Learning the Ropes

By Bob Curley

For nearly 30 years, Jim Wall and his business partner, wife Catherine, have built everything from ropes courses and zip lines to canopy tours and tactical training courses. Throughout the years—and the formation of several businesses—the Walls have managed to evolve with the times and the trends while focusing on their core competencies, notably building for educational institutions and the military. Their company, North Carolina-based Challenge Design Innovations, Inc. (CDI), founded in 2010, is the latest in a line of successful enterprises, which include CDI’s gear-supply arm, High Country Hardware.

Jim got his start in the industry in 1980 when he built his first course at San-Lee Park, N.C., where he also served as a park ranger. From there, he established his first course building business, Outdoor Institute, and, under that umbrella, created courses for a variety of educational institutions including the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, and Georgia College & State University, where he started an outdoor undergraduate degree program. Around that time, he also started dating Catherine, who has a background in military logistics; together with Jim’s son, Corey, the pair launched Walls Outdoor Associates. In 2000, they co-founded Cornerstone Design, the business that would eventually become CDI in 2010.

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