from: Wikipedia

Purpose

• Ropes course programs can be designed to meet a number of educational, developmental, and recreational goals. High ropes course and climbing programs generally focus on personal achievements and ask participants to confront their personal fears and anxieties. Challenges may be physical and/or emotional. In certain cases, high element programs involve the development and mastery of technical skills to manage rope belay systems used to secure other climbers as they move through the course. In such cases, outcomes often include exploring the fundamentals of trust, craftsmanship, and coaching. Programs using low ropes course elements or group initiatives are most often designed to explore group interaction, problem-solving, and leadership. Some of the commonly claimed outcomes include enhancement of: Cooperation
• Decision making
• Self confidence
• Positive Risk Taking
• Cohesion
• Trust
• Self esteem
• Leadership
• Goal setting
• Teamwork

A ropes course is a challenging outdoor personal development and team building activity which usually consists of high and/or low elements. Low elements take place on the ground or only a few feet above the ground. High elements are usually constructed in trees or made of utility poles and require a belay for safety.

Low ropes courses consist of a series of real and imaginary obstacles designed to challenge groups and individuals to work together to accomplish a task. The classification of low ropes courses can be further broken into several types of activities:
Cooperative Game, Socialization Activity, Ice-Breaker: a fun activity designed to reduce inhibitions and break down barriers. These activities are often not based on a defined task but on a sequence of events. Users are often placed in positions where they are encouraged to try new things that may place them outside their normal comfort zones. Examples include: name games, people to people, raccoon circle...
Group Initiative: problems involving real and imaginary ground-based obstacles (either natural or constructed) that challenge a group to pool their resources and work together to find solutions. Success is achieved only when all members have contributed to the outcome. Examples include: The Muese, Spider's Web, Carpet Maze, Crocodile Pit, Whale Watch, Peanut Butter River, Ragging River, T.P. Shuffle, Nitro Crossing, and Group Wall
Trust Activity: activities designed to provide members the opportunity to demonstrate their trust in other members of the group through a series of sequenced actions. Examples include: Willows in the Wind, 1:2 Trust Fall, Trust Fall
Low Ropes Elements: a series of cables, ropes, and obstacles strung between trees or poles, 12 to 18 inches above the ground, low rope elements present tests of physical strength, stamina, agility, balance, and flexibility, and invite participants to confront such emotional issues as the fear of falling, the fear of failure, and the fear of losing control. Risk is managed by group members who assume critical spotting roles. Examples include: Swining Balance Beam, Triangle Traverse, Tire Swings, and Mohawk Walk.
Definitions from "A Facilitator's Guide to Adventure Challenge Programming" by Mike Smith and David Brassfield.

A High Course can be a pre-fabricated course, built of utility poles, cables, and bolts, that is built by a contractor, or it can be a course that is hand built in a wooded area, where ropes and wire is attached to different trees.
Ropes courses can also be described as static or dynamic. With a static course, participants are attached to an upper wire, belay cable, with ropes and carabiners for safety. If the participant dangles, they will be caught by the wire. On a dynamic course, participants are connected to a rope, which someone on the ground will be holding onto and belaying the participant on the course. Advantages of a static course include needing fewer facilitators, and being able to get more participants up on the course at one time. However, a dynamic course allows for participants to be lowered to the ground much more easily.
Usually participants must sign a waiver before being allowed to participate on the course. Some participants may have a hard time completing the course due to its height and the physical challenge. Courses usually range from 25 feet through 50 feet tall. In order to climb up onto the course participants usually must climb, such as by using a cargo net, ladder or an artificial climbing wall.