There’s talk of adult diapers as I strap myself into a harness for the temporary zipline at Uptown Mall. And alcohol is not permitted during the ride, an organizer warns us.
After climbing more flights of scaffolding stairs than I thought would be necessary, a drink sounds OK. People look smaller from up here, but there isn’t much time to take in the scenery, as we all squeeze onto the upper deck and the first two people strap in.
“Some councillors are watching,” Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard says from the top. “I don’t know if they’re hoping for a vacancy.”
Leonard is the first to take the plunge, in tandem with Uptown’s general manager, Roberta Ferguson.
I volunteer to go next — unlike Leonard, who says he’s afraid of heights, the thought of flying through the air at high speed excites me. When I latch on to the cable draped over the town plaza, sit back in my saddle and push off from the plywood ledge, it’s a welcome release. The 90-metre zipline passes in a burst of wind, a few slow spins and a matter of seconds.
The zipline opened to the public at Friday afternoon and will be open 1 to 7 p.m. every day until March 23.
Each ride is $10, half of which will be donated to an education fund for Baby Iver, whose mother, Robyn Benson, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage while pregnant in December. She was kept on life support until the day after Iver was born last month. More than $202,000 has already been raised for Iver and his father, Dylan Benson.
Ferguson calls the attraction, provided by AdrenaLINE Zipline Adventure Tours, “300 feet of thrilling entertainment.” It’s billed as the first urban zipline ride on Vancouver Island, and Leonard says he sees it as a way to bring more people to the shopping centre, which can be like a community gathering place at times like spring break.
Leonard climbs up the scaffolding for a second go.
“I’m pinching myself because I swore I would never do it again,” he says.
His strategy, he says, is to keep an eye on the place he launched from.
“I look backward, I don’t look down. I just focus on where I came from. That’s how I cope,” he says.
“It’s over quickly and it’s not too high, actually. So it’s a thrill.”
