Jack Walker Published

Bungee Jumping Coming To Harpers Ferry This Spring

A woman with red hair and a blue shirt is freefalling toward a body of water in a quarry, attached to a platform above by a long blue elastic cord. A staff members stands on the platform above.
A woman jumps from a platform at The Great Bungee Company's current water-dip bungee jumping site in Canada.
The Great Bungee Company
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This spring, an abandoned quarry in Harpers Ferry will become a lot busier. That is because a Canadian company is bringing a new bungee jumping site to the Old Standard Quarry.

Participants can drop more than 150 feet and graze the water down below. Reporter Jack Walker spoke with Orin Anderson-Barwin, general manager for The Great Bungee Company, about the project so far.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Walker: Can you tell me about your company, and how this new bungee jumping site came to be?

Anderson-Barwin: We currently operate Great Canadian Bungee, which is in Canada. This will be working in partnership with them. But what we’re offering is a water-dip bungee, which is quite unique. It will be the only water-dip bungee in the U.S., actually.

The jumpers have the option to enter the water if they would like to. We offer two types of harnesses, the anchor harness as well as the body harness. The anchor harness, you’re essentially put in an upside-down position attached by your feet. The body harness, you’re going to be in a sitting position. So it’s quite unique in that sense. The water dip will offer you an option to cool off on a hot day.

Walker: Can you tell us about the site’s location?

Anderson-Barwin: The quarry itself is quite a beautiful quarry. It’s about a mile-long quarry. It’s called Old Standards Quarry, and it’s located right across from Schoolhouse Ridge battlefields, which is really cool. So it’s kind of merging history and adrenaline, if you will. We’re also located right beside River Riders. River Riders [is] a well established rafting company to do white water rafting as well as a bunch of other activities. So we are looking to partner with them in the future.

Walker: What draws people to bungee jumping as an activity?

Anderson-Barwin: A big part of it is overcoming your fear. But for others it’s just pure adrenaline. It’s a hard feeling to describe, to be honest. But the free fall is definitely a part of it that most people say that they really enjoy about it. So that moment between where you jump off and when the cords caught you, where you’re literally plummeting towards the water, that is quite the sensation.

There’s also the water dip that I highlighted before, which is kind of like a little bonus at the end, if you will — you just get dipped. Once the cord has completely decelerated, you get a little dip in the water, and that’s also a highlight for people.

An abandoned quarry is filled with water. Steep rocky edges lead into a lake filling the old excavation site, surrounded by trees with lush green leaves.
The Great Bungee Company, a Canadian business, is opening a new bungee jumping site at the Old Standard Quarry in Harpers Ferry this spring, located near Blair Road.

Photo Credit: The Great Bungee Company

Then there’s the rebound. So essentially, what a bungee cord is a bunch of elastic together, and it bounces you back up. The rebound could be up to 80% of the original height of the jump. So what that means is the whole process is almost starting over again. Once you get the rebound, you’re bouncing all the way back up, and you have a weightless moment. That’s another moment that people often describe as being one of their favorites in the experience. You’re weightless, and then you go back down, and then you have about five rebounds until you’re lowered into the boat.

Walker: What kind of safety features are planned?

Anderson-Barwin: We have operated our Canadian site for 34 years, and it’s really an industry leading standard in terms of safety. To give you just an idea, everything is redundant. So there’s a backup to essentially everything. Our procedures are quite elaborate. We have two people checking all the equipment, and we have backup equipment in place for everything. For example, there’s a backup rope, and our procedures themselves are all redundant.

We have quite the elaborate training program as well. So there’s a module training program that you have to go through to become a jumpmaster. And the jumpmaster is the person kind of responsible for the safety of the jumper during the course of the jump, and there’s all sorts of safety mechanisms in place. In terms of somebody who might be worried, of course, it’s a terrifying experience. It can be for a lot of people. But we have lots of training on that as well. So different psychological techniques to help people through that fear. There’s all sorts of different reactions when you get up and are staring down into the abyss. There’s lots of different reactions that we see, and we’re well trained on how to deal with those different reactions.

Walker: When do you plan to open?

Anderson-Barwin: We’re planning on being open seven days a week. This season will run roughly from May to November. Right now, we’re in a development phase. But what we are offering is something called the priority pass, so people are able to actually book the jump right now. … They get priority to choose their date. So essentially, even though we’re not open yet, they can book now. Before the reservation system goes open to the general public, they will have the opportunity to choose their date and time. It’s also at a discounted rate. So that’s what we’re offering at the moment, and that’s already up and running.

For more information on The Great Bungee Company and its plans for the Harpers Ferry bungee jumping site, visit the company’s website.