The Holmes Solutions Adventure Recreation team dreamed up a new spin on the traditional zipline. Their vision was to develop a zipline that could transition from cable to rail, and back, at speed—something which was ‘impossible’ in the industry to date.

It was all hands on deck for this exciting project! The Holmes Solutions team developed a game plan and collaborated with our structural engineering and fire engineering colleagues in New Zealand and  USA. Holmes Solutions designed the Switchback® technology system that could seamlessly travel from cable to rail, allowing for corners of varying angles and inclines. Our US and NZ teams delivered different aspects of design. The US team designed the rider loading and unloading platforms, as well as the rail towers for each corner. Whilst the NZ team took charge of the track supports.

We worked with CLIMBWorks (a well-established adventure recreation company) who are known in the industry for their amazing zipline courses, to implement the technology onsite. Together, the Holmes team designed and delivered the world’s first zipline ride that turns corners! The multiplier value of the Holmes team was in full effect; this awesome result couldn’t have been achieved without each team working together, and bringing their unique expertise to a huge technical challenge. The best part is we all had amazing fun bringing it to life in such a collaborative environment.

All photos courtesy of Reid Bieber.