Just now we looked like fighter pilots, in red overalls and white helmet, around the chest a hybrid of harness and butcher's apron. But now every pride is over. We lie on bunks on the buggies, in the best mood of the Welsh we are strapped down with harnesses and clicked into carabiners in steel sledges. "Three, two, one - and go!" Someone yells. Head over we shoot at the steel rope of the Zipline over turquoise water.
Could be a lagoon in the South Seas, I think in short flight, or a glacial lake in Patagonia - if there were not the gray steps all around. They are the remnants of the world's largest slate mine. Although remains are not completely correct, after all, the Penrhyn quarry is still active - as one of the last in Wales.
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Through the quarry at 190 km / h: Breathless through the parkSlate was the export hit here in the 19th century. Stone slabs were sold as roof tiles, writing boards, tombstones and even billiard tables all over the world. Until first the Spanish, then the Chinese slate were cheaper and the mines closed in the sixties. Now comes new life in the old open pit. With a lot of money, entrepreneurs turn brownfields into adventure playgrounds. And the curious come in despite high prices.
Monitors in the visitor center promise "The fastest zipline in the world", with 190 km / h, an ex-rugby player is said to have raced down the Velocity 2, an employee tells. That pulls. Every 20 minutes, groups are weighed, clothed and carted to the launching pad.
Like the nets of a monster spider
The plant was created by Sean Taylor, an army veteran from the area. Twelve years ago he put his money into a high ropes course, and a few years later he started Zip World with two friends. 251 million pounds have been invested in the past five years alone, says company spokeswoman Joanna Perrin. The Government of Wales generously raised money. In summer meanwhile 500 people - above all North Welsh - work at the three locations.
The guests came mainly from Central England, families as well as bachelor parties, says Perrin. "A few days ago, a 91-year-old sailed down Velocity 2." Whether the elderly lady has ventured into the slate caves is questionable. In the underground mines at Blaenau Ffestiniog , Zip World has built an even weirder fun park.
Through a low tunnel we go into the mountain, until a cave opens in which a monster spider seems to have stretched their nets. Inspired by colorful headlights and encouraged by party music, children and parents jump through the trampolines , which are stretched over each other in several levels and next to each other. In between, they crawl through nets or slide down slides.
Only one thing hardly goes on the wobbly nets: stand still. And so we are sweaty after a quarter of an hour, even though it is cool in the cave. Luckily, it's not just us that way: soon the first children lie with outstretched arms in the musty smelling nets.
The first impact is hard
Time for lunch, of course served on slate plates, before returning to the cave, to the underground via ferrata . The instruction is long and thorough, because this time we have to go through the course alone. A young bearded man explains how to put on the climbing gear, how to guide the strap with the safety bar through the steel cable and how to correctly place the mini slide on the zipline. "You can only get out in an emergency."
In the semi-darkness, we paddle along the slate wall on steel hangers and step bars, the disco music is noisy, the children in the trampolines are shouting. On the platform, we hang the sled into the steel cable, let us sink into the belt and slide off, across the abyss to the next platform.
The first impact is still hard, but the wall is padded, and soon we have the landing out. From cave to cave it continues, crawling through tunnels, balancing over suspension bridge and steel rope, shimmying under a monkey ladder. Compared to via ferrata in the Alps, this is extraordinary.
"Zip World already has plans for an old coal mine in South Wales, " says Perrin, to be converted into the next adrenaline plant in the coming years. And in the Penrhyn Quarry, guests can soon race down the serpentines in three-wheeled carts . The Empire needs to invest. Because the competition is busy.
Push up, jump up, keep balance
Adventure Parc Snowdonia is the name of the challenger. Its fun park is located in Dolgarrog on the northeastern border of the national park. The industrial family Ainscough has bought an old aluminum factory here, demolished and opened in its place in 2015, a Surflagune with a running wave: a long-drawn tank, in the middle of a narrow bridge runs on thin steel girders.
"It's like a ski lift pulling a big snow plow through the water," says Tom Kenyon. The 31-year-old rode the waves off the Hebrides as a boy. For four years he works as a surf instructor in Adventure Parc Snowdonia. Of course, here you do not learn to dive under waves or to read them out on the ocean, says Kenyon. "It's just a nice, fun point break."
Florian Sanktjohanser / TMN
Surf instructor Tom Kenyon
With a few strokes we paddle out to the plastic reef, where the wave breaks every 90 seconds. As the plow pushes through the center channel, the pros first jump on the approaching wave, then it's our turn. The spray shoots over the shoulders, the wave seizes the board. Push up, jump up, keep balance. And, as Kenyon has told us: jump back in time in front of the edge of the pool.
In order to have guests in the winter and to stay for several days, there is a new hall. Protected from the Welsh rains, you can climb through a climbing trail under the roof, crawl into fiberglass caves, and jump over a ninja course. And, like at Zip World, fly outside on steel cables over the lagoon.
However, as fast as the highway in the Penrhyn quarry you do not hunt there, and the water is more brown than turquoise. But you could almost think through the veil of drizzle, that grows on the hill behind the lagoon tropical rainforest - if you just a little bit the eyes.
