What are C.O.P.E.'s Elements?

A COPE Course consists of a number of elements, or events, which the group encounters. Each event is designed to challenge the group in a different way, but all are designed to improve one or more of the Project COPE objectives. Basically, there are two classifications of elements, low course and high course.

Initiative Games
The initiative games consist of activities to help participants learn each other's names and to learn to work together through communication and trust to achieve their goals.

Trust Events
A series of activities designed to develop trust in the mind of the individual and with the group as a whole, as well as developing spotting skills.

Low Course
The Low Course consists of 13 exciting and challenging elements that require participants to swing on ropes, balance on swaying cables, experience breath-taking "trust falls," and scale 12-foot walls. Other events pose challenging problems that can only be solved with group effort. These elements range in height from ground-level to 12 feet in the air. They typically do not require the use of a safety line, however they do require the assistance of the group to "spot" the individual(s) on the element.

High Course
The High Course offers even more exciting challenges, with events ranging in height from ground level to 40 feet in the air. Participants will ascend a caving ladder, climb a cargo net, traverse a two-wire crossing, defy a leap into space, become a "flying squirrel," and ride a 700 foot long zipline. These elements require not only "spotting," but also safety (belay) lines.

Tower
The Storz Tower at Camp Cedars boasts 20-foot, 35 foot and 50 foot climbing walls, as well as rapelling opportunities. The climbing walls have hand/foot holds that feel just like the face of a real climb. The holds can be configured in hundreds of locations on the walls in order to customize the wall to a particular group. The tower is also lighted to provide evening and night use for even more flexibility.