Is Ziplining Scary If I Have a Fear of Heights? Here’s My Experience

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Are you considering going ziplining, but wondering if it is too scary for you? The good news is that if you want to do it, you can – physically at least. The mental hurdles are what make ziplining seem scary, but you can overcome those with some patience and grace.

Let me start off by admitting to my own fear of heights. Back in 2018, I bailed out of going up a lighthouse in the Outer Banks that I had bought tickets to climb. The disappointment I felt over this failed climbing attempt prompted me to start facing my fears head on.

Amazingly, I can now officially say I’ve gone ziplining, something I’d previously assumed was too scary for me. I’d always considered ziplining, along with activities like bungee jumping and sky diving, to be off the table.

However, sometime during 2022 I began feeling a growing urge to give ziplining a try. I don’t know if it was because I’d been continuously facing my fear of heights since 2018 and needed a new challenge, or if watching people do it on social media had made this activity seem appealing. All I know is that going ziplining was no longer a nonstarter.

Having seen the exhilaration on the other side of the discomfort that ensues upon facing a very real fear, I want to inspire and assure others that they can do the same. Below, I am sharing exactly how I steadied my mind in order to leave solid ground in favor of tiny platforms connected by steel cables.

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Is Ziplining Too Scary With a Fear of Heights?

First things first: I will never be the person who tells you not to do something just because you are scared.

The moment you reach the other side of fear is the moment you start living.

Below, I am showing how I ignored the limiting voices in my own head to overcome my fear of heights that was making ziplining seem so scary.

1. Start By Saying Yes

For the adventures to begin, you will have to start by firmly deciding that you are going to zipline. Start looking for ziplining opportunities in your area or make it an excuse to travel to another city or state.

My first ziplining opportunity came from an unexpected place. It was in fact my mother in law who craved this new adventure and invited me along for the ride. I knew in my gut I wanted to say yes, so suddenly my husband Aaron, his parents, and I were booked for an October ziplining session in our local area.

2. Educate Yourself

It’s okay if your initial thoughts after booking a ziplining session are what have I done? Nerves are perfectly normal and expected. Doing some research to better understand ziplining can help calm these worries.

I checked out our tour operator to see what the course would be like, including the height, scenery, and number of ziplines. The company also clearly stated on its website that it follows industry guidelines for regular safety inspections.

I also read the risks of ziplining to understand how often participants get hurt and why. It turns out that deaths from equipment failure are very rare and that ziplining is statistically much safer than driving.

3. Dress Comfortably

Give yourself one less thing to worry about by dressing appropriately, starting with footwear. Ziplining requires climbing up stairs to small platforms, so wear sturdy sneakers or hiking shoes.

You’ll want to wear comfortable athletic clothing that is weather appropriate. Shorts and short sleeves are fine in hot weather. For our chilly October trip, I wore thick yoga pants, a long sleeve running shirt, and a fleece.

If you must bring items to stow in your pockets, make sure they are pockets that zip. Do not carry more items with you then necessary. I left my phone and sunglasses in the car, although my husband was fine wearing his regular glasses.

4. Show Up

There isn’t much you need to do to prepare for ziplining and it’s best to not think about it too much in advance if you’re nervous. It is not in the least productive to fantasize about worst case scenarios (although I am a hypocrite as I write this).

Keep your thoughts positive and visualize yourself having a successful ziplining session. At the very least, keep your thoughts neutral and your mind open.

I will be honest and say that I began to feel increased anxiety as the day got closer. My biggest fear was letting myself down by being too afraid to leave the first platform.

That’s why it’s best not to think too far beyond the first step: showing up. The best part is you can basically just arrive as you are (besides varying size restrictions related to safety). There are no specialized skills or high fitness levels required.

5. Trust Your Guides to Make Ziplining Less Scary

Your guides want you to have a successful experience and have encountered plenty of people with a fear of heights. Do not be afraid to confide in them about your concerns so they can help you along. That is, unless you are like me and prefer to grin and bear it.

