Soaring to the Rescue

Resort’s zip-line workers double as ace search-and-rescue crew

June 24, 2007
By Ted Holteen | Herald Staff Writer

When 18-year-old Will Gordon walked into Silverton on June 14 hours after his kayak turned up empty on the banks of the upper Animas River, no one was more surprised at the news than Daniel Richardson and his co-workers at Tall Timber Resort.

"We thought we were looking for a body," Richardson, an Edgewater native, said on Thursday after he and the crew finished leading a group of paying customers through the resort's web of zip lines in the Ponderosa pines.

Gordon, a Nashville resident who was navigating the treacherous No-Name Rapid north of Tall Timber with a friend from North Carolina, fell out of his boat shortly before noon and disappeared in the white water. Customers for the resort's Soaring Tree Top Adventures had to settle for a rain check when owner Denny Beggrow heard La Plata County Office of Emergency Management Director Butch Knowlton send out the news of the missing kayaker on the radio.

"I told Andrew (Chandler) and the guys to drop what they were doing and go help Butch," Beggrow said.

Chandler, Richardson and the nine other of the resort's crew members spread out into the canyon, scouring the banks and scaling the canyon walls for any sign of Gordon. The crew is adept at more than catering to the well-to-do at one of Colorado's most exclusive luxury resorts.

Each member of the team is a certified Wilderness First Responder and trained wildfire fighter, and several have extensive military experience as well. But it's not just guests who benefit from their experience.

"It's an instant search-and-rescue team at what we call our northern outpost, and they're probably the best we've got in the county," Knowlton said. "I can thank Denny all I want for being a responsible citizen, but it's the people who spend time out here who should be thankful."

Beggrow said the variety of outdoor activities offered and remote location of the resort spurred him to assemble what he calls "a hardened bunch" that can respond to almost any emergency, but as a lifetime resident of the area he felt a civic duty to make his resources available to those who may never step foot on the 180-acre resort.

"We need to put something back into the community, and this is how we can do that. Butch puts a lot more in than we do, and when the time comes, they listen to him and do what he wants," Beggrow said.

Knowlton said the resort's location - Tall Timber is situated exactly halfway between Durango and Silverton on the narrow gauge's line - makes it a convenient way station for search-and-rescue operations. Beggrow keeps a vintage but fully functional 1947 fire engine and two motorized rail cars in a garage at the resort. The latter can be put into use at a moment's notice to transport rescue personnel in the roadless canyon. Rescue crews are well-stocked with ropes, stretchers and medical equipment. The resort also has its own radio repeater tower, which Knowlton said augments the coverage of the county's radio system.

The Soaring Tree Top Adventures crew members stay prepared as well and are all accomplished mountaineers, who each keep ready a harness of climbing and rappelling equipment that costs them upward of $600. Chandler said it's one investment crew members are willing to make on their own.

"When you own the equipment, you're responsible for it, and you maintain it at the proper level," he said. "This is also a fun place to climb, so it's the kind of gear most of us would have here anyway."

The crew lives at Tall Timber for the summer, but the group of 20-somethings came to the mountains from across the country - their hometowns are in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan and Ohio. None, however, can match the travel résumé of Simon Richardson, no relation to Daniel, who has squeezed more life experience into his 23 years as most twice or triple his age. Originally from Norfolk, England, Richardson joined the Royal Air Force at age 16 and his travels included stops in Thailand and Cyprus. He also holds three U.K. cross-country running records and was his country's 2003 national champion in the 1,500 meters. Simon Richardson said some of the challenges he's faced in the Animas Canyon during his three years at Tall Timber are as daunting as anything he's seen on his global journeys.

"Although we're isolated here, every day is different," Richardson said. "We can be working on the lines, and just like that - we're putting out a fire or we're out in the woods looking for someone with a broken leg. And even with a helicopter, it takes a couple of hours to get up and out of here, so we need to be able to take care of them at least a little bit."

Knowlton said La Plata County reimburses Beggrow for some of his resources from the county's search-and-rescue fund, including situations that require a helicopter. Beggrow co-owns New Air Helicopters with Durango resident Tom Edison, and the company's aircraft are available for emergency use whenever needed. Money for the search-and-rescue fund comes from the sale of Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue, or CORSAR, cards, which cost $3 for one year. People who don't purchase the card but require search-and-rescue assistance are responsible for the cost of the search, which can run into the thousands of dollars.

