An attractive day in the tree tops

Most recently I’ve visited the Adventure Park – GEOSS. I got excited about it after I saw the online clips of really long descents along the steel rope, which is my favourite part of getting to know any adrenalin park. The park is set up in the very heart of Slovenia. It’s located just outside the village of Slivna, where the geometrical centre of Slovenia is, marked by a monument and symbols of Slovenia. I have to admit, although I live in these parts of Slovenia, the picturesque landscape with scarcely populated hills just a few kilometres from the main roads, did surprise me nicely. We too the exit Krtina from the motorway (connecting Ljubljana with Maribor) and continued towards Moravče, from where it took us some half hour to reach the small village. The park is really easy to find and the way is marked really well. We were a bit confused by cows being led to pastures, as the road – leading through the yard of the farm – was closed for a while. But soon we reached the adventure park and our expectations were almost fulfilled just by seeing the many obstacles of the course we saw on different heights among tall trees. The instructors of the park made sure we all got warmed up. They also told us the basic rules about the usage of the park and above all gave us the safety tips. We’ve also made a dry test of the equipment, so it would not be just words. This was done on low steel rope, where it’s almost completely safe. The basic equipment consists of the climbing belt, carabiners and a pulley. We had to demonstrate that we know how to hook on safely, meaning you always need to have the carabiner hooked to at least one steel rope. And then it got real! We had five different difficulty levels set at heights from 1 up to 11 metres. I skipped the lowest one as it’s suited from for children at the age of four. The green trail – the next level is a bit higher and has more difficult elements, followed by the blue, red and the hardest of them all – orange trail. The first three were not problematic, except for the ropes placed in loops that you had to use for getting across from tree to tree. The obstacle made from suspended tyres was also quite hard, but the crossings of various suspended bridges were not a problem. For the joy and relaxation, as well as getting some great views, was the slide down the steel rope. You do these using the pulley you hook yourself to and fly through tree tops… You have to go through the course on your own, but on the hardest you get ground assistance by the trainer, who gives you advice. I was good as negotiating the difficult swinging obstacles and was thrilled by the giant swing – the long rope used to swing from one tree to the next like Tarzan.

 

Satisfied that I got over the course quite fast I was hardly waiting for the grand finale – sliding down the longest steel ropes! We got to the edge of the clearing with a wooden platform. At the first glance it didn’t seem like much, but when I got to see how long the steel rope was, I couldn’t wait any longer. It’s the same procedure as with smaller slides – you place the pulley hooked by two carabiners and you’re ready to go. Sliding down above the meadow I was picking up speed and when I shot through tree tops it felt like flying – fantastic! Next was the shorter part, followed by the longest of them all before reaching the ground 35 metres below. Combining all the slides, you almost do a whole kilometre, with the first and last slides being 390m and 490m.

 

The visit to the adrenalin park is a great idea for spending a summer day with a good dose of adrenalin. I suggest it to all who want to have a fun way to test their agility, balance and overcoming their fear of heights!

 

There are also other attractions nearby, but after all the physical activities we didn’t feel like shecking them out. There’s the Dom na Slivni about two kilometres further up, and the biggest town in the area Vače, where you can see the fossils of what was once a sea shore. A nearby village of Klenik features the replica of the village situla, which is a drinking cup from the 6th century, with the original being held in the National museum in Ljubljana.