Once you’ve arrived to the zipline course, you likely won’t climb up to the platforms immediately. Our guides first got everyone set up with equipment one at a time. Then we had “ground school” where we learned about safety, how to leave the platform, and how to brake for the next platform. Practicing helped quell my fears by arming me with knowledge and providing a feel for the equipment.

You will likely watch a guide zipline from the initial platform first. From there on out, you will simply be following their instructions. This includes when you are safe to leave the platform and when you need to begin breaking.

Braking is the part where you really need to trust them. If you brake too early, you may slow down too much and might not have enough speed to reach the platform (necessitating the use of your hands to scoot the rest of the way). Not braking soon enough poses a safety hazard.

6. Leave the First Platform

Now it’s showtime. After ground school, it was time to ascend a set of wooden stairs to the first platform, which was 30 feet high. While from the ground, the height looked like child’s play, things felt much different in the air. Apparently, it is totally normal to perceive heights as being much worse from above.

It was critical for me to get through the first platform. If I could do that, I felt I’d have the nerve to complete the entire course. If I’m honest, though, I never considered failure to be an option.

That said, I wanted to watch others go before I took my turn. What happened next surprised me: all I had to do was sit in my harness and lift my legs, leaving gravity to do the dirty work. It requires much less courage to lift your legs than to say, literally step off of a perfectly good platform.

Now that the first mental hurdle was conquered, it was time to focus on my next worry: braking. Unsurprisingly, I was way over cautious on my first attempt and stopped several feet short of the platform. However, I was able to easily implement the “emergency brake” our guides had taught us to prevent going back further and begin pulling myself in along the line.

Oddly, hovering above the ground for those couple seconds didn’t trigger my fear of heights. I was much too focused on getting myself to the next platform.

7. Then Take It One Platform At a Time

Admittedly, I was still uncomfortable when we got to the next platform, which was small with no railings. We were tied off, so I knew we were safe. I also had Aaron and my in laws to talk to and distract my thoughts. I avoided looking at the ground and kept my focus on the platform and task at hand as much as possible.

The hardest part for me was waiting on the platform for my next turn since I was in a group of six other people. In fact, the ziplining part itself really was not very scary.

While I didn’t look down to take in the scenery while cruising through the air, I don’t think it would have bothered me too much. I felt pretty secure in the harness and was moving too fast to overthink. However, I focused my attention on the guide waiting on the next platform since I still felt nervous about braking.

8. Celebrate Overcoming Your Fears

Once you have finished crossing the last zip line (we had seven), it’s time to celebrate being back on solid ground and overcoming your fears!

Or maybe you will have one more obstacle like we did: rappelling to the ground on a rope. This should have been terrifying for me – maybe deep down it was. Let me tell you though: I was so ready to get back to the ground at that point that I no longer cared what sort of acrobatics were being asked of me.

When I reached the ground, I was a different person. I was now a badass who completed an entire zipline course without issue or hesitation and even rappelled to the ground at the end! Limits I had once imposed on myself had been shattered into nothing and a new world of possibilities had opened up. What else could I do?

The four of us went out for lunch and sealed off the experience with a well-deserved cocktail.

9. Keep Doing Scary Things After Ziplining

The ability to do things while scared is a muscle that requires ongoing attention. Don’t let this be the last time that you face your fear of ziplining, or even other fears for that matter.

Would I go ziplining again? Yes. However, I do have reservations about going even higher. I believe the highest we got was 75 feet, but there are ziplines out in the world that are hundreds of feet in the air!

That said, never say never. If you would have asked me in 2018, I never would have thought I’d go ziplining five years later. It’s amazing how you continue to expand with each fear you conquer, big and small.

I now find that facing an activity with heights or other types of discomfort is no longer be an immediate no. Okay, fine, sky diving still is. However, I continue to surprise myself with the challenges I take on, so who knows in five more years what those will be.

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Bottom line: if this scaredy cat who once barely made it up a lighthouse can zipline, you can too! Ziplining definitely looks scary, especially if you are afraid of heights. However, if you feel even the smallest urge to give it a try, then I promise the long-lasting satisfaction and pride you’ll feel afterwards is worth facing the temporary discomfort.