PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic Peninsula may host the world’s largest zipline course, if everything comes together for a local businessman.
Green Planet Zipline Inc. owner Dan Williams of Port Angeles filed for a permit with Clallam County on Oct. 19 to build a $1.8 million zipline course on 40 acres of state Department of Natural Resources land south of Port Angeles.
The Clallam County Hearing Examiner will consider approval of the permit Dec. 9.
Williams said the course would consist of 8,000 feet of cable and would be the largest in the world. It would cost users about $50 a trip.
Construction hinges on Green Planet Zipline securing the entire $1.8 million needed to fund the project and acquiring a lease with the state Department of Natural Resources, he said.
Seeking financing
Williams, who is the former owner of Overhead Door Corp., said he is short on financing, and he hopes the permit will help him shore up the last of it.
“I believe the building permit will be one of the main components that hinges the entire deal together,” he said. “It gives us instant traction.
“Investors are waiting to invest in something that is shovel ready.”
Construction would take 90 to 120 days and begin as soon as the lease and funding are secured, Williams said.
The course would be accessed via Little River Road. It would begin in a clear-cut that can be seen from Port Angeles and send adventurers in harnesses whizzing down cables at 100 mph to four platforms that zigzag through the cleared land and second-growth forest.
“It runs by gravity, and we fly like eagles,” Williams said.
Trails and tours
The course, which would be Williams’ first, would also include nature trails and “eco-tours.”
He formed the company and began searching for a way to make a zipline happen on the Peninsula six years ago.
The zipline course would be a travel destination for people all over the world and could make Port Angeles a regular port of call for cruise ships, Williams said.
Since the site is state trust land, it would also bring more revenue to schools, he said.
But Williams said his plans won’t be finished, even once the course is up and running.
He wants to build three additional zipline courses on the Peninsula within five years after the first one is built.
In the long run, he would connect the first course to Port Angeles with an aerial tram that would whisk visitors up to the site.
The tramline would cost an additional $38.6 million, Williams said, and require approval from property owners, the county and the city, if it ran through Port Angeles.
“The tram is going to take some time,” he admitted.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
