This weekend, we decided to head up to Avventura Parco Etna, or Etna Adventure Park. We didn't know a lot about it, but knew it was zip lining and ropes. I had heard it was a lot of fun and the kids have been wanting to go zip lining, so we drove up there for a day of fun.
The park is up Mount Etna tucked in this little forest. It was magical, and in the background we could hear Etna rumbling. We got the full package, which allowed us 2.5 hours of climbing fun on all 6 of the courses available to adults. There were 2 green courses (which are beginner level), then blue (intermediate), purple (only zip lining), and then red and black (hard and harder). Fortunately, they did have one guide who was able to speak English and provide us with instruction on how to use the equipment.
We got all the equipment on and received our instruction, and were then let loose! From here on out, this post will be mostly pictures. I will add some commentary as needed….Enjoy! To help you follow who is on the course, Mike has on the light jeans and Tommy has on the darker ones. Of course, I stand out in the bright pink shirt and Sam has on black pants.
The courses start out easy enough…..
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Soon they had us going through hoops |
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Those pieces of wood were not steady, and if you were not careful they would spin under your feet. |
The pictures below are of the red and black courses. I had decided that I would not be able to do the red course, but my family assured me that I could. So after watching for a while, I gave in.
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This was the first obstacle on the red course, after climbing a rock wall up to the platform. Those are essentially monkey swings, and you had to have both feet at the rope in order to keep them steady. I got onto the second one, but the first one was stuck between my legs. Once I freed it, my arms were done, and I had no idea how to move on. Thankfully a guy came over and told me to sit down and move across that way. So much easier! However, I still had a long way to go! |
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I had no idea if I was going to be able to cross that rock wall, and there was no other way off. A couple of time I thought my feet were going to slip off, but I did successfully cross it. |
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The rest looked daunting, but they were much easier than I had thought. |
After the red course, I knew I could not do black. A woman who was up in the black course while I was doing the red one told me the black was really hard and all upper body. My muscles had all they could handle on the red course, so I just watched.
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To get the the black course you first have to scale a tree. |
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Then walk the wire while pushing that huge bag across. |
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Sam decided to follow Mike up the black course. |
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Once you manage to get the bag out of your way so you can get onto the platform, then you have to scale a spider web. |
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I was so scared and proud of Sam. |
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Tommy stayed safely on the ground with me. We offered encouragement as Mike and Sam impressed us with their craziness! |
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After the web, you had to skateboard to the next platform. Mike had just been talking about the super hero Silver Surfer while we drove up to the park. He got the opportunity to channel his inner Silver Surfer. |
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Sam took a little break on the platform before making her way up the spiderweb. |
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In addition to going across while on the web, you also have to climb up to the next platform while unhooking and re-hooking the carabiners. |
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Tommy took video of Sam while on the web. |
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Another obstacle on the black was to climb from one platform to the next like a sloth. |
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Then there were rings you had to swing across. |


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Sam made the skateboard look almost fun. |
Finally, you had to swing from a rope to the rope ladder, and climb down.
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Sam opted not to use her legs and pulled herself across with her arms only. |
The next pictures are some Mike took while on the platforms between obstacles on the black course.
It was such a fun day. There was a lot of hard work, and I surprised myself with how much I could do. And the purple course, with only zip lining was the perfect way to rest a little and get ready for the another climb!
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