NRV O utdoors
Soaring for a Sense of Accomplishment
Text by Karl H. Kazaks Photos courtesy of Buffalo Mountain Ziplines One day recently Robert Nickell sat in a rocking chair on the front porch of the business he and his wife, Joanna, run, Buffalo Mountain Ziplines. Located in Floyd near the Blue Ridge Parkway, the zipline course is the longest in Virginia, with one of its sections traversing 2,400 feet. A group of zipliners was sailing through the canopy of the Blue Ridge forest, the pulleys of the devices which attach to their harnesses and move them down the galvanized steel cable through the woods making a pleasant whirring sound. “There’s not a better feeling than seeing a family and friends out there 22
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enjoying themselves,” Nickell observed. “People really connect with each other. The camaraderie is super, and they come out feeling happy.” Buffalo Mountain Ziplines opened the last day of June in 2019, but the Nickells have a long experience with zipline operations. They built the first commercial canopy tour business in the U.S. 15 years ago in North Carolina. Robert Nickell is from Winston-Salem. He has constructed ziplines in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana, Costa Rica, China and Canada, including courses which required a helicopter to put the cable in place. Cable
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is typically hauled by hand through the cleared course in the woods and lifted by a winch. Prior to getting into the zipline business, Nickell was a contractor. He grew up in a family of engineers and understands the proper way to set up a zipline so enthusiasts can soar through the sky safely. One of his courses on a Caribbean Island which was buffeted by Hurricane Irma in 2017 included the only built structures left standing after the hurricane passed over the island. A zipline course typically consists of a number of stations which pass through a forest. Each station can
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