COLUMBIA FALLS - Ziplining is an adrenaline-spiking summer activity and two years ago the Beard family moved from Louisiana to Columbia Falls and bought Glacier Ziplines to share the exhilaration with the community.
"I've always wanted to live in Montana since I was a baby," said one of Glacier Ziplines owners, Brandon Beard. "And so it was a God thing man, just opened up at the right time and the right friends and we just we've made it work."
And the way they’ve made it work is by fostering a family environment, something that one dad from Japan experienced in full.
"He texted me after I sent them their pictures and he said thank you for making us feel like family," said fellow owner Robert Beard. "So that's our goal here is it's a family atmosphere. We want this to be a family business. It's not just for tourists, it's for the family to come out and enjoy."
The enjoyment is felt by everyone.
"We get to meet so many people," said Robert's wife, Kelly. "And it's just an amazing experience being here."
It's an experience that one family from Tacoma Washington got to enjoy to the fullest.
"It was really fun, it was scary. Mom got stuck," said Alexander Jiroux with a laugh.
And the Jirouxs know taking on the challenge was more than worthwhile.
"I liked the end one 'cause it's over, but the whole thing was amazing," said Kristen Jiroux. "It was just really challenging, and I'm just really happy I did it."
As for the Beard family, they couldn’t be happier with the decision they made two years ago.
"Just watching people overcome fears, watching them come in from all across the nation and the world," said Brandon Beard with a big smile.
"Also, we get to the zipline every day," said his wife Rebecca. "Who doesn’t love to do that."
"Yeah we're both guides and so we get to we get to go out and actually experience it sometimes, which is a lot of fun," said Brandon.
The zipline course is open from May to September and is located just off Highway 2 heading north towards Glacier National Park.
