Millers Mountain Begins Leadership Training with new High and Low Ropes Challenge Course In Asheville, North Carolina
Opens Wedding and Event Site on 50 Acre Property

 What is it?

The Ropes and Challenge Course is an adventure medium that can be used for teaching and giving people experiences through physical expression and the introduction of challenge. Use of the course provides a relatively easy adventure activity to access for all types of different groups and individuals. Schools, hospitals, camps, universities, corporate groups, and other consumer groups can access challenge courses. The structure of the course itself consists of a number of low and high elements constructed of rope, cables, wood, and trees. The challenge course experience involves a series of individual and group challenges that require a combination of teamwork, skills and individual commitment. The goals of building awareness, trust, enhancing self-concept, and team building have applications to many different groups. The participants do not need to possess special skills or own special equipment, and in this way, the course is a very equalizing experience.

 The four assumptions for growth on the Millers Mountain Course are as follows:

1. People have more resources and are more capable than they think they are.
2. A small heterogeneous group has the resources to successfully cope with significant physical and mental challenges.
3. Significant, long lasting learning can be achieved through an intensive short term experience.
4. One learns more when presented with problems rather than solutions.

 The Millers Mountain Challenge Course Mission

Millers Mountain has integrated the challenge course into the season program as an adventure component that will not only be an asset to our program but to the community at large. The course is part of an integrated program that includes rafting and whitewater teamwork, hiking, flyfishing, waterfall exploration and Biltmore Estate Educational Tours.  The course is used for many different groups of people with and without disabilities including our own clients, school groups, community groups, other non-profit programs, and corporate groups. The challenge course also embodies the philosophy of "Universality”, where attitude, training, structure, and programming come together to create a place where experiences are equalized for all people regardless of ability level.

Including a challenge course as part of our adventure programming is closely aligned with the Millers Mountain  mission. Whereas the goals of specific groups and individuals will vary considerably, the philosophy of the Millers Mountain Challenge Course typically does not. The outcomes of a day or week on the challenge course and adventure program will vary according to the goals and objectives established prior to the experience. Outcomes have been documented and experts in the field tend to agree that the Millers Mountain Challenge Course can be used as a medium to access and promote positive self-concept (Mobley & Marlow, 1987), enhance the development of self-reliance, self-discipline, judgment, and responsibility (Keighley, 1993), and offer the potential for growth in physical, emotional, and intellectual domains (McAvoy & Dustin, 1986).

Participation on the course is goal-oriented with close attention paid to the sequential nature of a meaningful challenge course experience. Safety is the backbone for all aspects of programming and decision-making. Our philosophy holds that the physical experiences on the challenge course have great potential to be empowering metaphors, sometimes discreet, sometimes profound, but ever present. These physical experiences become meaningful when this empowerment is articulated through discussions both during and after the time spent on the course. The Miller Mountain course is intended to be a place to lay the groundwork for learning new life skills, building self-confidence, strengthening teams, and enabling people to experience the freedom of outdoor recreation.

Generally speaking, experience on a challenge course is a group activity. Groups or teams work together through low and high challenges and in so doing, learn about themselves and others in the group. As a group activity, the learning that occurs on the challenge course can be very powerful and can lay the roots for highly effective teams.