1. What is a ropes course?
2. Can you work with any size group?
3. Where do you offer programs?
4. Do you offer programs year round?
5. How long does a program last?
6. Are your able to offer customized programs?
7. Is your program safe?
8. Do you have to be a super athlete to participate in programs?
9. Why is team leadership training so important?
10. Do you offer riding lessions?

1. What is a ropes course?

What is a ropes course? A challenge ropes course is a series of individual and group physical challenges that require a combination of teamwork skills and individual commitment.  Courses are constructed of rope, cables, and wood.  They are typically built in trees (or using telephone poles) and are sometimes built indoors in gymnasiums.  There are high ropes courses and low ropes courses.  Our course is a low ropes course designed specifically for enhancing the effectiveness of groups.  All of our course elements are built outdoors on a 14 acre campus that is adjacent to the Truckee River.  We have maximized the use of existing trees and have utilized a few telephone poles to augment possibilities.  We have 12 elements built into the existing landscape and several dozen other initiatives that we carry around the property to make the most of the beauty along the river.  The use of ropes courses has spread from the physical education classes and outdoor centers of the early 1970's to a broad range of educational, recreational, and therapeutic organizations and institutions.  From the beginning, youth-at-risk programs and agencies have seen the potential of the high impact training offered by the ropes course.  Increasingly, in the eighties, substance abuse programs, therapeutic agencies, and psychiatric hospitals began using adventure based ropes programs as an adjunct to their traditional treatment interventions.  The nineties saw corporate and professional groups taking advantage of the power of ropes training to enhance their personnel training programs.  Team building needs, communication issues, creative problem solving, healthy risk taking strategies, stress reduction techniques and many other professional development themes have been powerfully addresses through adventure based ropes approaches.

2. Can you work with any size group?

One of the benefits of having the 14 acre campus is our ability to have small groups, large groups, even multiple groups on the course at the same time.  Our groups over the last five years have ranged in size from just 4 or 5 up to 90 or 100.  The underlying psychological and educational assumption behind Ropes Challenge Courses is that if a person is supported to move out of his/her comfort zone, and has a successful experience, then powerful conditions exist for positive change.  This is a "development-by-challenge", "stress-inoculation" or "resilience-building" philosophy.  Depending on the specific goals of a group we might recommend creating different size groups.  Most groups consist of 10 to 20 participants.  This is a great size group because it offers everyone the maximum opportunity for supportive personal and group growth.  Larger groups will most often be divided into smaller teams and may at times or after completion of certain activities be merged once again into larger groups.  The final activity will usually involve the entire group.

3. Where do you offer programs?

With our portability it is quite easy for  MountainShadow Challenge to offer services on our campus (which is located at 1725 S. McCarran Blvd - across the road from the UNR agricultural station and right on the Truckee River) or yours.  We have successfully run programs on school and church grounds.  We have facilitated programs in State and local parks.  One of our very first trainings was completed with a group of 70 professionals up at Lake Tahoe.  While our river campus provides great scenery and a nice opportunity to get away sometimes groups prefer that we come to them at their places of business or in the convention centers or hotels where they are gathering.  This can be a great time saver for groups that have additional training needs beyond the ropes experience.

4. Do you offer programs year round?

Like the US Post Office neither rain nor snow keeps us from our appointed rounds.  We run programs 12 months a year at our facility.  There are really only a few days a year that require significant changes in planning to accommodate the weather.  Here in the Truckee Meadows we are blessed with an abundance of sunny blue sky days.  The winds of Spring, heat of Summer and limited snow in Winter simply add an additional degree of difficulty to the challenges we set up for participants.  Take a look at our 2006 public calendar.

5. How long does a program last?

Programs can last anywhere from a few hours, to a few weeks.  Goals and expectations of the group are the largest factor in determining the length of any particular program.  We have several contracts that are organized around a full year of trainings - monthly meetings on the ropes course supported by weekly groups in their facilities.  Most groups come out for 4 to 8 hours of training.  For many this is all they are looking or need.  Other's will utilize the half or full day experience to jump start their group and build in quarterly support programs to build on the basics.  There is no right or wrong way to get started.  We are happy to assist any group with a needs assessment to clarify the best way for them to benefit from the experience regardless of the time spent on the course.

