Youths Put Balance in Their Lives : Adventures: Teen-agers conquer a high wire and dangle from ropes to learn teamwork and self-confidence in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Tiptoeing 35 feet above the ground on a jiggly high wire, Kristin Taday grabbed a rope dangling above her head to steady herself. Still, she leaned precipitously toward the ground.

“Holy Mary, Mother, I love you!” the Thousand Oaks 17-year-old shouted.

Kristin and 15 other Ventura County teen-agers got more than they bargained for last week at an all-day “ropes course” organized by a group called Adventures in Building for Life’s Experiences (ABLE), a nonprofit Thousand Oaks organization aimed at helping troubled youths turn their lives around.

Once Kristin was back on course--secured by a harness connected to a rope and pulley operated by instructors--she paused on the wire and summed up one point of the exercise.

“Hey, even if I fall now, it’s OK because I got up here, right?” the helmeted teen-ager said.

But Kristin did not fall. Instead, after walking a few dozen feet on the wire, turning and coming halfway back, she leaped off and allowed the instructor holding the rope to guide her gently to the ground.

“I feel like I could take the world on now,” Kristin said.

The exercise, conducted by instructors from the Wilderness Institute at a camp in the Santa Monica Mountains, is meant to teach the teen-agers teamwork and instill a sense of self-confidence, organizers said.

“Usually, these kids have obstacles in their lives that they have no control over,” said Bradley V. Childs, president of the Agoura Hills-based Wilderness Institute. “Out here, they have control and they have success, and it’s very tangible.”

Before climbing up to walk the wires all afternoon, participants in the ropes course spent the morning doing exercises meant to familiarize them with each other and build trust.

Once the ice was broken, the teen-agers were ready to help each other by holding the ladder steady and catching each other after a jump.

Shannon Solis of Thousand Oaks said that in the woodsy setting of Camp Gilmore outside Agoura Hills, the experience of relying on the help of others to succeed was like nothing she had ever done before.

“I needed to get out of my neighborhood and do something different, where I had to trust people and trust myself doing things,” the 17-year-old said.

Many of the teen-agers, who were referred to the program by teachers, youth outreach workers and probation officers, have been arrested for minor offenses or have had problems with grades or school attendance, said Shoshana Brower, ABLE’s chairwoman.

The organization sponsors periodic outings to introduce the young people to new settings and skills, Brower said. For example, a recent trip to Anacapa Island featured kayaking.

“We all learn a better understanding of ourselves in the process,” Brower said.

Brower and other volunteers who keep the organization going through fund-raising and trip planning are trying to expand the program to include monthly expeditions involving a greater number of youngsters, she said.

Marco Cordon, 17, said he was in a gang until he got involved with ABLE this year. Through the organization’s activities, Marco said, he has become friends with former rival gang members.

The experiences in ABLE force participants to cooperate because “it takes teamwork,” he said. “You have to trust other people. You have to rely on them.”

Now he tries to recruit other gang members for the program.

“Next, they’re doing rock climbing,” he said. “That’s what I want to do.”