About The Gorge
Joint Byline BIO: Adventure Sports Entrepreneurs Sara and Tim Bell are co-owners of The Gorge, billed as the fastest, steepest zip line canopy tour in the United States, and Green River Adventures, which specializes in whitewater outfitting and instruction. They hold degrees in Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education and live near Saluda, N.C., with their two awesome kids, Finn and Hurley. For more information, visit www.TheGorgeZipline.com and www.GreenRiverAdventures.com.
Joint Broadcast BIO: Have you ever wondered what it feels like to fly? With us today are Adventure Sports Entrepreneurs Sara and Tim Bell, owners of a new zip line canopy tour called The Gorge. Located near Saluda, N.C., it is billed as the fastest, steepest zip line in the United States. For more information, visit TheGorgeZipline.com. Welcome, Sara and Tim. How did you come up with the idea for The Gorge?
Sara Bell Byline BIO: Adventure Sports Entrepreneur Sara Bell and her husband Tim are co-owners of The Gorge, billed as the fastest, steepest zip line canopy tour in the United States, and Green River Adventures, which specializes in whitewater outfitting and instruction. They hold degrees in Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education and live near Saluda, N.C., with their two awesome kids, Finn and Hurley. For more information, visit www.TheGorgeZipline.com and www.GreenRiverAdventures.com.
Sara Bell Full BIO: Adventure Sports Entrepreneur Sara Bell and her husband Tim are co-owners of The Gorge, billed as the fastest, steepest zip line canopy tour in the United States, and Green River Adventures, which specializes in whitewater outfitting and instruction. A native of Birmingham, Ala., she holds a bachelor's degree in Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education from Brevard College in Brevard, N.C., where she and Tim met.
In 2006, Sara took over the operations at Pisgah Whitewater, an adventure business located in the Western North Carolina mountains. While teaching whitewater kayaking and managing the company, she found her passion in the interplay between fun and business. Soon after, she bought the business and changed its name to Green River Adventures. Within a year, she tripled the company's profits, and expanded its focus, offering for the first time, inflatable kayak trips on the Upper Green River.
As expert kayakers, Sara and Tim were drawn to start their businesses near Saluda, N.C., by the famous Green River Narrows, a steep section of world-class rapids in a rugged and remote canyon that draws expert kayakers from around the world. With the creation of The Gorge, they offer everyone a fast and thrilling ride through an old growth forest ecosystem into the heart of the primeval Green River Gorge.
Sara and Tim live along the banks of the Green River with their two awesome kids, Finn and Hurley. As adventure-loving parents, they share their love of the outdoors with other families and people of all ages through The Gorge and Green River Adventures. For more information, visit www.TheGorgeZipline.com and www.GreenRiverAdventures.com.
Tim Bell Byline BIO: Adventure Sports Entrepreneur Tim Bell and his wife Sara are co-owners of The Gorge, billed as the fastest, steepest zip line canopy tour in the United States, and Green River Adventures, which specializes in whitewater outfitting and instruction. He holds a degree in Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education and live near Saluda, N.C., with their two awesome kids, Finn and Hurley. For more information, visit thegorgezipline.com and greenriveradventures.com.
Tim Bell Full BIO: Adventure Sports Entrepreneur Tim Bell and his wife Sara are co-owners of The Gorge, billed as the fastest, steepest zip line canopy tour in the United States, and Green River Adventures, which specializes in whitewater outfitting and instruction. Tim grew up in Pensacola Florida and attended high school in Chattanooga, Tenn. He holds a bachelor's degree in Wilderness Leadership and Experiential Education from Brevard College in Brevard, N.C., where he and Sara met.
After college, Tim went into furniture making. He designed the furnishings for Diamond Brand Outdoors in Asheville, N.C., as well as for Green River Adventures and The Gorge. Along the way, his works were featured several times in House Beautiful. In 2009, Tim took over full-time management of Green River Adventures, the whitewater outfitter and training company his wife Sara had created in 2006 after buying the former kayak instruction company Pisgah Whitewater. Green River Adventures became the first company to offer inflatable kayak trips on the Upper Green River and went on to offer other guided adventures, such as a 200-foot waterfall rappel off Big Bradley Falls near where The Gorge is today located.
As expert kayakers, Tim and Sara were drawn to start their businesses near Saluda, N.C., by the famous Green River Narrows, a steep section of world-class rapids in a rugged and remote canyon that draws expert kayakers from around the world. With the creation of The Gorge, they offer everyone a fast and thrilling ride through an old growth forest ecosystem into the heart of the primeval Green River Gorge.
Tim and Sara live along the banks of the Green River with their two awesome kids, Finn and Hurley. As adventure-loving parents, they share their love of the outdoors with other families and people of all ages through The Gorge and Green River Adventures. For more information, visit www.TheGorgeZipline.com and www.GreenRiverAdventures.com.
About Designer Betsy Brown and Bates Corkern Studio – Betsy Brown has been an interior designer working out of Birmingham, Ala., for 25 years. She earned her BA in Interior Design from the University of Alabama, and practices residential, retail, and corporate design as well as custom furniture design. She has been named one of America's Top 125 Designers several years in a row. The Gorge is her third project for Sara and Tim Bell, but the first in collaboration with Bates Corkern Studio, also of Birmingham. Betsy worked primarily with architect Paul Bates on The Gorge building, asking for a structure with a central open breezeway to allow adventurers to begin their experience with a massive view of the Green River Gorge. As she and Paul drove through the countryside surrounding The Gorge property, he was struck by the beauty of the agrarian buildings, forms that have captured his imagination since childhood. The result was the amazing Gorge barn – massive, rustic and elegant, clad in galvanized siding, supported by huge poles flanking floor-to-ceiling windows, and wholly lined with rough sawn plywood. The building was designed to capture the imagination of The Gorge participants from the moment they enter the massive barn doors, beginning an experience specifically choreographed for wonder and adventure – even before they step off the launch deck to fly past vast, endless mountain views, descending wildly over 1,100 feet, and finally dropping without a sound to the depths of the forest floor. No piece of The Gorge experience has been left to chance. Learn more at http://betsybrowninc.net and www.batescorkern.com.
Media contact: Michelle Tennant, 828-749-3200, Michelle@publicityresults.com, or blog http://www.StorytellerToTheMedia.com