Holy cow are the first G-rated words that come to mind when
reflecting on this past weekend. Shale
Hill Adventure (http://www.shalehilladventure.com
) is an obstacle course training facility located in Benson, VT. It’s opened year round, and people come from
all over the map to visit this tiny, rural, Vermont town and practice for OCR’s
such as Mudder, Spartan, Warrior, etc.
It’s a 10k course with over 51 grueling obstacles. The first time you go you are escorted by a
guide. And by guide I mean Rob, the
owner. He’s insanely fit and designed/built
the entire thing himself. He walks you through the course, giving you pointers
and helpful hints to successfully concur each obstacle. Helpful hints or no helpful hints, I could only
complete about ½ of them. The other ½ I either
attempted and was unsuccessful, or simply skipped all together, knowing full
well that my lack of wing span and/or upper body strength wasn’t gonna cut it.
I was with a group of about 12 people (our Sprockets/Tenacious
Tigers team) and it took forever to complete.
To give you some perspective, the average person can complete entire
course in about 2 hrs. The fastest time,
achieved by a professional OCR, completed it in 1 hr 08min. And our group?? Over 5 hours.
But that’s because we started and finished as a team, helping each other
out along the way. And we even stopped for a popsicle break half way through... Thanks Rob :)
And this little adventure is not for the faint of heart. There’s 100% chance you’ll walk away with minor cuts,
bruises, rope burn, splinters, and as someone so eloquently put it “looking like
a mange victim” from repeatedly climbing over giant bales of hay. And I’m pretty sure my pudgy tummy was
finally a god sent, when I went barellassing into a board at full speed and
bruised a couple ribs. But as long as
you don’t mind getting a little banged up, I would highly recommend giving it a
whirl.. It’s a ton of fun and a
great opportunity to test your mental grit and push yourself to your physical limits.
And at the bargain price of $25, why not?
Besides, there’s a killer taco cart across the street. Heck, I’d go back just for the tacos :)
