Bungee Jumping in Ticino, Switzerland
Just got back from our weekend of madness in Ticino, the Southern, Italian speaking part of Switzerland. The weekend almost didn't happen because of some planning problems Friday afternoon. Due to the huge amounts of flooding in Switzerland and other parts of Europe, a lot of trains are shut down or running modified schedules. After a bunch of phone calls to the SBB and lots of emailing, we decided it would be an adventure to try anyways. So Shane, Evan, Travis, Warren and I started Friday night by heading out to Locarno with a little bit of food and no plans of where to stay. We got into the city after midnight, and I took the boys down to one of the places dad and I had walked around earlier in the summer because I could remember some possible camping spots. We checked the vineyard next to the church, but it would have damaged the property, so we stayed away. We eventually settled on a spot off the walking path on the beach next to the lake. We set up our tents and played some cards before crashing. Luckily, we didn't run into any problems with the police, although I'm sure people were wondering what was going on as they walked their dogs in the morning.
We woke up at 7:00 to head to Ponte Brolla, a place I had heard about from Brian that was supposed to be really cool pools worn out of the rocks by the river. There was also supposed to be some pretty good cliff diving there. We finally managed to find the spot, but because of the rain there was no one there. The water was pretty damn cold, but Shane, Travis and I decided to swim up as far as we had time for. There was lots of jumping in and climbing out of the water, but it was loads of fun. Eventually we ran across Evan, who had hiked up on his own a bit. Right after that we were climbing over a big hump of rocks, and somehow Shane lost his hold on the rocks. He slid down the smoothed incline for about 15 m. Luckily, he stayed aware enough during his fall to use a log to stop himself. Everyone was still pretty shaken up, as it could have been really bad. After the shock subsided and we made sure Shane wasn't badly hurt, we continued on. We found a good cliff to jump off of into a deep pool, probably just over 10 m high. Shane scoped out the pool to make sure it was safe, and we jumped off the cliff. It was a good jump, but we'll have to come back when it's warmer out and we have more time.
It was getting about time to head over to the Verzasca dam, so we gathered up our stuff and grabbed the next Post bus. The dam is famous for being the site of James Bond's bungee jump in GoldenEye. The reason we came down to Ticino this weekend was to replicate this stunt, and everyone was getting pretty excited. When the dam first came into view, it was breathtaking, and then we realized we could only see half of it. In the picture below, you can't see the bottom half. I don't know how high the dam is, but the bungee jump is 220 m, and it's debated whether or not it's the highest in the world next to the one in South Africa.
The group that had decided against renegade camping, Vance, Tommy, Henri and Bernard showed up shortly after us. We watched a bunch of other guys do their jump, because the fog was in pretty heavy and we wanted to jump when it was clear. We walked around and checked out the dam and marvelled in how huge it was. The girl working there was nice, and joined us up to pay with a couple other people so we could get a group discount. Overall, it came to 185 CHF each with the student discount and the group discount. Everyone was getting even more excited about the jump. Evan and I both wanted to go first, but Evan ended up letting me take first. I wasn't nervous while getting my harness on at all. I had been a little more nervous on the way up, but once I saw the dam, that was it, I was ready. I was given a quick safety instruction about what to do after the jump was over, and how I was being protected. After the safety instruction, I headed out to the platform, and they hooked me in. I stepped to the edge, toes over, and the operator counted down; "Three, two, one, go," I hesitated for a split second and then dove out into nothing.
The feeling is entirely indescribable, it was nothing compared to any amusement park ride, or cliff diving, or anything I've ever felt. My stomach didn't move at all, the fall felt pretty natural, but it was so unbelievably fast. It was the fastest feeling I've ever felt. I could see the dam flying past my sight. The freefall was intense, it didn't feel like I was attached to a bungee at all until it tightened. After the rope tightened, I slowed down and then started the rebound. The rebound is huge, I almost came back up high enough to focus on the people up top, but there were other things on my mind. The view was spectacular and over the next few bounces I just took it in slowly. To get back up, you have to pull yourself up onto the rope and attach yourself to a cable being lowered, and then you get cranked up. Once at the top, I watched Evan take the second jump from the platform, then took off all the equipment and stepped back into reality. Greens were greener, I could taste the air, and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. The rest followed, Warren, Bernard, Victor, Henri, Vance, Tommy and finally Shane, with Travis standing by and filming all of the jumps. Everything went off without a hitch, they even gave us certificates and a piece of bungee cord. The cord was surprisingly simple. The inside is a bunch of regular elastic bands tied in with other elastic bands, but it was still solid. After everyone had taken it all in and relaxed a bit, we headed back down the dam to Locarno, completely satisfied with the experience. The connections on the trains sucked, so it took over five hours to get home.
