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Sports Science: Highmark SportsWorks, Carnegie Science Center installs Sky Trail® by Ropes Course Inc.

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Highmark SportsWorks Carnegie Science Center

Adventure attraction specialist, Ropes Course Inc., has installed its Sky Trail® Discovery course at the Carnegie Science Center’s Highmark SportsWorks® in Pittsburgh.

Ropes Course Inc.’s single level course includes seven poles and eleven elements, with a “walk the plank” and Sky Rail® zip line.  Beneath the course is a six pole Sky Tykes® for younger kids.

Highmark SportsWorks® opened in 2009 adjacent to the Carnegie Science Center.  Featuring dozens of interactive exhibits designed to take the love of sports at every age, the unique facility uses the activities as a gateway for learning science in areas like physics, anatomy, and biology.

Ropes Course Carnegie Science Center Highmark SportsWorks

“One of the founding concepts of Highmark SportsWorks is to offer full-body, immersive and full-size experiences – a real 10-metre dash, MLB-scale pitching cage, etc., and then bring out the science involved,” says  Dennis Bateman, Senior Director of Exhibits and Experience, Carnegie Science Center.

“The ropes course appealed to us both for the scale of it, but also for the cross-over science – there’s the physics involved in things like balance and center of mass and inertia, but also the physiology of fear and thrills and perception: how does your brain react to a challenge; what makes you sweat when you are on a difficult challenge, what happens in your body when you overcome a challenge and are flush with success?

The ropes course will be a great way for them to consider the physics, physiology and psychology of something active kids do every day

“We love the idea of bringing new experiences to our guests, especially experiences that are not, on their face, science, and making them realize there is science in their everyday lives – batting a ball, riding a bike, running down the sidewalk. The ropes course will be a great way for them to consider the physics, physiology and psychology of something active kids do every day, but at a great scale, in a social setting, and with some interesting twists.”

The Highmark SportsWorks® Ropes Challenge opens on Monday, June 19th 2017, and will be included in general admission.

Images: Carnegie Science Center & Ropes Course Inc.

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Ella Baskerville

Ella is business development director and looks after client relationships and new business. Joining blooloop in 2015, she has a degree in Natural Science from the University of Bath, but her true passion lies with the attractions industry and is a self-confessed theme park geek.

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