6. Are your able to offer customized programs?

It would be fair to say that every program is a custom program.  Even within the course of the actual training facilitators are readjusting activities and challenges to accommodate the needs of the group.  The key to our success had been our ability to tailor all of our programs specifically to meet the clients' goals.  The intent of this web site, our brochures and other marketing materials is to give you an idea of the types of programs we offer, not to define the limits of our imagination.  Pricing is based on the number of participants, goals of the group and the length of the program.  Proposals can be faxed within 24 hours.  All  MountainShadow Challenge programs use experienced trainers.  Program designs are done by our directors.

7. Is your program safe?

At MountainShadow Challenge nothing takes a higher priority than safety. Our beautiful river campus has been designed, built, and maintained to the highest national standards, using current state of the art equipment. With the precautions and safety measures in place on our ropes course elements provide very low actual risk, while the perceived risk provides powerful experiences that can be used to foster personal and professional growth.  Additionally, our directors and most all of our facilitators have been trained by Project Adventure - one of the international leaders in the Ropes Course industry.  Project Adventure has a 30 year impeccable safety record because of their attention to general safety principles.  We utilize a their curricula in programs that we design - carefully sequencing program activities as much for safety reasons as for achieving the stated goals of the group.  We understand that there are inherent dangers in the work we do we stress safety with  our facilitators and participants.  Our course is inspected by Project Adventure annually.  There are no high elements on our course.  There is no special equipment or belaying lines necessary for any of our initiatives or elements.  Our trainers and consultants are veteran program specialists with extensive backgrounds in both Adventure and their professional fields. Our team is made up of therapists, educators, realtors, marketing specialists, graphic artists, athletes, and business people who can tailor the Adventure experience to your specific needs. 

Health and Safety Considerations
For over 6 years,  MountainShadow Challenge has maintained an excellent safety record. We are committed to keeping this excellent record. For this reason, we ask you to take some responsibility for your health during our experiential, activity-based workshops. When we receive your registration information, we will send you a release of liability form and request for further health information.  Although safety is a very high priority, there is a risk that must be assumed by each participant that he or she may suffer physical or emotional injury. 

8. Do you have to be a super athlete to participate in programs?

MountainShadow Challenge workshops use a variety of activities including warm-ups, games, team building initiatives and low Ropes Course elements.  Our programs are designed so that every person can participate, regardless of physical ability.  Some activities are more mentally challenging than physically. Others can be physically demanding.  All of our activities are designed to be within the capability of anyone who is in reasonably good health.  All activities are presented on a "Challenge by Choice" basis.  This means that participants are offered: 1. A chance to try potentially difficult and/or challenging initiatives in an atmosphere of support and caring.  2. The opportunity to 'back out' when performance pressures or self-doubt become too strong, knowing that an opportunity for a future attempt will always be available.   3. A chance to try difficult tasks, recognizing that the attempt is more significant than performance results.  4. Respect for their individual ideas and choices.  While safety is a very high priority in all of our programs, there is a risk which must be assumed by each participant that they may suffer an emotional or physical injury.  All participants are provided with information on how to best prepare for the day and be able to have a good time.

9.  Why is team leadership training so important?

Effective team leadership training is essential for overall workplace/classroom/group... productivity.  Why?  In today's work/class/group environment it is almost impossible to avoid becoming part of a team.  The purpose and functions of teams may differ, but one commonality is that most have a team leader.  Whether granted authority by the organization/class..., or simply perceived as the leader by the team itself, these team leaders play a critical role in the efficiency and performance of the team 

Teams are not inherently productive just because they exist.  A team made up of uniquely qualified and talented individuals may quickly become immersed in a quagmire of conflict, poor communication, unrealistic goals, motivation, and vision - between individuals who may have had no previous interaction. 

Our team leadership training programs teach participants the skills necessary for effective team leadership.  Topics include: Roles of team leaders. Key facilitation skills, Specific communication skills, Group decision strategies, How leadership roles impact the stages of team development.

Our Claiming Your Place program accomplishes similar goals by focusing on three specific modules of information: The Individual, The Community, and The Relationship Between the Individual and the Community.  This series is designed to produce extremely powerful results.  Using experiential activities, young people are given the opportunity to make positive choices, gain self awareness, self confidence, and learn skills that are critical to their lifelong development, including  increased motivation, creativity, problem solving, goal setting, critical thinking, respect for and understanding of others, how to be a healthy part of any team/group/organization/community.

10. Do you offer riding lessons?

No.  When we use horses in our trainings they are part of the leadership and training team.  All of the work we do with the horses is called ground work.  There is no riding involved.