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Europe » Switzerland
August 2nd 2009

Published: August 2nd 2009

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[youtube=HU2dqvICv30]

MoMo61

The Verzasca Dam

(The Golden Eye movie jump_

Hi guys,

Sometimes in my life I do not understand why I did something. Also, some other times, I can not even believe that I have done a work. Was it really me? What the hell I was thinking?
Now to the point. This weekend, or more precisely, Saturday 1 August 2009 which is the Swiss national day, I went to south-eastern part of Switzerland. The small city was named Gordola. The area was named the Verzasca Valley which was really nice. It is really hard for me to say which part of Switzerland is NOT nice and beautiful.
I my train left Zurich around 8am and took me almost 2:40 hours to get there.
I knew that I had to go up the hill to the Verzasca Dam. According to the map, it was almost 3.3 Km (2 miles).
For the first time here, I experienced the Italian part of Switzerland. As you may expect, the language order of all the descriptions, signs and etc were Italian, German, French and English. The weather was perfect. Sunny and warm. As soon as I started walking, I realized it was really warm. Specially in the part that I had to walk

Verzasca Dam

The power plant.

uphill. I asked for some help from a couple biking around. Their help was first English speaking and also their iPhone map locator.
Based on the information provided online, I knew that I could not use the public transportation at that time of the day to get to the point.
No bikes, no cars and for me as a guy, the chance of being given a free ride up there was almost zero. :-)
So, I am glad that I have healthy feet. So, I started walking to the point. The unlucky part was that along the road, there was no cross walk. It was a bit dangerous specially when it got to the sharp truns in the mountaineous area. I also had to pass two short road tunnels.
It took me almost 40 minutes to reach the Verzasca Dam. The first time I saw it, it was absolutely gorgeous and makes you feel humble.
A lot of people were just walking on the narrow walkpath (road) on the very top of the dam.

Now, a flashback to what is happening. Let me switch back to 4 weeks ago.
One of my Swiss friends in our lab informed about

Verzasca Valley

View from the top

the Bungy Jumping in Switzerland which is (potentially) the highest jump in the world. And then, I realized that this was actually the same jump that James Bond 007 performed in the beginning scene of the movie "Golden Eye". Thanks to the youtube era, I looked up a couple of movies of the jumps and to be honest, it was really scary. (in a good way!)
I had thought about doing a jump in California, but never had the chance to do it. But now, here it is. The higest one in the world...
The idea was almost fading away until 4 days ago where for some reason, I felt like doing this before heading back to US.
To my surprise, overcoming your own fears and rationale is not an easy task at all. I reserved my jump online (hopelessly). I sent out the email on Thursday and asked for the jump on Saturday. Since it was also Swiss National day, I thought a lot of people were going there and probably they would send an email appologizing that it was full. I asked for the possible slot 1-3pm.
What I thought did not go the way my rationale wanted.

Gordola city

Small town int he Italian part of Switzeland

On the Friday morning, I got a very polite affirmative email saying that my jump was reserved at exactly 1pm!!!
Oh man! What did I do?
Later, I figured out the trains schedule to get there. I also tried to ask a couple of friends to come along. But, noone joined me. Not even for free watching.
Dang! No support from anyone.

Now back to the Dam. I was standing on the top and seeing the area. OMG! How high is this freaking giant concrete structure!!! Unbelievable. I am not afriad of height. But, knowing the fact that you are going to jump off the Dam in less than hour, that would make you reconsider your feelings and fears.
The whole setup for jump was just a small trailer and a small platform. At that time, around 12:01pm, they were closed.
I still had one hour to change my decision. Not too late! Specially since I did not pay for the jump in advance either.
I decided to go to the edges of the Dam so I would not see the height and avoid the fear and scary scene.
Around 12:30, a small red car entered the jump area.

Verzasca Valley

The trailer was opened. As soon as the people in charge showed up, all the people around gathered to see the jumpers.
I approached the 50 ish years old lady and told her that my jump was around 1pm. She right away gave me a form. Just basic information and signing the waiver. She also weighed me and here I found out that since I arrived in Switzereland, I have lost 4Kg. What am I doing here? I guess all the vegetables that I eat all day in the food are paying off. To my interest, the scalor was not a very advanced one.
You know, in such places with the idea that it is a very risky sport, one way of encouraging people to take part is to show how neat, organized and safe you and your equipments are. At least, you may convince people that they will be "SAFE".
Here we go. The second surprise. I was the first person to jump that day. Man!!!!
A 18-20 years old girl, started preparing me for the jump. She was really strong when it came to tightening the knots and harness. Moved me easily a couple of times!
I had

Verzasca Valley

Heading toward the Verzasca Dam

to practice one simple but important exercise. To pull myself up to a V-shape position after I almost get stablized. Also, I had to learn a couple of hand rules.
One straight arm to show that I hold onto the cable which will pull me back up. Two straight arms to inform the people up there that I hooked the cable to my harness so they can start pulling me back up.
To be honest, I was expecting more elaborate harness or tons of knots attached to me since this was a crazy jump. But I guess that might be due to my lack of information on any kind of climbing experience or sport.