Knowlton and Beggrow, who have known each other since the 1960s, are both concerned by the growing number of people who go into the Animas Canyon without the proper knowledge or preparation required of the rugged terrain. Knowlton said that includes Gordon, who unknowingly eluded searchers by walking north instead of south. Gordon could have continued three miles south to a popular campground where he likely would have encountered help, but instead had only Silverton as a reference point.

"Five, six years ago we had enough resources to handle the people who went into Chicago Basin and some of the other areas up here, and those people for the most part knew what they were getting into," Knowlton said. "Now, with the explosion of extreme sports, there are people who read about this area in the magazines and come here but don't really understand how remote it can be."

"And a lot of them, quite frankly, shouldn't be here," Beggrow added. "But when things go wrong it has to be a team effort, and we've got a hell of a team here."

Resort sends visitors soaring
Tall Timber north of Durango is drawing rave reviews for its 1-mile-plus zip-line course, which lets guests fly in the treetops.

Zip trip Visitors ‘soar’ through trees at resort near Rockwood

July 14, 2006
By Alex Ritzenberg | Herald Staff Writer

Ben Smith, the 8-year-old son of a Massachusetts couple touring the Southwest, wouldn't budge from his place on the 10-foot circular tree platform.  Ben was reluctant to ride the line at first, but he flew without holding on toward the end. Lynda Harris of Golden tries the no-hands option while soaring on Monday.

The boy - eyeing the 24-foot drop to the ground below - was unmoved by pleas.

Strapped to his mother, Ben began crying at the prospect of descending down a sloped cable to meet his father on the second platform. Ten minutes later, he reluctantly agreed, looking pale.

So much for Ben's fear of flying.

Forty-five minutes later, he was in his own harness and yelling like Tarzan.

"Later on he was going alone and saying 'let's go!'" said his mother, Lesley Benson, who paired with her husband, two children and four other adults Monday to experience the Soaring Tree Top Adventures course, which covers 180 acres on private land halfway between Durango and Silverton.

The sprawling course, essentially a complicated zip line, runs groups of all ages through land surrounded by the San Juan National Forest on 30 separate runs of steel cable. Over the course of 4½ hours, overnight guests and daytime visitors tour the forest, hopping from tree to tree on more than a mile of zigzagging line.

At each platform, a waiting instructor clips harnesses onto a new line. The "soaring" runs range from 47 to 420 feet in length, and the tallest platform sits a daunting 90 feet off the ground. Participants zip across spans of widely varying terrain, starting with rocky hillsides and aspen groves and ending with several runs over the Animas River.

In 2004, soaring was open only to guests at the adjacent Tall Timber Resort, built in the 1970s and accessible only by helicopter or the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. But in 2005, resort owners Denny and Judy Beggrow teamed up with their son, Johnroy Beggrow, to open the expanded course to non-resort guests. Since then, the course has averaged about 12 to 16 people per day, said Denny Beggrow.

The increase in visitors may have something to do with the course's trademark on the term "soaring," which distinguishes the Tall Timber course from less sophisticated canopy or zip line tours, typically featuring lower platform heights.

Soaring Tree Top Adventures holds rank as the only designated soaring course in the nation - with a $198 per person price tag to show for it.

And the Beggrows are expanding the course even farther. Plans include a 600-foot soaring cable across the Animas River and a 500-foot span in the course's scenic riverside lunch area. Zip lines and canopy tours dot South and Central America as well as Canada and Europe.

On Monday, soaring instructors distinguished the environmentally friendly features of their course from others around the world. The instructors pointed out that course engineers use a method of "hugging" the trees with platforms and equipment, allowing the trees to continue growing naturally.

Tall Timber's remote location lends a wilderness-like atmosphere, uninterrupted by the roar of traffic. Currently, soaring guests are dropped off on the train's ride to Silverton. But the course's popularity has the railroad talking about adding a "soaring car," to come from Rockwood or Durango, once the course can accommodate 40 people or more, said Beggrow. The course now accommodates a maximum of 30 people per day.

"There was a time when we planned a road into Tall Timber, but that's not something that's really desirable," Beggrow said. "The isolation is the reason people come here. And we're going to maintain that."

Naturally, visitors entrusting their lives to a metal cable had safety concerns. But instructors smoothed first-time jitters with an extensive safety briefing, explaining the anatomy of helicopter-grade cable and demonstrating the course's double-reinforcement system.

The course has a perfect safety record, and has accommodated participants from ages 3 to 91 years, said Johnroy Beggrow.

