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Adventure Europe Switzerland

VIDEO: PARAGLIDING OVER THE ALPS IN INTERLAKEN

Okay. I’m going to have one last “poor me moment” about that time I flew all the way to Zurich and took a train to Interlaken with the sole intention of skydiving over the Alps, but was unable to do so when Mother Nature decided I wasn’t worthy of such fun. There, done. Now I can tell you all about how I tried to make up for it by paragliding.

On my last afternoon there, I walked into Balmers and started whining to the chick at the front desk about how I needed some excitement because I certainly couldn’t afford to sit around and eat in Interlaken (seriously my last ditch effort to save money by eating at McDonald’s cost me about $34). Since it was already pushing noon, the only option I really had was paragliding. It sounded promising, so I jumped in a car with an older, silent man before being dumped off at the wide open landing field a few blocks away. I was a little confused, but I followed some random guy whose accent I could barely understand, and before long I was quickly rushed into an unmarked van along with a few other confused Swedish and Chinese tourists, lead by four jacked-up European men.

Our van zig-zagged up the mountain, the green grass disappearing and the snow and cloudy haze getting thicker. I changed out of my mesh running shoes and strapped on some heavy hiking boots that, based on the warm, sweaty insides, someone else had just taken off. They dumped us off to walk the rest of the way uphill which is where I realized how pathetic my body was. I desperately tried to hide my heavy breathing while trekking up the slippery incline in my oversized boots. All the while my tandem gliding partner was walking full speed like he was in the mall walking olympics and holding conversation without missing a beat, even with his gigantic loveseat-sized pack strapped to his back.

After we set up and laid out our canopies, we waited. And waited. There was a stick in the ground with a red and white ribbon blowing in the nearly nonexistent breeze. Apparently this was their way of determining which way the wind was blowing and how hard so that we didn’t float off the edge of the cliff and right into the side of another.

Paragliding in Interlaken

After I got bored of standing around playing guessing games as to when we’d finally make a run for it, my tandem gliding buddy hooked himself onto me and got all intense again.

“Now this is the important part. We have to go at exactly the right moment, or else it could be bad. So when I say run, you run, got it? And I don’t mean just a light jog or a brisk walk, you run faster than you’ve ever run in your entire life until we take off from the ground. K?”

I didn’t know if he completely missed seeing that I was only 5’2″ or what, but here I was with a grown ass man strapped to my back along with what felt like a small sofa attached to him, wearing clunky man boots that were about three sizes too big, and this guy wants me to run down a slippery, icy hill without falling on my face. Right.

We continued to wait. And wait. Then out of nowhere we heard “baaaaa!” Right in our running path a herd of sheep had broken through a hole in the fence and started making their way uphill curiously towards us. At first it was cute watching them dig in the snow to try and eat the grass below, but all of a sudden baby sheep were running all over the fucking place. The guides were nearly pissing themselves with laughter, saying this has never happened before as they started baaaing back at them. But that only attracted the sheep more and they continued to make their way up towards us. And they were hungry. Finally one of the guys had to unhook himself and run down to scare them off. But of course this was also the exact moment the wind changed directions and I was told to run, NOW.

I ran like Usain Bolt. Actually no, I pitter-pattered down the hill rather pathetically until a gust of wind grabbed ahold and threw me down in the snow. Just as quickly that same gust lifted us up slightly, dragging my legs long enough to scoop up two boots full of snow, then launched us off the cliff.

It wasn’t even a windy day but the guide kept saying that due to our “excellent running speed takeoff” (hell yeah, way to go little legs!) we were able to get more speed than most people. I got a well deserved pat on the back.

At first it was pretty cool when you suddenly realize that you’re floating and gliding through the air. But then it became oddly comfortable and a little…boring. The wind was chilly, drying out my lips and making my eyes water, and the view didn’t really change much during the whole 15 minute flight. Plus it was much more secure feeling than I thought it would be. I wanted to feel like I was falling or flying, something comparable to what I’d imagine skydiving would be like. But instead I felt safe, in a heavy box propelling through the sky almost with as much control as if there were an engine. And the whole dude on my back thing wasn’t a particularly liberating experience.

So while it was definitely awesome and I’d definitely do it again in a heartbeat, I had the same problem with paragliding as I do with most things I do. It left me wanting to go faster and higher, and I wanted to do it alone. I felt like a brat, but I asked my instructor guy to go a little crazy, so he started spiraling us closer to Earth towards the end.

Enough of my babbling, I’ll let this little video montage do the job. But beware, the last few seconds can be a bit dizzying!

(PS click through the link below the video to watch it in HD.)

Interlaken Paragliding by Just Visiting, Music: “Option” by Crosses.

Categories
Europe Outdoor Switzerland

JUNGFRAUJOCH: TAKING THE LAZY TRAIN TO THE TOP OF EUROPE

Skydiving has been at the top of my to-do list for the past few years. But in true chick form, I want my first time to be special. I don’t want to pop my free-fall cherry over some boring flatlands. I want to plunge towards the Earth over a landscape that even Bob Ross couldn’t paint. That way if my chute doesn’t open, at least I’ll die with an awesome view. So at the end of my London living experience I flew down to Switzerland with the sole intention of jumping out of an airplane and gracefully falling back to Earth over the Alps. Since April was technically spring I wasn’t too worried about the weather, but knowing how I somehow always end up visiting places during historically wet times, I gave myself three full days in Interlaken to ensure at least one of those days was nice enough to jump.

