Only the first step is really difficult

I feel queasy as I stand on a platform four meters above the ground and am supposed to drop into the depths. My heart is pounding wildly, my hands are clammy and I look down nervously. What sounds like extremely dangerous bungee jumping is actually harmless. The platform I'm standing on is firmly bolted to a tree in Offenbach's Leonhard-Eißnert-Park. And I don't let myself fall into the depths without being secured. I'm trying out the zip wire on the practice course in the newly opened Fun Forest Adventure Park and am attached to the red steel cable with two extra-large carabiners and ropes. This carries 5.4 tons of weight - including me.

"Just sit down," says height rescuer Cihan Calis (27). He's got a lot to say, after all, he's already standing on the platform on the other side. And if you've never climbed before, never left the ground until you've climbed a maximum of three steps and aren't known for being a sporting ace, you're allowed to think again.

But I take the plunge: I close my eyes, take a deep breath, get into a sitting position - and slide off. It feels a bit like riding a rollercoaster in my stomach.

And when I get to the other side, I want to go again. "That happens to a lot of people," says Cihan. Even when he or one of his 39 colleagues, who instruct the guests in the climbing park, has to come to the rescue, he often finds that people climb back up immediately.

The climbing park is located in the middle of Die Grünen, in Leonhard-Eißnert-Park, right next to the Kickers Stadion am Bieberer Berg. And that's how it should be. The concept of the adventure park is to integrate the climbing elements and courses into nature as well as possible. This is why the park in Offenbach is not an artificial high ropes course, as Cihan Calis explains, but a "forest ropes course" or "natural ropes course".

The high ropes course trainers and height rescuers in Offenbach offer twelve courses. The very little ones (from the age of 5) can let off steam on the children's course, while adult climbing experts can try the "professional course" (from the age of 18, with extra instruction).

Every visitor to the Fun Forest Park is required to attend a 15-minute safety briefing at the start. "Even if someone is coming here for the tenth time, they have to take part in the briefing," explains Cihan Calis. This is because, on the one hand, anyone can forget something and, on the other, the courses are also changed. "If someone comes here often, it shouldn't be boring," says the Offenbach height rescuer.

During the briefing, the participants learn the basic safety rules: First, the high ropes course trainer checks that the helmet and via ferrata set, with which you are equipped at the beginning, are properly fitted and tightened enough.

Then it's all about the "lifelines" - the two harnesses at the end of which two carabiners ensure that nobody falls off. The details are important here: For example, the two hooks may only be hooked onto the red guide steel cable in opposite directions - in other words, the openings of the hook must not be on the same side. "This prevents the hooks from opening at the same time if you panic and grab them while abseiling," explains trainer Cihan.

Climbing fans must also make sure that they always attach the carabiners to the safety loops or guide rope one after the other on the course or on the platforms. Otherwise there is a penalty. "If we see someone walking around unsecured at the top, we get really angry," says Cihan. He and his colleagues keep an eagle eye on this.

There are at least three trainers in the area below the high ropes course, keeping an eye on the situation. Anyone caught unsecured is given an orange and black helmet instead of the blue helmet that everyone wears - so everyone can see that someone has not followed the rules. Anyone who is caught twice is out for the day.

"Around 50 to 200 visitors come on weekdays, depending on the weather," says Cihan. At weekends and on public holidays, up to 300 visitors a day come to climb in the Offenbach forest.

So that all trainers know who has already completed the instruction, a green wristband is worn afterwards. Singles receive a red wristband on request. "You can then swing over to another single," says Cihan Calis with a wink.

The school classes in particular have a lot of fun. A group of schoolchildren is there at the same time as me. The boys, who are about 15 years old, are not content with the practice and easy courses like me, but have chosen the zip wire course. Initially cocky, most of them become quite meek when they have to pull themselves up a rope at a height of eight meters and swing like Tarzan to the next tree.

"We often experience that," says Cihan and laughs. And that's what the climbing park is all about: of course, the focus is on the fun of movement and a bit of a thrill. But it's also about getting to know your own limits and overcoming your fears.

Just like me, when I take the first step and let myself glide over to the next tree in the exercise course. "You have to take the first step to see how big it is," says Cihan. And I'm actually a little proud of myself after completing two courses. As I said, I felt a bit queasy at the beginning...