About the jump, according to their information, you could get to almost 120Km/h (75 mph) in only 7 seconds. That would put a huge force when being bounced back for the first time. You would probably feel at least three major bounces. The height was around 220m.
From the top, it seems that you are close to the Dam. But according to my eyes being wide open (while thinking about my future going down with 120km/h), it was about 20-50 meters.
Now I am all

Verzasca Valley

The road to the Dam

ready. I asked the girl how many times she had done it herself, and she said only once!!!
A group of four young guys, between 19-23 also joined me for the startup phase. I was hoping maybe one of them jump first before me.
No chance. I was the one being called for the start!
It was almost 12:40pm that I was on the top platform. Originally (based on some the movies on youtube), I thought I would jump from the front. But it ended up being the one to the left. That is the reason that you see the movie from back and not the front (not to mention that I am really happy that you can not see my face when I am jumping! Not good impressions on you guys! :-D )
Now let me tell you some secrets about the last part.
Up to this point, I thought I would do this jump no matter what. However, when I got up to the platform and approached the edge, I was welcomed by a 35-40years old American guy (not 100% sure, but he had American accent), things started to change. Now, I am seriously thinking about NOT jumping

Verzasca Valley

The first time I saw the Verzasca Dam

no matter what!
I said, boy this is insane! I will be happy to pay for it and not do this. In less than a minute, they hooked me up with all the ropes. Told me to open my hands. Stand on the edge with my half feet on the edge and toes be free. They were more than happy to do the countdown. I was a bit nervous and tried to procrastinate my jump with every power in my hands. So I asked about which rope was the one I had to pull myself up with. I got the answer in 2 seconds. Time is going really fast. This is foe sure the Einsteins' relativity theory here. I wish time was moving much much slower.

To tell you the truth, those guys up there (the man and the other girl) knew exactly how I felt. They even could read my mind and eyes.
So, instead of being nice and supportive, in less than a second, they became MEAN!
Trust me. They were not treating you like a very respeced customer who might sue them afterwards for being mis-treated. The situation was a bit more like, COME ON. GET

Verzasca Dam

This is how high it is. The jump from this elevation almost to 220m below. Crazy

OVER HERE. DO THIS. DO THAT. AND SHUT THE HELL UP!
They even did not leave any chance for the second choice or any thoughts. I would call it the point of no return.
So, I opened my hand after being asked to release it from the right vertical bar.
I stepped forward and nothing more to hold on to. I even had heard that if you do not jump yourself, they will push you. I could see that even a tiny force would make you fall if you are stadning in that position.
Btw, I had to wear a smile too! :-))

I even do not remember how I jumped! But I did it and there we go. Seven seconds of unable to describe!!!
You have to feel it for yourself. No way I could describe those moments. Am I an eagle? This is really fast? The bottom is approching seriously fast! Those rcks do not look that comfortable. Yuhaaa! Suddenly, I was strongly pulled back up for maybe 100 meters or so in the first bounce. And I was bouncing up and down a few time.

I could not really use my judgment in those monents.

Verzasca Dam

The Bungy Jumping platform. Not open yet.

I could feel the blood rush in my head. Then gradually, I started thinking about the procedure to get back up. What did those guys tell me to do up there? I remember something.
So, I pulled myself up to the V-shape position. The cable started coming down with a big yellow hook. The hope cable I would call it.
I felt most of the force and pressure on my feet coming from the two ropes attached to the knots. It was so much excessive force that I was thinking it might tear apart at some point.
To catch the yellow hook, I had to wait for a minue or so since I was still going up and down. I finally got it and hooked it to my harness. Now things started feeling better. The machines were so fast. I was going up to the safeland with a very decend speed.
I guess in those moments, I was only thinking about getting back to somewhere where I could feel some hard floor. No more air is appreciated!
I was so happy and I guess affected by the Adrenaline rush that was one of the happiest person in those moments.
I

Verzasca Dam

Avoid the fear. I went to the otherside not to see the Dam from the topview.

am sure if there was something that I was not sure about to do, that was the right moment to ask me to do it. Right after I got back on the platform.
Propose to a girlfriend, buy a house, give all my money for charity, start a new PhD degree etc.
The guy and the girl were so cautious at this point once they caught me back. I am sure they know what they were doing. I guess this part could be the most fatal part if they made any mistake since they started detaching all the ropes and I was not in a complete stable state either.
I was asked to leave the top platform right away, but I needed some seconds since I was a little bit dizzy.
I went back down and immediately followed to see the second guy jumping after me. Crazy!!!!

