COPE at Camp Durant
Camp Durant’s COPE course has a Low Course and a High Course for participants of all activity levels. Low Course elements range in height from ground level to 12.5 ft. in the air. These elements typically do not require the use of a safety line of any type but may require the assistance of the group to “spot” participants as needed. The High Course is an exciting series of 10 distinct high-wire challenges—30 feet in the air—with a zip line ride at the end. To take the high ropes challenge, participants are required to wear a harness and helmet and to use safety lines under the supervision of spotters, trained staff and the course director.
Low Course
The Low Course emphasizes team problems and/or obstacles that challenge groups both mentally and physically. These group activities require teamwork and the interaction of all members to accomplish the task at hand.
Facilitators work alongside the group, helping them work through their objectives, as they coach and prepare them for bigger challenges, such as the high ropes course, climbing tower or upcoming Scouting expeditions. Facilitators also reserve the right to make any game more challenging for their group, which could include changing the rules mid-game or adding new conditions to make achieving success a tad more difficult. A success hard won is simply more sweet.
Some elements of the Low Course:
All Aboard: Participants must work together as a group to get their entire team on a small platform and sing a song.
Nitro Crossing: Teams must retrieve an object and carry that object over an obstacle, usually by swinging across an imaginary canyon.
T.P. Shuffle: Groups must work together to switch places while balancing on a beam without touching the ground.
The Wall: Participants must work together as a team to get their entire group over this 12.5-ft. wall.
Whale Watcher: The group has to work together to achieve balance on a wooden platform balanced on a 10-ft. long beam.
Island Crossing: Group members must work cooperatively to create a bridge between four islands and get their entire team across. COPE staff can make the game more challenging by placing physical limitations on some participants!
Trust Fall: Participants climb onto a platform installed approximately 3 ft. above the ground and fall backwards into the arms of fellow participants.
Tire Traverse: Participants travel across swinging tires suspended by ropes while spotted by fellow teammates.
Mohawk Walk: Using hanging ropes or crisscrossing guide wires, group members must walk across wires suspended a foot off the ground. This is great practice for the High Course!
Triangle Traverse: Participants mount the triangle traverse at the corners, using an overhead rope for support, while at the same time helping balance a teammate traversing a different cable.
Wild Woosey: Pairs of group members must traverse the cables set in a ‘V’ configuration, getting farther apart as they move down the cables.
High Course
The High Course is an exciting series of 10 distinct high-wire challenges 25-35 ft. above the ground with a zip line ride at the end. You’ll see some elements that you practiced on the Low Course, but other elements such as the mush line and the Burmese bridge will be entirely new. Team members go through the course one by one at their own pace, but they are physically close enough to share the experience by shouting out encouragement and advice.
To participate in the high ropes challenge, everyone must wear the appropriate safety equipment. While on the course, participants are attached to a belay cable with a safety lanyard connected to their harness at one end and two clips attached to the cable. As people move from one element to the next, they complete a “transfer” of their rope lanyards at specific transition points on each platform. The transfer process occurs with a partner or trained staff after careful instruction and practice on the ground.
