Ya'ar Etgar - Challenge Course

As you drive to camp along Buckatabon Road, you might notice a patch of asphalt that looks new.  If you look closer, you'll see that underneath the road there is a tunnel that connects the main campus of Ramah to its property on the other side of the street.  In the past the area on the other side of the street has been used for overnight campouts or campfires, but now there's something new, something Philip Sherman, the division head for the challenge courses, calls, "a huge, wonderful thing."  It is a brand new high ropes course, which gives campers and staff an opportunity to do something that's never been done before at camp.

A low ropes course was built on that side of the road during the summer of 2005 and cabins have been going there for team-building and bonding exercises.  But now, thanks to a grant from the Foundation for Jewish Camp as part of its Camper-Centric Initiative and support from the Skilken Family Foundation and Tobi & Ken Gold, we have a high ropes course for enhancing those skills.  It is amazing to watch campers climb up to 40 feet in the air as their cabinmates and counselors cheer them on from the ground.

Philip Sherman (Rosh Ya'ar Etgar/Challenge Courses):  This is my sixth summer on staff and my background is in working with the eidot as a counselor for several years and as a Rosh Eidah for the past two years.  I was drawn to this position this year because it was something new and exciting.  Camp has never had anything like this before and it was an opportunity for me to help develop the program into something that can be exciting, fun and educational all at the same time.

This is the first summer with the high ropes course.  We've had the low ropes course for the past three or four summers.  It was expanded last summer and we're continuing to expand on it even more.  The new course this year is the eleven-element high ropes course.  It includes a quad of six different elements, which are all traversing elements that are between 25 and 40 feet off the ground.  We also have a climbing tower which is a 40-foot climb, and it has a zip line off the top of it.

Ramah contracted with a company called Project Adventure to build the course and during staff week they sent out a trainer who spent four intense days with the Ya'ar Etgar staff to teach us everything, from warm-up games to the low ropes elements to all the of the high ropes elements, as well as safety procedures and the philosophy behind the ropes courses.  We all feel very confident in our skills with the ropes courses.

Each cabin will get to go to the ropes courses twice during the summer, once for a low element and once for a high element.  At the low course, they spend about an hour and forty-five minutes with our staff.  They start with warm-ups, team-building and bonding games and then they can continue working on those skills on one of the low ropes elements, such as the log, the teeter-totter, jump ropes, skis, or the wall.

Another time they will come out for two and a half to three hours and really get a chance to explore the high elements.  Each eidah will do two or three different elements, which we have determined would be appropriate for their age group.

Bogrim is different because they will spend the entire day with us.  They start out in the morning, doing the low ropes and other team-building activities.  In the afternoon, they will do some high ropes elements.  So it's similar to what the other eidot do, but it's more intense because it's a full day.

The campers absolutely love the courses.  It's something completely different and it is a thrill that you can't really get anywhere else, to be lifted up in the air and feel like you're flying.  And it's a great opportunity to challenge yourself.  A lot of people are scared of heights, but these activities allow both the campers and staff to push themselves and grow and overcome their fears.  It's really exciting for me and the staff.