People will soon have the chance to zip line over ponds, soar through the air like Tarzan and perfect the art of the base jump at Ski Martock.
Juergen Weigelt, president of the Middle Sackville-based OnTree Fun & Adventure Park Ltd., has teamed up with his funding partners, Uwe Jaudig-Ruger and Farhad Kheirabadi, to build a one-of-a-kind climbing park at Ski Martock.
“There’s no park in… Nova Scotia like this,” Weigelt said.
The proposed park will include a 33-foot base jump, balancing wires that can be crossed on a bicycle, climbing obstacles varying in difficulty, high ropes, spider webs, a Tarzan swing and an 80-metre-long zip line.
“We want to get people out of their recliners and away from their computers,” Weigelt said.
“The next morning you will feel every muscle where you don’t even think there is one.”
Weigelt says Ski Martock owners Jim and Heather Boylan welcomed the OnTree crew with open arms in the fall, and construction was underway on tree platforms in October.
“Those are the best people… they are really so helpful.”
The park is set to open May 1. Participants over the age of five are encouraged to test their strength and agility in the OnTree courses, while wearing a state-of-the-art safety system that does not allow climbers to unhook both carabiners at once.
“We want to get people out of their recliners and away from their computers.” - Juergen Weigelt
“You’re always connected to the safety line,” he said, adding that OnTree’s climbers must wear a full body harness and helmet.
Instructors will be on site to train, and assist, people in the park. A trail will be made to accommodate people with physical disabilities.
Weigelt was trained in high angle and confined space rescue while working as a firefighter in the United States. He said the idea behind OnTree is to let people experiment with the sport of climbing in a safe environment that promotes team building, personal development and family fun.
“Maybe the smallest person in the family is the strongest because he has the courage and the power to go and maybe Mom can show the others how strong she is when she does all of the challenges.”
And, Weigelt says, it will be affordable.
“It makes no sense to have a family come to us with two adults, and two kids, and it’s too expensive for everyone to climb,” Weigelt said.
“It has to be affordable for the whole family.”
To learn more, visit www.ontreepark.com.
