation.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ropes course” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.