Pingree Park group training

We spent the day up at Pingree Park again to do some group training. We started off with an easy run up the Stormy Peaks pass trail for a few miles and back to the ropes course. We spent the next few hours doing some group dynamic exercises on the low course elements (stuff you don’t need harnesses for). The balance board was fun; the element is a large and wide see-saw about 1.5ft high.  The goal is to get everyone on the see-saw at both of the ends simultaneously.  David and I were the initial balancers and were ther; e to direct everyone else as they got on and shuffled to the edges.  Once everyone gets to the edges, its time to shuffle back to the middle and hop off.  We complete the exercise without any edge touches - pretty good!

We then went to the Poison Pit, I had done this one before and so I sat out on the decision making portion of it.  It involves laying down 2×2 planks of wood in the correct sequence to get the whole group across the poison pit.  There are stumps in the pit which everyone moves to as the exercise progresses.  Once you know the secret this one is pretty straightforward to get through.

We then did balance wire walks; these are strung wires between several trees and the whole group must tightrope walk from the start to finish.  There are various branches, ropes and team members to make use of to accomplish this.

We also did a round on one of the high course elements - the rope swing.  You start by donning helmet and harness and while belayed, climb a climbing wall for about 40ft.  Then you exit around the other side onto a platform and hook into a large wire swing.  Two people go at a time, one on each end of the platform - on three you both leap out into the air, as you fall the wire pulls tight and you swing down and away.  You have some fun swings in the air until your friends slow you down and help you down.  The following are some photos of me and David on our second swings.