Zip Line Tours Through City Space

[Image: Photo by Ryan Collerd for The New York Times].

Riding zip lines through the autumn tree canopies of rural Pennsylvania is something of a growth industry, it seems, exploring ski resorts during the off-season by speeding downhill at 50 mph in a roped-up harness.
From The New York Times:
    Some zip lines are basically thrill rides that follow the cut of ski slopes and at this time of year offer expansive views of the autumn blaze of colors, along with an adrenaline rush.

    Other courses (like the one we were on) are marketed as canopy tours, designed with a challenging combination of swaying sky bridges, cable traverses and zip line pathways cut through the deep forest. Once we climbed a cargo net to reach our first tree platform, we were literally amid the autumn foliage, not quite in the canopy of fully grown oaks and poplars but close enough to squirrels to guess their sex as they scampered from limb to limb just above us.
This kind of vertical immersion in an otherwise inaccessible overhead landscape is incredibly interesting, in and of itself – but 1) it also reminds me of a 2007 project by artists Steve Lambert and Packard Jennings in which they reimagined the city of San Francisco as a city of roller coasters, wildlife preserves, underground libraries and health clubs installed inside BART cars, and, of course, zip lines across the San Francisco Bay.

[Image: Riding zip lines to Oakland; by Steve Lambert and Packard Jennings].

And 2) the two of these together seem to imply a new kind of urban tourism, where you don't talk guided walks or buy tickets for double-decker buses: you ride zip lines above Notre-Dame cathedral and down Fifth Avenue, getting up close and personal with architectural ornament at a level of detail you would otherwise never have seen.
Sky Tours of Manhattan.
In the same way that you can take, for instance, Entourage-themed bus tours of Los Angeles, you could take Spiderman-themed zip line tours of New York.
You call up Canopy Tours and ask them to price-out the entirety of Chicago. Or Istanbul. (At the very least, they could map it).
Zip lines through the London financial district.
Zip lines through the sandstone arches of Utah.
Zip lines through Angkor Wat.
A Zip Line Olympiad across the domes and spires of central Europe.
Or don't use zip lines for humans at all; attach plants to them for the hanging zip line gardens of the 21st century. Flowering plants and ferns and oak trees go whizzing by in an aerial gardenry that defies belief.
And if zip lines could realistically open up a whole new world of spatial volume in the modern high-rise metropolis, what new architectures and city surfaces might result?

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Anonymous Anonymous said...

The absurdity of zip-lining around any famous location is fantastic. You can ride a zip-line off of the Simatai section of the Great Wall on the "Flying Fox." I don't think Angkor Wat would be too far off.

October 17, 2008 1:01 PM  
Blogger Kafo said...

never heard of zip-lining
sounds interesting

October 17, 2008 1:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm reminded of this toy from the 80s called Sky Commanders (I had to look it up on an 80s-toy website), which were action figures that ran along on zip-lines. As I recall, the cartoon that marketed the toys took place in a sci-fi world full of canyons for them to zip over.

The problem with the toys was that the stupid lines would get so tangled up.

October 17, 2008 8:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

zip-lining! sounds interesting!

October 19, 2008 12:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not just for tourists--think of what a fun commute this would make!

October 19, 2008 5:43 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The "Spiderman" tour would give the boys something to do while their girlfriends went on the "Sex and the City" tour of NYC, which really exists, and is a spectacle to behold.

October 20, 2008 12:53 PM  
Blogger rion said...

i've been DAYDREAMING of this EXACT thing ever since I moved to NYC four years ago. Would love to Zipcar from the Empire State Building back to Brooklyn after work.

October 20, 2008 3:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting you should post this now. on the 1st of November there's supposed to be one in Newcastle UK called BalticFalls
I didn't know if it was true.
you can watch the (terrible) promo film here:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=euzqDgpWSsc

October 21, 2008 7:43 AM  
Blogger Diane said...

I think this could be fantastic.

November 10, 2008 5:01 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Check out this really unique zipline tour in East Texas.
By far the prettiest zipline course to zip on. A great ride through the beautiful countryside to get there. Well worth the drive!

New York, Texas Zipline Adventures

GoZipTexas.com 903-681-3791

December 08, 2008 8:07 PM  

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