Renegade Camping in Locarno
We woke up at 7:00 to head to Ponte Brolla, a place I had heard about from Brian that was supposed to be really cool pools worn out of the rocks by the river. There was also supposed to be some pretty good cliff diving there. We finally managed to find the spot, but because of the rain there was no one there. The water was pretty damn cold, but Shane, Travis and I decided to swim up as far as we had time for. There was lots of jumping in and climbing out of the water, but it was loads of fun. Eventually we ran across Evan, who had hiked up on his own a bit. Right after that we were climbing over a big hump of rocks, and somehow Shane lost his hold on the rocks. He slid down the smoothed incline for about 15 m. Luckily, he stayed aware enough during his fall to use a log to stop himself. Everyone was still pretty shaken up, as it could have been really bad. After the shock subsided and we made sure Shane wasn't badly hurt, we continued on. We found a good cliff to jump off of into a deep pool, probably just over 10 m high. Shane scoped out the pool to make sure it was safe, and we jumped off the cliff. It was a good jump, but we'll have to come back when it's warmer out and we have more time.
Swimming at Ponte Brolla
It was getting about time to head over to the Verzasca dam, so we gathered up our stuff and grabbed the next Post bus. The dam is famous for being the site of James Bond's bungee jump in GoldenEye. The reason we came down to Ticino this weekend was to replicate this stunt, and everyone was getting pretty excited. When the dam first came into view, it was breathtaking, and then we realized we could only see half of it. In the picture below, you can't see the bottom half. I don't know how high the dam is, but the bungee jump is 220 m, and it's debated whether or not it's the highest in the world next to the one in South Africa.
The Verzasca Dam
View from the Dam to Locarno
The group that had decided against renegade camping, Vance, Tommy, Henri and Bernard showed up shortly after us. We watched a bunch of other guys do their jump, because the fog was in pretty heavy and we wanted to jump when it was clear. We walked around and checked out the dam and marvelled in how huge it was. The girl working there was nice, and joined us up to pay with a couple other people so we could get a group discount. Overall, it came to 185 CHF each with the student discount and the group discount. Everyone was getting even more excited about the jump. Evan and I both wanted to go first, but Evan ended up letting me take first. I wasn't nervous while getting my harness on at all. I had been a little more nervous on the way up, but once I saw the dam, that was it, I was ready. I was given a quick safety instruction about what to do after the jump was over, and how I was being protected. After the safety instruction, I headed out to the platform, and they hooked me in. I stepped to the edge, toes over, and the operator counted down; "Three, two, one, go," I hesitated for a split second and then dove out into nothing.
Getting prepped to jump
The Jump (right-click, save as...)
The feeling is entirely indescribable, it was nothing compared to any amusement park ride, or cliff diving, or anything I've ever felt. My stomach didn't move at all, the fall felt pretty natural, but it was so unbelievably fast. It was the fastest feeling I've ever felt. I could see the dam flying past my sight. The freefall was intense, it didn't feel like I was attached to a bungee at all until it tightened. After the rope tightened, I slowed down and then started the rebound. The rebound is huge, I almost came back up high enough to focus on the people up top, but there were other things on my mind. The view was spectacular and over the next few bounces I just took it in slowly. To get back up, you have to pull yourself up onto the rope and attach yourself to a cable being lowered, and then you get cranked up. Once at the top, I watched Evan take the second jump from the platform, then took off all the equipment and stepped back into reality. Greens were greener, I could taste the air, and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face. The rest followed, Warren, Bernard, Victor, Henri, Vance, Tommy and finally Shane, with Travis standing by and filming all of the jumps. Everything went off without a hitch, they even gave us certificates and a piece of bungee cord. The cord was surprisingly simple. The inside is a bunch of regular elastic bands tied in with other elastic bands, but it was still solid. After everyone had taken it all in and relaxed a bit, we headed back down the dam to Locarno, completely satisfied with the experience. The connections on the trains sucked, so it took over five hours to get home.
The Bungee Jump Group
posted by Devon at 00:33
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home