Based on the activity started in New Zealand called Zorbing, Sphere USA in Brighton, MI has opened up the first course in North America where you can roll around in a giant inflatable ball. The company was started by Robert Pelon after he saw a reality game show where people were strapped into a giant ball and rolled down a hill. He wanted to try it out, but there was nowhere in the United States to do it. The activity was already popular in New Zealand where it began with the company Zorb, as well as Australia and the United Kingdom.
After a lot of research and planning, Pelon bought the North American rights to a UK company called SphereMania, which is a competitor of Zorb. He then opened Sphere USA at Mt. Brighton ski resort in June of 2006.
The spheres are made out of clear PVC plastic that is twelve feet in diameter and weighs approximately 350 pounds. It consists of an inner and outer chamber, with the inner chamber surrounded by three feet of air cushioning. The inner and outer shells are connected by 1,000 nylon support straps tethering them together.
At Mt. Brighton, the course has been adapted from a snowboarding half pipe on a slope of 700 feet. There are two options for how you can enter the course. You can do the shooter, which is where you roll gently from the top of the hill, or the mixer, where you are pushed off a twenty foot drop before you enter the course.
There are also two different kinds of sphereing that you can do, aqua and harness. If you opt for the harness, you are strapped into the sphere while you go down the course, so you roll along as the ball rolls along. You can do this alone or with a partner. When you start rolling down, the centrifugal force will eventually plaster you to the side of the sphere as you flip head over heels down the hill.
If you choose aqua, you ride on a cushion of give gallons of water, which Pelon has compared to the spin cycle of a washing machine. Up to three riders can go in an aqua sphere.
You will have to sign a waiver before you go down the course, but it is completely safe. The course was tested extensively before it was opened up to the public, and nobody has ever been injured while sphereing.
Since Sphere USA opened in June of 2006, Zorb has also opened up a location in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. These are two of the first locations where you can go zorbing or sphereing in the United States.
