Ziplining

When I was in Costa Rica I had the chance to go ziplining.

But when you look at websites for ziplining, they all require closed-toe shoes.

Ziplining is taking off all over the place. Around here, Hocking Hills has at least two or three places. I’d even met one of the operators on one of my hikes in Hocking Hills, and he confirmed for me that shoes were an absolute requirement (though he couldn’t quite explain why).

Here is what some of their websites say.

Hocking Hills Canopy Tours:

Closed toed shoes are required.

Valley Zipline Tours, in Lancaster, OH:

Closed toed shoes must be worn.

Soaring Cliffs, near Cantwell Cliffs:

Guests must wear close toed shoes.

And it’s not just Ohio.

They have the same rule everywhere I looked, even Hawaii. For instance,

Kohala Zipline

For your safety, wear sturdy, closed-toe walking shoes. Tennis shoes or hiking shoes work best. Kohala Zipline does not allow Croc-like shoes, water shoes like Teva, flip-flops, or sandals.

This does give a hint as to why they have some sort of footwear rule. I can see that Crocs or flip-flops would fly off and either have to be retrieved, or would litter the ground beneath the zipline.

But that’s not entirely a satisfactory explanation, since neither Tevas, nor well-secured sandals would fall off.

Of course, bare feet wouldn’t fall off either. I did find a few places that specifically mentioned them, too. Here’s one.

Glenwood Canyon Zipline, in Colorado:

For your safety, bare feet, sandals and flip flips are not allowed. Closed toe shoes are required. Sorry, no Crocs!

I fail to see how bare feet might be a problem (or even Tevas, for that matter). Are they afraid that vegetation might get caught between the toes? But if you are getting hit with vegetation while ziplining, it’s not just the toes that you have to worry about. (Besides that, it should be cleared in the first place.)

I did find one place that looked like it might be flexible.

Austin Zipline Adventures, in Texas.

Recommended Gear List

Participants should wear closed toe shoes with a heal strap. (No High Heels) Tennis shoes or hiking boots work nicely.

Ok, it’s just recommended, and you “should”, not “must”, wear them. But then later on, they had a list of requirements.

Closed toed shoes with heal strap are required. (NO HIGH HEELS)

In the end I did find one place (but even that is a bit ambiguous).

Carolina Zipline Canopy Tours, in North Carolina.

Please wear secure shoes. It takes too much time for our guides to find the shoes that fly off. (Yes they will come off).

And their checklist did not contradict that.

Wear Secure Shoes. Leave your flip flops at home. Sneakers or hiking boots work best!

But looking at all these rules make me think that the very first zipline people sat down, and without a whole lot of thought, made up what they thought ought to be the rules. And then all the other companies just copied from the first, without thinking things through.

The other thing that’s asinine here in regards to bare feet is that they all make their customers sign waivers. And many of the waivers are extensive. For instance, the Austin place has this in their waiver:

ASSUMPTION OF RISKS:

I acknowledge and voluntarily assume the risks of illness, injury, and death associated with these activities, inherent or otherwise, and whether or not they are described above.

Well, if I’m assuming all risks, why can’t I assume the risk (negligible) for doing the ziplining barefoot?

Anyways, back to Costa Rica. (You were wondering if I’d ever get back to that, weren’t you?)

I had signed up for the first tour, of Palo Verde National Park. The second tour included ziplining. But I’d seen enough of the ziplining requirements elsewhere that I wasn’t going to bother doing it if I was going to have to put on shoes.

So, I asked our tour guide during the first tour, and he assured me that Costa Ricans wouldn’t care what I wore on my feet. And all he did with the rest of our party was make sure they were wearing stuff that wouldn’t fall off. So I signed up.

Here we all are with our gear on.

All Ready to Go

As part of their safety, they made sure that they put all our gear on us.

You’ll notice that one of our party is my grand niece, Haley, who is 6 years old. In all the requirements I’ve looked at, some have a minimum age of 10 years, but I saw others that said 3. Haley was gung-ho and game for doing it.

Here she is getting hooked up.

Tandem Haley

Basically, her harness was attached to the employee who accompanied her, which sure looked quite safe to me.

You might also notice that they are on a metal platform. That is about the only thing that I would see as a possible concern for a barefooter.

You can see another one of the metal platforms here.

The Metal Platform

It’s a metal grid (but of smooth metal). It is really no problem for walking or standing on barefoot. Other concerns one might come up with were also not a problem. The trees at the end for stopping all had pads on them (which you would want whether barefoot or shod), and the zipline had a braking system anyways.

There was really nothing in the system that would have precluded doing it barefoot. (Despite the unjustified fears of all those other ziplining venues.) So I did it barefoot, as promised.

Barefoot Ziplining

Yes, I look like I’m not having any fun. That’s just my “concentration” face, not my “having a lousy time” face. It was a blast.

Of course, there was wildlife in the forest canopy. There were the ubiquitous howler monkeys (I didn’t get a good picture—as soon as I got my camera out they hid behind the trees), and some wild turkeys.

A Wild Turkey

For our last zip run those who wanted to do it we set up to go upside down.

Barefoot Upside-Down Ziplining

Again, bare feet were not a problem.

They also asked Haley if she wanted to do it alone for that last run. While she liked ziplining, no, she didn’t want to do it alone. But they did set her up with her own pulley, and the expert rode along right behind her. (So, they kind of tricked her into doing it alone, more or less. But again, it was done quite safely.)

Haley Going It “Alone”

All in all, there’s no reason at all not to be able to zipline barefoot. The restrictions on it in the US are just based on the usual fears.

And it’s a blast.

Barefoot Ziplining — Why Not?