Atzmännig Ropes Course

The Atzmännig Rope Park is fun for both big and small, with other amusements and hiking nearby. They have six courses of varying difficulty for adults and older children.

They also have two small courses for kids aged 4-8, which are not very high off the ground and use an “always connected” harness system. This is safer and easier for young children to use. 

We’ve been here many times and love it.

Overview

In a ropes course, you climb around a series of obstacles that are constructed high above the ground, usually in the trees. You wear a harness that is secured to the course with ropes. In German, it is called “Seilpark,” “Hochseilgarten,” or “Kletterpark.”

Atzmännig has 8 courses as shown on the map below (from Atzmännig website). Courses 1 & 2 are Kinderparcour and courses 3 to 8 are Standard courses.

For the big courses, children must be at least 8 years old and at least 120 cm tall. Maximum time on these courses is 3 hours. There are multiple courses, which range in difficulty.

Children under 14 must be supervised by an adult on the course, not from the ground. One adult can reasonably supervise about 3 children. Some obstacles are difficult to reach for small children, even if they meet the minimum height restriction. Young children may also need help clipping in and out between obstacles.

Children aged 4 to 8 can use the two “Kinderparcour” courses. These small courses are close to the ground and use an “always on” safety harness that does not require clipping in and out at each obstacle. Parents can easily monitor and help small children while standing next to the course. The fee includes use of the small course for 90 minutes, instead of 3 hours for the big courses.

The Atzmännig resort also has a restaurant, picnic area, big playground, with a few coin-operated attractions, a toboggan run and hikes, including a theme trail. See my other Atzmännig post for details.

Getting There

By public transport: Take a train to Rüti ZH, then buses to Atzmännig, Schutt, which is directly at the mountain resort. Your exact bus connection will depend on where you are traveling from

By car: The address is Atzmännigstrasse 1, 8638 Goldingen, but my GPS Nav didn’t accept this address. So I used GPS coordinates: 47°17’05.0″N 8°59’43.6″E .

If you are coming from west of Zurich, your navigation will most likely direct you onto a winding one-lane country road for the last 4.5 km. This way is only about 5 mins faster, but more stressful as you deal with oncoming traffic. If you want to avoid the one-lane road, have your navigation route you through Goldingen on your way to Atzmännig. 

Getting Started

You sign up and pay at the office adjacent to the ropes courses. You will then be outfitted in safety harnesses, which included shoulder straps for extra safety, plus gloves and helmets. Then a short safety video.

Then the instructor demonstrated how to use the equipment and the course, which took just a few minutes. Then you can use the course, supervised by your parent. One warning: get there early! By midday, there can be quite a wait for equipment and the course.

Kinderparcours – Mini Course

Now some pics to give you an idea of the course. The first course is only about 1 meter off the ground, great for kids that are nervous at first. The second course is about 2 meters high and more challenging.

Our 4YO had fun on both courses but was definitely challenged on the second course and got frustrated at times. Our 8YO felt the first Kinderparcours course was too easy but liked the second course.

On the regular big course, you must constantly clip your safety rope on and off the wires as you move through the course. But in the child’s course at Atzmännig, your child’s harness is always attached to the safety wire, making it safer and easier for your child to use the course.

Not all child courses are like this; we’ve since been to another course where even the little kids had to clip on and off the safety wire. It’s a lot of work for really little kids and after awhile, my 4YO made me follow him and do all the clip work (I’ll post more about that later). Atzmännig was easier for both of us.

If your child needs help during the Kinderparcours course, you can climb up on the equipment and help them out. There’s always at least one staff member wandering around that can help you if needed.

The only downside was that my 8 year old really wanted to do the big course. Children 8 and over are allowed on some of the big courses, but they must be accompanied on the course by an adult. Children on the kid’s course also have to be supervised by a parent on the ground.

I was by myself so I couldn’t be with both kids on different courses. However, one adult can accompany multiple kids on either course. So if you were with your spouse or friends, one adult could stay with the little kids and one with the big kids.

At another ropes course we went to, we were allowed to pay for only one adult and share the harness. So my husband and I would take turns, one going on the big course with our 8YO and the other monitoring our 4YO on the smaller course.

This is nice because the big course is expensive. I don’t know if Atzmännig would allow that, but it’s worth asking. The big courses can take a long time to complete, possibly 1 hour for a single course (each Seilpark has multiple courses, varying in length and difficulty). So plan how you will occupy the little kids when their time is up and you have to wait for the big kids to finish.

Standard Course

We’ve been back several times since our first trip. While my youngest was too little, my husband or friends would take the older kids on the big courses, while I stayed with the little kids. Now my youngest can do the big courses, but we stay on the easy ones while my older son does the more difficult courses.

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