Zip-line line

So today I can say that I went on the zip-line over Robson square in Vancouver and damnit I'm going to tell everyone because I can, and so that there may be some reason behind why I waited so bloody long to get on it. So it can be worth it more somehow.

The day started bright and early with my sister Rebecca and I getting in line at 8:30am even though it didn't open until 10am. The security guard near the line seemed to be doing everything he could to discourage people from getting in line. Telling us the wait would be 6 hours and explaining to some tourists how they could drive to the Capilano suspension bridge and spend a few hours there and then drive back and it would still be faster than waiting and going on the zip-line. Note that the bridge isn't free though.

This is where we were in line about the time the zip-line opened at 10am. The line goes up through a bunch of tents and almost to the base of the tower. Around this point we had a few people behind us and some in front of us decide to drop out of the line.

In each of the tents was one of these viewing things that you could look in to see videos of the You Gotta Be Here campaign, basically videos from around BC. Each machine had videos along a different theme.

The wait turned out to be 7.5 hours. We got in line at 8:45am and didn't get to ride until about 4:15pm. It was ridiculous. They claimed that they could do 50 people but at least in the last hour where we were close enough to see the number of people being called up to the tower, they did way less people than that. Some people hesitated at the top and there were many singles, where they let one person go across at a time even though there were two wires.

This is what we could see from the front of the line. Every 15 minutes of so a lady came down and gave out passes to 6 to 10 people at the front of the line who then walked up to the tower with them, signed waiver forms and then got strapped into their harnesses and ready to go.Whenever the lady came down these stairs everyone cheered!

The people on these steps were watching the big screen which you can see as the black in the top right corner. You see, we were standing behind the screen. Practically nowhere along the line up are there actual TV screens facing it. The people were confused by our cheers. When they cheered we knew it was due to a goal in the women's hockey game but when we cheered they had no clue. One guy even got up from the steps and walked over to look at the back of the screen since he thought we were looking at something on it. Instead we were looking under it up at the tower and occasionally yelling "Jump" or "Go" to get the people up there to move along.

In this small building at the base of the tower we were helped into our harnesses. The girl helping me realized her finger was bleeding so she decided she better find a bandaid somewhere first. As a result I got strapped in last in my group and then started up the tower.

It was cool though because Rebecca and I then took lots of photos on the way up and at the top, while everyone else was launching off. This is directly under the launch platform, as you can see the steps off into nowhere at the top of the photo. Also note the large screen in the bottom left under which is the head of the line. The line winds through all the white tents there and then all the way back to the road.


My sister has been on a zip line before but it was in a forest in Costa Rica and the big difference here is that the city allows you to have much more of a sense of scale as to how high we really are. You can see all the little people down below.

This is one of the two girls in front of us, getting ready to go. Any bags that people had got strapped to the same clip as they did and zipped across with you. At this point I put my camera back in my pocket as I didn't want any chance of dropping it and just wanted to enjoy the ride.

At this point I was also quite freaked out by the height. Oddly when I stepped out onto the steps and was waiting for Rebecca I became perfectly calm. I think it was because I felt quite securely strapped in and now the slack was gone and I had also waited bloody long to get here. I also noticed the score on the hockey game on the screen way below. "12-0!" was one of the last things I said before I stepped off the last step. That and "Let's do this thing!". Rebecca took a few seconds to follow me.

The trip across took about 12 or 13 seconds, really not enough to take it all in. I yelled a lot at the people down below me, many of which looked up at me. I also leaned back and put my legs up to hang upside down but a few seconds after that I was at the other end. The whole trip across took about 13 seconds.

When we got our harnesses off and started walking through the city it felt like a whole different world after waiting in line for so long. It was amazingly awesome to finally be walking to somewhere and no longer trapped.

Was it worth it? It's cool to be able to say I went on a zip-line over the city but I'd say unless you really have nothing to do with your day and you've also got lots you can do to keep occupied while waiting in line, don't do it. If you want the shortest line time, try and show up first in the morning. I heard the first people showed up at 6am which means they only had to wait about 4 hours. It's still damn long compared to the length of the lines for most other free Olympic events and what you get out of it is so short.

After stopping at my sister's old workplace, Second Cup for some drinks and getting a couple small sandwiches since we'd missed lunch we popped into the Korea House. Korea is trying to win the bid for the 2018 winter games. The place was not that big or very exciting. They had a multi-touch table similar to the one at the aquarium with some videos on Korea. Unfortunately the tables kept breaking. They also had hand massages and some ladies making patterns to give out to people but both of those had crowds at them and we didn't want to wait in anymore lines.

We walked over to the Royal Mint Pavilion and the Canada's North House but both had lines so we headed back towards Waterfront. Then we went passed it and on towards the Olympic cauldron and flame.

Along the way we got a view of the Olympic rings.

We also passed this crazy big globe thing dangling in the new convention center building all lit up and rotating. We saw Australia pass by.

At the flames there was a huge crowd with tons of people passing by to take photos of the torch or of other people in front of the torch.

They have made a space between the top and bottom panels of the fence so you can take an unobstructed photo of the flames from this far away.

All in all, the day in Vancouver was quite tiring. Afterwards I took the skytrain back to Surrey, stopping at my house for just 15 minutes before heading onwards to Ultimate Frisbee. It has been a looong day.