The world's largest adventure playground: Rocky outcrops in the desert that are just perfect for slacklining, skydiving and base-jumping
- Moab Desert is a spectacular location for climbing, skydiving, base jumping and slacklining
- The towers range from 35 to 800 ft high
- Adventurers walk slacklines between towers and jump from cliffs 800 ft in the air
By Alex Ward
At 800 ft up in the air, thrill seekers are jumping from cliff tops and walking along slack ropes in a giant 'playground' perfect for daredevils.
Adrenaline junkies travel from all over the globe to test their skills at the spectacular location perfect for everything from climbing to skydiving, BASE jumping and slacklining.
Discovered in the breath-taking Moab Desert in Utah, America, the Fisher Towers playground features vast terrain perfect for top climbers.
Daredevil: Adrenaline junkie Andy Lewis balances on a slackline rope between the highest towers in Moab Desert, Echo and Cottontail, 800 ft above the ground
The towers range from 35ft at their smallest to the soaring 800ft Echo and Cottontail towers which take up to five days to climb and a further two days to rig the 225ft long highline.
Adventure-loving Scott Rogers, 24, and friends Andy Lewis and Hayley Ashburn have spent more than 40 days testing their skills in the desert over the past nine months.
Mr Rogers, from Denver, Colorado said: ‘It's been a playground for many people but it wasn't really until motivated Andy showed up, that jumping off the towers became a priority.
What a view: Adventurer Faith Dickey enjoys the view of the world's biggest playground from her 95 ft long rope, 250 ft up in the air
Meet me in the middle: Mr Lewis and Hayley Ashburn perch on a 'spaceline', rigged from three separate points, allowing three people to walk on the ropes at once
 
Posing: Mr Lewis is comfortably confident 250 ft up, pulling faces, left, and doing a 'double drop knee' position, right, just for the camera
‘The Fisher Towers Recreation Area is a segment of the Bureau of Land Management - a non-restrictive entity allowing adventurers to turn beautiful features into a playground.
‘Our aim was to climb, slackline and establish BASE jumps off all the major towers in the region finishing with the 800ft Cottontail tower.
‘Andy is one of very few who have jumped off all five of the main towers.
‘Probably less than three other people have done this - I still have one more to jump.
Celebration: The trio celebrate after climbing Ancient Art, a 250 ft tower with iconic summit above crumbling rock below
Taking the plunge: The moments Mr Lewis jumped off the highest tower, 800 ft high, while friends Scott Rogers and Ms Ashburn watched from below
‘It was incredibly exciting for us as due to the difficulty and poor rock quality so to pursue them further with slacklines and safe jumping locations was a very fulfilling goal.
Slacklining is done with a specially-designed rope known as a slackline and is considered to be more challenging than a conventional tightrope as the line is not completely taut, therefore susceptible to bouncing and stretching.
Mr Rogers said: ‘Ancient Art is the most popular tower to climb and the rock in this area is essentially petrified mud with only the stronger layers of the hillside remaining after years of erosion.
Death defying duo: Mario Richard flies his parachute close to Mr Lewis on his slackline
Post-plunge: After jumping off the highest tower, 800 ft high, Mr Lewis and Mr Richard open their parachutes in preparation to land
‘It's about 250ft tall and has an iconic summit perched above the crumbling rock below. The diameter is about 2ft allowing for only the boldest of climbers to stand on top.
‘We can also create a “spaceline” here - which is essentially a slackline rigged between three separate points that all meet in the middle.
‘It allows three people to be walking simultaneously.
‘The line is about 400ft high and you can see how comfortable the guys were.’
Outstanding outline: Mr Lewis and Ms Ashburn balance on a 35 ft long slackline while Richard Webb flies his base canopy around the summit
Mr Rogers, who has been slacklining for 10 years and BASE jumping for four years, got his first taste of slacklining when he saw one at a climbing competition he was competing in.
He was so amazed by the slackline that he forgot to compete and just slacklined all day.
BASE jumping followed after skydiving for a year, thanks to a friend who inspired him by showing him all the beautiful places he had jumped.
Mr Rogers said: ‘Spending time here is just unbelievable. Everyone is great friends and you never know who you might bump into.
‘On Echo and Cottontail we did a few BASE flybys from a jump higher up with BASE jumper extraordinaire Mario Richard.
‘Andy took to the highline while Mario flew extra close under his BASE canopy.
‘Mario got within 3-4ft of him before zooming on through the rest of the towers.
‘I don't think there is anywhere else in the world you could have that much fun.’
Spectacular scenery: Mr Lewis is dwarfed by the huge tower he has climbed |
發表於 2012-7-18 07:47 AM
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