SkyTrex has been on the “to do” list for some time but due to various reasons, it took us about a year to finally plan our first trip. After much debate and baseless concerns involving comments about diapers, we finally settled for the Big Thrill – the intermediate challenge. Although why all the worry in the first place was beyond me, but more about that later.
Gearing Up
If you thought getting ready for an evening out was bad, the whatsapp messages flying around the evening before on “what to wear” and “what to bring” were even more frantic. Being warned that we could be up there for two to three hours, we knew we needed water. The question was how best to carry it?
What are you allowed to take up there? The answer to this question has varied from place to place, depending on the rules and regulations of each adventure course. At SkyTrex Shah Alam, they’re a little more relaxed and you’re allowed to bring up a small backpack or a waist pouch. This is what you’ll look like once you’re geared up with the harness, so bear in mind what you take up has to fit around it:
If you’re not carrying a pack, you’ll need some way to carry your water, like a water bottle holder that you can hang around your neck or shoulder:
Make sure it secures the bottle properly and has a sturdy strap because the bottle can get snagged on the side netting on some of the challenges.
You will also need gloves made from fabric that doesn’t pill. Make sure their fitted so you have enough mobility to manipulate the safety attachments on your harness which can be quite fiddly. Finger-less gloves with anti-slip, like cycling gloves, are ideal.
Getting Started
Before we were allowed onto the course, we had to go through the mandatory safety briefing. We learned about click-its (the safety attachment that protects you from plunging from a great height) and pulleys (for negotiating the flying fox challenges). Every harness comes with two click-its – one of which must be attached to the safety cable at all times while you’re on the rope course. The harness is designed to be idiot proof so that you can never “accidentally” remove both click-its at the same time.
The training course comprises of three challenges – a vertical challenge (climbing up a ladder), a horizontal challenge (walking across a plank bridge), and a flying fox challenge.
Once you graduate the training course, it’s time to get onto the Big Thrill.
SkyTrex Big Thrill Challenges
So what sort of challenges will you be required to face on the Big Thrill Adventure? The SkyTrex Big Thrill Adventure Map gave them these terms:
The Diamond Cargo Net
This is basically a diagonal net you have to walk/climb up to get to the horizontal challenges.
The Ladder Up
A vertical challenge similar to the initiation test but much longer.
The Zig Zag Plank Bridge
The Rope Step and Diamond Net
The Happy Hopper
The planks on this one are pretty far apart so you’ll have to swing like Tarzan – or Jane – using the ropes to get from one plank to the next. Of all the challenges, this was probably among the most difficult. If you can do this, you can pretty much do it all.
The Burger Walk
These drums rotate so you have to balance on them without flipping them over as you step from one drum to another. This is the other “most challenging” task from the Big Thrill.
Even if you can’t do the Happy Hopper or the Burger Walk, you can skip past them using the Flying Fox short cut.
There are also three Chicken Exits for anyone who suddenly feels it is too much for them. Despite all the jokes about needing diapers and fleeing down the chicken exits, all the Babes made it through the Big Thrill like I knew they would. In fact, we got through the entire course in just over an hour.
As one Babe said and I quote: “Is that it? Wow! We should have done the Extreme Challenge!”
Don’t worry, we’ll be back to tick off the Extreme Challenge.
Goofing Around for the Camera
We Did It!
Babes Signature Shot
Ready to go home:
