GRAVENHURST - Treetop Trekking still has its sights set on Gravenhurst for a new zip line adventure course, but new business ventures close to Huntsville have caused some delay to setting up locally this summer.
Jamie Hesser, general manager for the Barrie-based Treetop Trekking company, said an opportunity arose this summer to build a full, seven-course, 14-line course at Deerhurst Resort, which opened July 1.
Initially the company had hoped to be operational in Gravenhurst with a smaller scale operation by the Victoria Day weekend. Delays in crafting a lease agreement with the town, then the new Huntsville area project pushed Gravenhurst’s project a bit farther back on the burners, but Hesser added the goal is still to be set up this year.
“I’m not sure right now exactly when it’s going up,” Hesser said. “My hope is we’ll be up this year, or to at least have the course built this year.”
“But once it’s actually constructed, we still have to have it inspected and certified and that can take some time too,” she added. “So at the very least we hope to be built this year with the chance we may have to wait until next year to actually open.”
The Gravenhurst zip line course will be between 500 and 800 feet worth of features, composed of a single zip line set up next to the rock face by the sports fields and among trees farthest from the Bay Street entrance there.
Hesser first approached council with the concept in early February with an eye for opening in early April, then May 24, but staff and council wanted some time to consider what impacts the proposed tree-top zip lines and small games course may have to the park area, the large rock face that runs perpendicular to Bay Street that the zip line would follow and the tree coverage there.
Because the features are not nailed into trees and the rock attachments are not permanent, council has approved the operation.
Hesser said now that the work is completed at Deerhurst, the company can begin to set a construction schedule for Gravenhurst.