After taking off the 2018 season to plan for the addition, the park plans to open this season on Memorial Day weekend.

"Right now, there's all the different elements and bridges that are being built," park manager Natalie Rich said. "They're getting all the poles in place. When they pull on one pole to tighten everything up, that's either going to tighten or loosen another one. So it's definitely taking a lot of time to get everything in there just right."

The construction crew from Outdoor Ventures, a Connecticut-based adventure park design company, has been working six days a week on the site since early March. The course will consist of five climbing courses and one zip line.

Following an introductory safety briefing, climbers will use a dual-lock carabiner system to safely make their way through the course they choose based on the difficulty level. The courses will be rated similar to how ski courses are rated.

"It's been so exciting to see what was a vacant lot full of dead birch trees evolve into this all-ages playground," park co-owner Alice Tibbetts said.

The two parcels that house the progressing course were purchased from the city of Two Harbors last fall, though the company began in 2017. Tibbetts and her partner, Phil Huston, purchased the corner former gas station lot and tore down the buildings to reveal and develop the outdoor climbing rock wall nicknamed "Eleanor." It opened for a test run in summer 2017.

The park is hiring for summer staff and will host a job and information fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, May 5.

To read the original article and see related reporting, follow this link to the Lake County News Chronicle.