The first thing they teach you is how to rappel down a rope. It turns out, it's not as hard as it looks. The cliffs where the rappelling is done are 65 feet (or 20 meters) high. Consider it like a 6 storey building.

They start by showing you how to set up your own gear. Somehow it helps to put you at ease when you know how things work. You'll learn how to pass a bight of rope through the "figure eight" device, and how the carabiner fastens it securely to the belay loop on your harness. Carabiner (pronounced "kar-a-bee-ner") comes from the German "Karabinerhaken", but you'll soon be calling them "beaners" like the professionals. There are two beaners to check; the second one is on your leg strap where the "autoblock" knot is attached. The instructors watch closely, and they check things before you head down the cliff. The first time you go down the cliff, an instructor goes down right beside you.

The trick is to lean back, into the rope, and resist any instinct to be upright. Soon it comes naturally.

With your right hand, you simply push down on the autoblock knot. If anything stops you from sliding the autoblock knot down, it instantly grabs the rope and refuses to slide. A perfect failsafe device.

When you get to the bottom of the cliff, you unhook yourself, and yell "Off rope", to let them know that it's safe for the next rappeller to come down. Believe it or not, if you simply yell up at the top of the cliff, it will be hard for those up top to hear you, so you yell toward the cliff on the other side, and the people up top will hear the echo.

Three times down the cliff and you're ready for the zipline.