by JACQUELINE SCOTT
Intern Lifestyles Reporter

Shrill screams and buzzing, whistling sounds echo from afar as people quickly whizz past from ziplines above.

Zorb balls, scream buggies and 1970s model six-wheel drive Pinzgauer trucks crowd the 50-acre property.

It’s not a battle zone; it’s the Scream Time Zipline park located between Vilas and Cove Creek in the Town of Boone.

Senior marketing major Jonathan W. Cioni, a Scream Time Zipline employee, clips himself to the zipline to prepare the landing zone at the opposite side. Photo by Adam Dixon

Monie J. McCoury, the creator and founder of STZ, built his house on the property. The park is his backyard.

“All day long I hear this whizzing, buzzing sound,” McCoury said. “It’s like you’re in your own private Learjet.”

McCoury headed up several companies including Mobile Video Electronics, a vehicle safety light company, tanning salons and a furniture store until deciding to delve into ziplining, which he said “is more of a passion.”

“I told my wife that the next time I opened a company, I want something that people want to work there…so that it’s fun, exciting, that they look forward to going to work,” McCoury said. “I wanted a company that when the consumer came out, not only did they enjoy it, but they wanted to go tell someone else about it or even better, bring someone back with them.”

Taking a backwards approach, McCoury made his envisioned dream of seven years a reality.

“I don’t believe in roadblocks. I bought the property before I even had anyone come out and inspect the land to see if we could do a zipline,” he said. “If you have a vision and you want to do it, don’t think of all the reasons not to do it. I’d rather be sorry for something that I did than something that I didn’t.”

In fall 2007 McCoury grew anxious and impatient and took it upon himself to build his first two lines from a home zipline kit.

Steve R. Gustafson of Experience Based Learning then headed out to the property to inspect the homemade lines.

Although Gustafson said the two lines were “the best home built ziplines,” the lines would not pass for commercial use.

On Jan. 11, STZ opened its doors to the High Country after lines were reviewed to be in compliance with

Professional Ropes Course Association Tour installation standards, the National Fire Protection Administration and the Occupational Safety Health Act (OSHA) for pulleys and fall protection systems.

While there are clothing and weight requirements, age is not a deterrent in the ability to fly.

“We’ve had a child as young as 15 months going tandem with a parent,” McCoury said. “We’ve even had people in their 70s, 80s, and the oldest being in the 90s.”

East Carolina University Dean of Graduate Studies Patrick J. Pellicane and his wife Nancy J. Pellicane were staying in the Boone area for the weekend and went on the zipline. 

“Because of my age, I need to start doing things now before I don’t have a chance to do it,” Nancy said.

“It’s flight. It’s not like skiing. It’s not like rafting. You walk off the edge of a mountain and off you go on a stainless steel pulley on an aviation cable,” McCoury said. “It’s not like a roller coaster, it’s not like a bungee jump. There’s no dropping or loss of your stomach. It’s just a potential glide.”

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