Guide · 17 lines · 14 grounds · operators' own rules
Too light and you stop short.
Too heavy and you arrive too fast.
A zipline is physics you can feel: your weight sets your speed, and the brake at the far end is built for a band of speeds. That is why every line has a minimum as well as a maximum, and why the bands differ from 25 to 140 kg in Flåm to 100–245 lb on the Royal Gorge. This guide lists the rules at every zipline on our grounds, what the tours cost, and the one national injury study that exists.
Operators' own limits on 18 grounds
Minimums matter as much as maximums. A rider who is too light may not carry enough speed to reach the landing platform on a long or flat line and has to be hauled in; a rider who is too heavy arrives faster than the brake is set for. Operators therefore publish a band – typically 30–35 kg to 120–130 kg (about 65–75 lb to 275–300 lb) – and some add height and waist limits because the harness must fit. Lines with a passive brake at the end (Flåm, Bovec) can take lighter riders in tandem with a guide; urban lines with active brakes (Fly LINQ, SlotZilla) take 50–60 lb and have no age limit at all.
Age ranges from 5 (Keana Farms, Sky Trek) to 12 (Madeira), usually set by the harness size and the platform height rather than the ride. Pregnancy is a standard exclusion. Almost everywhere, tours run in rain and are cancelled for lightning or high wind.
Cheapest bookable offer per ground, as retrieved Sept 25, 2026
Zipline prices are all about length: $20–45 for a single urban line (Las Vegas), €35–95 for a European park run (First, Ulriken, Bovec, Lake Garda), and $120–250 for the big canopy tours – Whistler's Sasquatch, Keana Farms, Koloa. Flåm and SlotZilla are sold direct only.
The only national count is a 2015 study of US emergency-room data by Nationwide Children's Hospital: an estimated 16,850 zipline injuries between 1997 and 2012, rising steeply with the sport's boom – the annual rate grew 52 % between 2009 and 2012. What the numbers say is where the risk sits: 77 % of injuries were falls, 46.7 % were fractures, 11.7 % of patients were admitted to hospital – and 45 % of the injured were children under ten, a third of them hurt on backyard and residential ziplines, not on commercial courses. The authors' conclusion was a call for uniform standards; the commercial industry answers with ASTM F2959, in force since 2012, which sets the design and operation practice for aerial adventure courses. For a rider, the rule that follows from the data: a licensed course with double-clipped harnesses and a guided brake, never a homemade line.
16,850zipline injuries in US emergency rooms · 1997–2012
National estimate from the NEISS database; the annual injury rate per million population rose 52.3 % from 2009 to 2012. Includes residential ziplines.
Source: Billock et al., American Journal of Emergency Medicine 2015
77.3 %of injuries were falls
Fractures made up 46.7 % of injuries, upper extremities were hit most often (44.1 %), and 11.7 % of patients required hospitalization.
45 %of the injured were aged 0–9
Where the location was known, 30.8 % of injuries happened in a residential setting – the study's case against homemade ziplines and for uniform commercial standards.
Source: Ziptrek Ecotours, FAQ; operator pages linked on each ground
Yes, in both directions. Typical bands are 30–35 kg to 120–130 kg (65–75 lb to 275–300 lb): Whistler 75–275 lb, Kualoa 70–280 lb, Flåm 25–140 kg, Madeira 35–120 kg. Some lines add height and waist limits because the harness must fit. Light children can often ride tandem with a guide.
From 5 at Keana Farms and Sky Trek Arenal, 6 at YS Falls, 7 at Koloa, 8 on Ulriken, 9 in Iceland, 10 on the Sasquatch, Kualoa and the Goliath, 12 in Madeira. Las Vegas's Fly LINQ has no age limit, only a height band. Children under 12–16 usually need an adult on the tour.
$20–45 for a single urban line in Las Vegas, €35–95 for park runs in Europe, $120–250 for the long canopy tours in Whistler, Hawaii and Costa Rica. See the price table above for the cheapest bookable offer on each ground.
The only national data is a US emergency-room study: an estimated 16,850 zipline injuries from 1997 to 2012, 77 % of them falls, 47 % fractures, 12 % admitted to hospital. Nearly half the injured were children under ten and a third of injuries happened on residential ziplines. Commercial courses in the US work to the ASTM F2959 standard; the practical rules are a licensed course, double clipping and hands off the cable.
No – Ziptrek and most operators exclude pregnancy outright, because of the harness and the braking forces. Many offer a treetop walk instead.
Closed shoes, long hair tied back, nothing loose or dangling, no bag; long shorts or trousers under the harness and a light layer for mountain courses.
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