Azip-line,zip line,zip-wire,flying fox, ordeath slide[1][2][3][4][5][6] is apulley suspended on acable, usually made ofstainless steel, mounted on aslope. It is designed to enablecargo or a person propelled bygravity to travel from the top to the bottom of the inclined cable by holding on to, or being attached to, the freely moving pulley. It has been described as essentially aTyrolean traverse that engages gravity to assist its speed of movement.[5] Its use is not confined to adventure sport, recreation, or tourism, although modern-day usage tends to favor those meanings.[7]
Ropeways or aerial cables have been used as a method oftransport in some mountainous countries for more than 2,000 years, possibly starting in China, India and Japan as early as 250 BC,[8] remaining in use in some remote areas in China such asNujiang (Salween) valley inYunnan as late as 2015 before being replaced by bridges.[9] Not all of these structures were assisted bygravity, so not all fitted the definition of the zip-line.[8]
Various technological advances in Europe in theMiddle Ages improved the power-line's ropeways, some of which were still assisted by gravity.[8]
The first recorded use of the zip-line as a form of entertainment was possibly in 1739, whenRobert Cadman, asteeplejack andrope slider, died when descending fromShrewsbury'sSt Mary's Church when his rope snapped. In literature, one appears inH. G. Wells's 1897 novelThe Invisible Man as part of aWhit Monday fair: "On the village green an inclined string, down which, clinging the while to a pulley-swung handle, one could be hurled violently against a sack at the other end, came in for considerable favour among the adolescent..."[10]
Some sources attribute the development of zip-lines used today as a vacation activity to the Tyrolean traverses developed for mountaineering purposes.[5]
In the Australianoutback, zip-lines were sometimes used for delivering necessities to people working in or on the other side of a valley, and they may have been used in conflicts byAustralian troops to deliver food, mail and even ammunition to forward positions.[11][5][12]
Yungas, Bolivia, features a system of zip-lines used for transporting harvested crops, mainlycoca, across a valley 200 m below.[13][14] They can also be seen in theLadakh region of India.
In recent years, there has been renewed interest in the use ofaerial ropeways for transporting cargo, partly due to their low energy requirements and environmental impact. Gravity-fed types, i.e. zip-lines, have been built inNepal,[15] Latin America and India.[8]
Ziplines have also been used as a means of transporting items inAustralian regions in the past. These may include ammunition, weapons, tools, food, and mail.[16]
Zip-lines may be designed forchildren'splay and found on someadventure playgrounds. Inclines are fairly shallow and so the speeds kept relatively low, removing the need for a means of stopping.[11] The term "flying fox" is commonly used in reference to such a small-scale zip-line in Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland.[17][18][19]With playground equipment, the pulleys are fixed to the cable, the user typically hanging onto a handgrip underneath, but occasionally including a seat or a safety strap. Return of the grip or seat is usually done by simply pushing or pulling it via a short wire back to the top of the hill on foot.
Longer and higher rides are often used as a means of accessing remote areas, such as arainforestcanopy. In the 1970s, wildlife biologists set up zip-lines as a way to study and explore the denserainforests of Costa Rica without disturbing the environment. The business idea for zip-linecanopy tours developed from these. Darren Hreniuk, a Canadian citizen who moved to Costa Rica in 1992, around the same time that a scene in the filmMedicine Man incorporated the treetop rides, with the goal of using canopy tours to help raise awareness for reforestation, education and socio-economic development in the surrounding areas.[5] In October 1998, the Costa Rican Patent Office granted patent No. 2532 for an "Elevated Forest Transport System Propelled by Gravity, Using Harness and Pulley Through a Simple Horizontal Line" to Hreniuk. The patent was later annulled, bringing uncertainty to zip-line businesses, before being reinstated after twenty years.[20][21]
A canopy tour (sometimes called a zip-line tour) provides a route through a wooded, and often mountainous, landscape, making primary use of zip-lines and aerial bridges between platforms built in trees. Tourists are harnessed to a cable for safety, and many are restricted to adults. Heights vary from near to the ground to near the treetops.[22] Canopy tours are largely marketed under the banner ofecotourism, although the environmental impact of any type of zip-line is a disputed topic.[23]
The terminology varies (canopy tour, zip-lining, flying fox), and the distinction between using zip-lines for ecotourism and zip-lining as anadventure sport is often not clear.[24]Zip-line tours are now popular vacation activities, found both at upscale resorts and at outdoor adventure camps, where they may be an element on a larger challenge such as ahike orropes course.[25][26]
A type of pulley with a grooved wheel known as asheave is used in zip-lines, and the pulley turns as it travels along, thus reducingfriction and enabling greater speed than would otherwise be possible.[27]
The zip-line trolley ("zipliner") is the frame or assembly together with the pulley inside that run along the cable.[28] Zip-lines also have some kind of device to allow the cargo or rider to attach to the pulley system. This could include a harness, seat, a cabin or often just a handhold in smaller playground applications, that attaches to the pulley by a pivoting link orcarabiner which secures the load, allowing the person or cargo to travel down the line.
To be propelled by gravity, the cable needs to be on a fairly steep slope. Even then, the rider or cargo will often not travel completely to the end (although this will depend on theload), and some means of safely stopping the car at the bottom end is usually needed with the larger zip-lines. Users of zip-lines must have some means of stopping themselves.[27] Typical mechanisms include:[29]
There are certain precautions that can be taken. Riders are physically attached to the cable by aharness which attaches to a removable trolley. Ahelmet is required on almost all courses of any size. All zip-line cables have some degree of sag, so the propertensioning of a cable is important and allows tuning the ride of a zip-line.
The world's longest zip-line, which opened on 28 September 2024, is the K3 of the SA Forest Adventures inCaledon, South Africa. It is a single cable of 3.2 km reaching speeds up to 120km/h.[30]
From 31 January 2018 it was the "Jebel Jais Flight" from one of the peaks of theJebel Jais mountain inRas Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, with a single unbroken span of 2,831.88 metres (9,290.9 ft).[31][32] The ride was temporarily closed pending the outcome into an investigation into the crash of anAgusta 139rescue helicopter on 29 December 2018, killing all on board. It is believed to have clipped one of the cables.[33] The ride has since re-opened.[34]
The "Parque de Aventura Barrancas del Cobre" at 2,545 m (8,350 ft) inCopper Canyon, Mexico, is the second-longest span,[35] with "El Monstruo" atOrocovis inPuerto Rico coming in third, at 2,530 m (8,300 ft).[36]
The Skywire atBluewater in Kent is the longest in England at 725 metres (2,379 ft).[37] The longest zip-line in Europe, at 2,300 metres (7,500 ft), is the Sternsauser inHoch-Ybrig, Switzerland.[38]
The Zip World Bethesda line inPenrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, Wales holds the world record for attaining the fastest zip-line travel speed.[39][40]
Zip-lines with the steepest inclines include:
The La Tyrolienne inVal Thorens, France is the highest altitude zipline, at 10,600 feet.[46]