Maddy Smith, 10, started out "a little nervous, but excited." By her third run, Smith was experimenting with hanging upside down.

Dionne Beggrow, the resort's director of soaring operations and wife of Johnroy Beggrow, said the course is nearly incomparable to other extreme sports.

"It's really hard to compare it to anything because of it being so unique," she said. "A lot of guests have talked about the freedom of flight and flying, and it's a completely safe way to experience the feeling of flight."

Resort staff topped off the morning with an extravagant lunch, which included kid-friendly options.

"I thought they did a good job with the kids. They even cut the crusts off Maddy's ham and cheese sandwich," said Paul Smith.

As for Paul and Lesley's meals, they were "very good, surprisingly good." Both parents had pulled-pork sandwiches, strawberry soup, cucumber salad and homemade ice cream.

Lynda Harris of Golden, part of Monday's group, described the soaring sensation as different - but no less intense - than the rush of skydiving.

"It's a whole different sensation," said Harris, who has gone skydiving 157 times. "When you're skydiving, you really don't have the sense of speed that you have when you're soaring. In skydiving, you're so far from the ground. In soaring, you're very aware that you're going fast.

"As I got more comfortable with myself and with the gear, I got to trying different things - hands free, flipping over .Your confidence in the system grows and grows."

In the end, the Smith-Benson family said they would recommend the course to friends.

"(Ben) was so nervous at first," Benson said, "we almost didn't do it. Later, he was the one urging us on."

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
630 Words

CONTACT INFORMATION:
www.soaringtreetopadventures.com
Johnroy Beggrow
970.769.2357

SOARING TREE TOP ADVENTURES
DURANGO, CO

A high-flying eco tour adventure which sends enthusiasts soaring through one of the last stands of old growth Ponderosa pines on earth, came to the world-famous Tall Timber Resort near Durango, Colorado, in Spring, 2005.

Soaring Tree Top Adventures is the highest, largest and safest arboreal excursion in the world, and the only one in the continental United States.  Centuries-old Ponderosa pines support 30 stainless steel platforms scattered over 180 acres of the San Juan Mountains, alpine valley of the Animas River.  Guests glide suspended from spans of stainless steel cable on exhilarating runs ranging from 75 to 500 feet, 20 to 80 feet above the forest floor, allowing a view of the forest usually reserved for its feathered inhabitants.

Accessible only by the historic Durango-Silverton steam train, Soaring Tree Top Adventures features a patented personal personal suspension system, along with harnesses and personal safety hardware specially designed by The Petzl Company, world-famous maker of quality climbing and rescue gear.  Guests soar through a protected pine and aspen forest full of deer, elk, bears, and Colorado's colorful cast of feathered soarers.  Guests will enjoy a gourmet picnic lunch on a special elevated platform in the trees, with a view of the rushing waters of the Animas River.  At the end of the course, guests will rappel down from the treetops to the forest floor.

David B. Temple, President of Animas Valley Arborist and member of the International Society of Arboriculture, marvels at the design of the course, which permits no intrusion or harmful stresses to any tree.  "Tall Timber should be commended," Temple says, "for the creative and non-invasive approach to providing a recreational opportunity for the public to experience an eagle's eye view of some of the best arboricultural treasures Mother Nature has to offer."  Platforms are supported by patented "tree hugging" padded collars which allow the trees to sway in the wind and to expand with growth.  As Mr. Temple says, "These old girls won't even know you're here."

Safety is the highest priority of Soaring Tree Top Adventures.  All Sky Guides and Safety Officers are EMT trained and have completed a 12-point program in Soaring Procedure.  The custom-dash designed harnesses come from the Petzl Company, world renowned for providing the finest quality climbing and safety hardware.  Petzl Trac pulleys, soaring harnesses, clamps, and hardware demonstrate the unprecedented commitment to safety that is the hallmark of Soaring Tree Top Adventures.

All structures and platforms for Soaring Tree Top Adventures were fabricated at Holt Sheet Metal Inc..  Each component is high-strength stainless steel, down to every last bolt and bit of decorative trim.  HSMI is a second generation family business in Durango, Co. which has built an international reputation for quality and innovation since it opened in 1965.  Though they have achieved success in a wide variety of ground-breaking projects, company president Ralph Holt says, "I don't think anything comes close to this."  At first skeptical of the idea, Holt was one of the first to test the Soaring Tree Top Adventure.  "That's when it became a reality, when we went up there and got to run in between the trees.  It's quite a trick."