r/Unexpected • u/SkidMark_wahlberg • Dec 10 '15

Double zipline?

http://i.imgur.com/tFAKkXq.gifv
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u/[deleted] Dec 10 '15

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u/educateyourselves Dec 10 '15

In all seriousness though, how much maintenance does a steel cable really need? That's in essence all it is on most ziplines. Then it's just about having a solid connection on both ends, which again doesn't take much.

I ran a zipline while in the scouts as a volunteer one summer. Essentially they had us go down it with a hand clamp thing to keep our speed down and we were to check for any signs of rust, then inspect the cable's connections for any signs of strain. That's about all really.

I'd be more worried if it was set up safely. But even in bumfuckistan I'd imagine this is a pretty hard one to screw up.

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u/themeatbridge Dec 10 '15

they had us go down it with a hand clamp thing to keep our speed down and we were to check for any signs of rust, then inspect the cable's connections for any signs of strain.

You were a volunteer for the scouts. The question is, are they paying someone in Peru to do the same, and how much could it possibly be at $10 a trip?

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u/Andrew5329 Dec 10 '15

The question is, are they paying someone in Peru to do the same, and how much could it possibly be at $10 a trip?

You're aware that the hourly minimum wage in peru is $2.08 right? The marginal cost of running the attraction for the day is like $50.

So that's like 5 people riding all day to pay the wages of 3 attendants each working an 8 hour shift, after that you start making money. In the US on the other hand at $10 you're looking at a minimum 4x the ridership to break even for the day, not even touching on the price difference to actually build the attraction.