It never happened. In fact, the mountains never even came out from the damn clouds the entire time I was there. I was getting frustrated. After all the city hopping I’d been doing around Europe I needed some sort of a rush. About the only adrenaline pumping activity that wasn’t shut down was paragliding (post and video coming soon!) which was entertaining and gave me a great view, but it was nowhere near as exhilarating and piss-your-pants awesome as what I’d imagine skydiving would be. So on my last day there, fed up from the months of grey skies, I decided to head above the clouds to Jungfraujoch.

Also marketed to tourists like me as “The Top of Europe,” Jungfraujoch is a mountain pass between the Mönch and the Jungfrau in the Bernese Alps. The journey to the top takes about 2.5 hours via three trains. But like all other Swiss trains I encountered, they operate seamlessly. We set off into the green mountains, seeing waterfalls, rivers, and the most adorable little homes I’ve ever seen under grey skies.

Boarding the train at Lauterbrunnen
Heading up to Jungfraujoch
I could totally live here
Train up to Jungfraujoch
And here

 

The higher we got, the more snow started to fall and accumulate, and before long the ground was covered in about two feet of snow. But the train continued chugging uphill. At some points it was impossible to see out the window, and the final leg on the Jungfrau Railway was almost entirely enclosed in a tunnel. We made a five minute stop at a glass-enclosed lookout point, completely oblivious to what we were going to be able to see. I quickly ran off the train and looked out the window to see that we’d finally made it above the clouds, but not by much. There were snowy mountain peaks beginning to emerge, but still blending into the layer of clouds.

 

Heading up to Jungfraujoch
If I were these people I’d move a few hundred meters down the mountain and out of the snow
Barely above the clouds
The view from the first train stop on the Jungfrau Railway, barely breaking through the clouds
Jungfraujoch
First view of the mountains peeking above the clouds once we went a bit further to the second stop

 

Jungfraujoch is 3,471 m (11,388ft) above sea level which is apparently just enough altitude change to fuck with me. Shortly after I stepped off the train I could tell it was more difficult than usual to breathe. I felt kind of winded, and since my chest was feeling heavy it was proving impossible to catch my breath. (I blame it on the fact that my doctor told me I had slight asthma when I was younger but I chose not to do anything about it.) But since it was hardly enough to be annoying I continued on, rushing through the inside tour so I could spend maximum time snapping pics before the last train down.

 

Jungfraujoch digital experience
Digital tour of Jungfraujoch
Inside tour at Jungfraujoch
Welcome to your brain on drugs
Wooden sculptures at the ice cave
This guy.

 

The walk took me past all sorts of history, paintings, and videos of the area, but probably the coolest part was the Ice Palace of sculptures and tunnels that look like they’d be a hell of a lot of fun with a bobsled.

 

Tunnel at the ice cave
Tunnel leading into the Ice Palace
Ice cave
The floor wasn’t as slick as it looked, even when you ran and slid across it. That or my shoes just had excellent traction.
Licking ice at Jungfraujoch
I like to lick things. And I was kind of tempted to see if my tongue would get stuck. It didn’t.
Bear Sculptures in the ice cave at Jungfraujoch
Too bad these guys were barred off, I would’ve licked them too.

 

Then finally I take an elevator up to the Sphinx Observatory, strapped my GoPro on my head and made my way outside to see the blue skies and snowy mountain peaks that made the journey totally worth it.

 

The Sphinx Observatory
The Sphinx Observatory
Jungfraujoch
The mountains seemed much smaller coming out of the Aletsch Glacier
No clouds up here!
High altitude selfie
The Swiss flag added a nice touch to the blue and white landscape
They looked like they were having fun…
Jumping at Jungfraujoch
So I  made friends and had them take a jumping picture of me
Beautiful view of clouds forming over Mönch

I saw my first mini avalanche from the top of Jungfraujoch

Should you go?

Meh. It was definitely cool to see the kind of view that usually only hardcore climbers get to see. But then again you don’t get that same sense of accomplishment when you’re at the top because you just sat on your ass for two and a half hours to see it.

But you’ll see three awesome peaks of the Bernese Alps (Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau), as well as the Aletsch Glacier which is the largest glacier in the Alps. So that’s cool.

BUT IT IS NOT CHEAP. I didn’t have a Swiss Pass of any kind and I paid $214.35 for the RT train fare. Had I not budgeted $600 for my skydiving experience I would’ve never paid that. Either way, for that price I would’ve liked to have some more of an activity as opposed to sitting on a train for five hours total. You know, like base jumping back down to the ground below.

If you do decide to go, ask the staff at the train station to check their webcams beforehand to make sure the weather up there is okay. And maybe even look into a glacier hike if you’re interested—there seem to be some options if you plan ahead.

There’s a reason Interlaken is known for its extreme sports. And if the weather abides, then most certainly I think your time would be better spent experiencing those. But if you get stuck with shit weather like I did and have an extra couple of hundred dollars to spend, then sure, it’s worth the trek.

Oh, and by the way, the day I left Switzerland there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Go figure.