I went to the person who took the movie. I really appreciated his help even though we could not communicate well. He was Swiss and did not know any English.
Being cheered by the four guys, I went to the trailer and got the T-shirt. I am not sure if I have

Bungy Jumping

Ready?

the chance to be here again and jump one more time.
Now some interesting facts,

1- In almost 1:30 hour, around 20-30 people jumped. Assuming that all of them were student they had to pay 200 CHF each. Not a bad income for such a short time.
2- One of the guys in the group of 4, was really nervous. He even prayed before jumping. Well, I am sure everyone has his/her own fears and feelings in those moments.
3- Everyone except me yelled before jumping. I did not even feel like doing it. Can anyone come up with any reason? Just curiosity.
4- The oldest jumper was around 40ish years old who was accompanied by his wife. She was pregnant too! Is it a good idea to jump while your pregnant wife is watching you? Not sure.
5- They were switching the side where people were jumping every 5 jumps. Somehow makes sense for safety reasons since they were using different ropes at each side.
6- Unlike what they have posted on their websites showing girls jumping, not even one girl tried it during the time I was there. And I am not really sure if so many

Bungy Jumping

The Camera man. Thanks Mr. X?

girls are that "interested".
7- I was also one of the oldest people trying this too. Most of the guys were between 19-24. College kids. :-) And what am doing here?
8- I guess the best way of describing how I felt afterwards was being proud to overcome my fears and doing it.

After hanging around there for almost 1 hour and a half, I headed back down to Gordola. Again, I had to walk along the road. But this time, happy and excited.
Now I was hungry like a horse (or wolf? correct my english). Being out on the Swiss National day, almost all the restaurants in this small city were closed. Yet, I was lucky to get food.
How? I arrived at the restaurant of a hotel. Remember I am in the Italian part of Switzerland. My knowledge of Italian is hi/bye! Nothing more.
The sign language helped me to know that they only had sandwich since the kitchen was closed at that time (around 3pm).
To order sandwich, a very interesting sitatuation was created. One lady who spoke only Italian, asked her colleague to help her. Her colleague knew some English and some German. A combination

Verzasca Dam

The Bungy Jumping trailer.

of all was really helpful to find out that one of the sandwiches had beef in it. It is good to know some German too.
Anyhow, I had some food which I really deserved at that time.
Then, I had almost 1 hour and a half before heading back to Zurich. There was a lake closeby. I decided to go there. It took me almost half an hour to get to lake.
For the first time after a few years, I started feeling being sunstroke. Good that I had water, but still it was not helping that much.
So I just stayed in shade as much as I could.
When I got back to the station, I bought a lot of drinks and filled my water bottle, just in case.
Sitting in the train and drinking helped a lot.

I got to Zurich and went home to have dinner. But I decided to go back to Zurich lake to see the possible fireworks. It was Swiss national day.
After staying by the lake for two hours, nothing happened except for some random small fireworks performed by individuals. A lot of people were sitting there and the lake area was

Bungy Jumping

The platform. Point of no return.

packed. I found an empty spot. One guy and two ladies joined me at the same time. We started talking. The guy was an Egyptian who had been living in Zurich for 40 years. His wife was Swiss. He asked me if I spoke any Arabic. The answer was NO. Farsi plz.
His English was fair mixed with a lot of German words. Like 80% of the discussions amongst the middle-eastern people, our discussion ended up in more politics topics and world's economy. It is worth mentioning that he had studied economics.
He said that had been all around the world. But guess what, he never arrived in US. He later told me that it was his personal issue that he never wanted to spend even 1 Frank in US. I could not believe what I was hearing.
After one hour of discussion, I gave up on seeing any fireworks like many other people and went back home after saying bye to the couple and their friend.

Anyhow, that was my great Saturday on Swiss National day. What a long post... Hope you do not mind my typos and mistakes.

Ciao,
Momo

PS: After coming home, I