Home game with weather capers
From the Finnish ski resort of Levi in the far north to the sunny peninsula of Chalkidiki in Greece, we have realised projects all over Europe in recent years. For the work on the new high ropes course at CenterParcs "Park Allgäu", the journey was not quite so far: "It's only 37 kilometres from our company headquarters in Immenstadt to CenterParcs Park Allgäu, it only takes about half an hour to get there. Such an unusually short journey is nice," Alexander reports, and he emphasises: "Being able to build in the Allgäu as an Allgäu company naturally has something to it when you're otherwise travelling all over Europe." As project manager, he not only supervised the construction, but also planned the new high ropes course in "Park Allgäu" himself. And although Alexander and the team have already built countless climbing parks and high ropes courses, the construction work in Leutkirch certainly presented them with one or two challenges. For one thing, there was the weather during the three weeks in December when the majority of the high ropes course was built: After the rain came the Allgäu snow. While all the courses were finished by Christmas, the civil engineering work had to be temporarily stopped due to the weather. In addition, the short days in winter repeatedly caused time pressure.
Successful cooperation, despite hurdles
This makes the performance of our six-member construction team all the more commendable. The cooperation with the other companies involved also went smoothly, for example with the Leutkirch construction company Mösle, which took over the civil engineering. Another challenge was that the construction took place in the middle of the open holiday park. For example, it was not at all easy to transport the long wooden masts across the park to the construction site while the park was still open. The soil of the former military site also played a role in the work, as a completely new structural assessment and a larger foundation were necessary before construction - one of the reasons why the start of construction work was delayed until winter. Because actually, of course, we always prefer to build in spring or summer, but we still managed to keep to the schedule.
Something for everyone
From March onwards, the first guests were able to take off. They can choose between four routes on the course: Two for children and two that are more for adults or older children. While the first children's climbing course, which is already suitable for boys and girls from the age of three, is only about one metre above the ground, the highest course goes up to ten metres. In addition to various climbing exercises, the course also features several ziplines.
A special feature of the park is the theming of the individual courses with reference to the Allgäu Nagelfluhkette, a range of
Safety first
The training of the staff for the operation of the facility took place at the end of February. The participants are outfitted with the safety equipment, such as harness, helmet and lanyard, by the staff before the start. In the instruction area, a second member of staff checks again that the safety equipment is properly fitted. Each guest is now shown individually how to use their pulley carabiners correctly. Afterwards, the guests complete the instruction course under the supervision of the staff, and if everything goes well there, they go on to the actual course.