ZIPPITY DOO DAH!
By Natalie Jackson
Not sure what to do on your day off? Don’t you have plans for this weekend? ArborTrek Canopy Adventures is the place to be. A treetop zip lining course is a beautiful way to see Vermont’s natural habitat. It’s also a fun and exciting experience for the entire family!
Located at Smuggler’s Notch in Cambridge, Vermont, the zip lining tours show off some of Vermont’s greatest scenes.
ArborTrek owner, Mike Smith, says his love for outdoor adventure activities began when he was young. After years of gaining experience in jobs such as programming, an executive coach and college internships, Smith says he was ready to begin looking for an area to start his own business.
In 2005, Smith found his interest in the canopy tour industry. From being born and raised in Michigan, Smith was interested in looking to reach out to other places. Of course, Vermont’s spectacular mountain views and scenery were just screaming his name.
Once Smith and his partners jumped into the industry, he says they quickly became some of the largest builders in the world for commercial tours.
“I was looking for a ski resort because I wanted to be open year-round,” Smith states. “Honestly, I went to a lot of ski resorts. I went to 70 different mountains the first year that I was searching for a location for ArborTrek. When I came to Smuggs, I saw children and families all over the place.”
After hearing that the motto for Smuggler’s Notch was not specifically targeted toward skiing, but rather “to exhaust people’s children,” Smith realized this was the exact place to start his business.
In 2009, Smith founded ArborTrek Adventures to bring him back to the programming side. They opened at Smuggler’s Notch in the fall of 2010 for their first tours.
Since their opening, ArborTrek Adventures has been working to educate, entertain, and inspire others. They work hard every day to be “a premiere provider for novel adventure activities,” says Smith.
Although many people would think zip lining is only available in the warmer months, ArborTrek Canopy Adventures is open all year long. Rain or shine, the only weather conditions that stop people are thunderstorms, high winds, and temperatures below about zero degrees Fahrenheit. Believe it or not, many of their best reviews come from customers that spent their tour in the pouring rain.
In the case of weather conditions, fears or emergencies, each zip line has a repel station for an exit route.
Each zip line canopy tour is hosted by two of ArborTrek’s many adventurous and friendly guides. Each guide is certified and has gone through intensive training to get to the position they are in.
The tour itself includes eight ziplines, two repels and two sky bridges. The highest zip line is about 75 feet, and the cables range from 175 feet to 960 feet long.
Proper maintenance of the course is critical for ArborTrek. Every morning a guide will go through the course before opening, and cables are switched out when they need to be.
About 20 percent of the ArborTrek’s clients are locals, while the remaining are coming from all over the country, and sometimes even the world. The majority of people that come are from families, but often schools will bring groups of kids too. Smith says clients that come for the zip line tour range from all ages. Customers have to be a minimum of 70 pounds in order to make it through the entire cable, but can not weigh more than 250 pounds for the course.
Many people looking for more strenuous and physical activities tend to take part in their Treetop Obstacle Course and Climbing Adventure options instead.
Smith says late September to early October is by far the most beautiful time to come out on the tour because Vermont’s foliage is the brightest.
If you are interested in any of ArborTrek’s Adventures, feel free to call now and book a time to go: (802) 644-9300.
