Rollglider – the ride that made free flying possible
*Article appears as published in dnevnik.bg
There is something inherently romantic in flying. From ancient stories of pursuit of the divine to the modern tragedy of the Concorde, flying has captured human imagination for a millennium. And the reason behind this is quite simple – after all flying symbolizes the eternal human struggle for freedom, but moreover flying is to put it simply – cool.
However, until recently to experience free flying you had to either take on paragliding which is extremely dangerous or settle for dreaming of it. Actually, the big breakthrough of the Rollglider is that it provides a third option by making free flight accessible and safe.
The concept of the Rollglider was not so much born but more like stumbled upon. A member of the team wanted his son to experience the thrill of base jumping, one of the most dangerous sports, but in a safer way. This obsession pushed the father to make a quick sketch of a product. This quick sketch was the first ever Rollglider design – a combination of a roller coaster and a zip line, which, manages to give the rider the feeling of free flight.
“The difference between the Rollglider and the good old rollercoaster is that the rollercoaster limits the vision and movement because of its high speed. Moreover, because of the seat you can rarely truly experience your surroundings. When you ride the Rollglider which is a harnessed ride, there is nothing around you to stop your movement or block the view – the feeling is incomparable”, describes the experience Maria Mladenova, who is the Marketing Manager for the product.
“Zip lines are always straight because they are made of… rope. With the Rollglider you can make turns, dips and spirals, which could make the experience quite extreme. Moreover, this allows the Rollglider track to pass through forests, around landmarks, in and out of buildings – to put it simply it makes it way more flexible.”, added the operational director of the division Dimitar Zlatev.
The Rollglider is already a huge success and has already conquered many territories – from Costa Rica, to the Rocky Mountains, Fuji, Tokyo, Peru and Las Vegas and despite its many competitors – over 80% of the similar products in the world are Rollglider. The team behind it believes that beauty and success lie in diversity so it constantly develops new and better Rollglider experiences. That’s how the three core types of Rollglider were born. The Extreme Rollglider is fast and exciting, the Panoramic one allows a person to experience the world from a bird’s eye view, and the Electric one allows one to control the speed of their flight.”Many of our competitors limit the speed for safety reasons. We achieve both – we are uncompromising in terms of safety, but we also strive for maximum riding speed”, adds Zlatev.
AN UNEXPECTED TURN
Despite its focus on entertainment, the Rollglider team is already looking in another direction. The company’s latest product is an aerial transportation system that has the potential to revolutionize travel. Unlike the straight lines of the ski lifts, the Rollglider allows tracks that follow the terrain, which makes it way more practical both for mountain and urban terrains that have lots of obstacles. However, the biggest advantage of the Rollglider comes from the significantly less energy needed to run it compared to all other modes of transportation. And although system is still in development – the team behind it is convinced that it will have a bright and maybe even life-changing future.
