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SKYDIVING!
freefalling 120mph Interlaken, Switzerland:
WOW, is really all I can say. I have never seen anything like this in my life, and it brings me back to some of my days at Camp Thunderbird and Adventure Treks, when I thought I had seen the most beautiful places in the world. Switzerland blows away Minnesota and the Boundary Waters in Canada, Lake Superior and The Lake Superior Hiking Trail, the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, and the Colorado Rockies in Canada. These are all places that I have been fortunate enough to see in only 20 years of my life, but the Swiss Alps are just incredible. And it is the 1st of June! I could only imagine everything covered in snow from top to bottom in the winter, but apparently they have had an abnormally long winter this year and there was a lot of snow! This adds to what I would say is an impressive list of places that I have had the privilege to see with my own eyes. And we arrived in Interlaken on the first day of sun, even though it was only intermittent, in nearly 2 weeks of being in Europe.
So what else could I
do but jump out of a helicopter at 15,000 feet; and survive to tell the story. But the story is impossible to tell, because it is too incredible to describe. Just doing it, and actually getting up for such an early morning jump, and not to even mention the incredible view; it was definitely something I had to do. I can’t even go into the details because I am still trying to understand them myself. When we first jumped, (Danny and I,) I went first. I was ready to do it. Because I had decided to go first, I sat in the open window of the helicopter as we took off and climbed up the mountains. The helicopter ride up was about 15 minutes, and with every climbing foot it got colder and the scenery more beautiful. Everything was covered with snow once climbed above the tree line. It was below 0 degrees Fahrenheit I was told when we cleared the clouds and the view extended nearly forever. Then I jumped, (attached to a Tandem master of course,) and as Danny later described it looking down from the helicopter, I just disappeared over the side. 15,000 feet, and we were
in free fall for about 60 seconds, accelerating to over 120 mph. I think I saw the helicopter as we fell out and turned over, but I am not entirely sure. (I will have to check the pictures later.) Everything was a blur at first until I came to grips with what was happening. I let my hands out and started looking around to the most amazing scenery you could ever see in your life. Free fall was difficult to deal with at first, and it was a very uncomfortable feeling. But I quickly, and very quickly, caught up with myself, and just tried to really experience what was happening.
Then I felt the pressure of the parachute on my body harness as it started to release, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. The parachute doesn’t deploy as quickly as you might think, and it was more like a 10-15 second process. But just as long as I could feel the pressure of the harness, my nerves were calm. Then the wind that had been making a lot of sound, just stopped and it became very quiet. But pretty shortly after that he handed me the
controls of the parachute, and told me to pull left to go left and pull right to go right. One hand down, one hand up. I was careful at first, only pulling slightly, but then I gave it a good pull on the right side and we took off into a massive downward spiral to the right. Then back to the left, every time diving and increasing speed.
But I hadn’t stopped to breath since we left the helicopter, so I yelled, “Listen! Chill for a second and let me look!!” Michael laughed for a bit while we came to what seemed like a complete stop in the air. Finally I could appreciate what was going on, and I also started to appreciate the slight sick feeling in my stomach. I needed to catch my breath, but as I did I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The feeling of cruising downwards in the parachute was amazing, and something I’ll never be able to compare to it. The free fall was amazing, but it was hard to look around and really see what was going on. I couldn’t even begin to take in everything that was around me. The
diving
flipping over to get a look at the helicopter as we jumped biggest, most amazing mountains I have ever seen, from a height that I have never experienced before. Alan, I was even higher than Mt. Shasta! Haha.
It was an amazing experience, and it was over as quickly as it began. We landed on the ground and I leaned over, kissed my hand and slapped it on the ground. I jumped up and was just so glad to have done it and to be on the ground. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend what I had just done or especially everything I had seen; it was too much to handle all at once. But first thing I had to handle was to get out of my harness and jump suit. I was having trouble standing straight, but I eventually managed to wiggle out of the suit.
A blue PowerAde and a ham and cheese sandwich later, I started to think about what had happened. I definitely do not regret doing it, and everything about it was worth every second and every dollar (or Swiss Franc) that it cost, even the few minutes afterwards when I was really nauseous. Apparently, jumping from a helicopter is hard to find in the
Interlaken
This was the view from the balcony of our hostel. Incredible world, because most jump from small planes. But a helicopter was able to put us exactly where we wanted to be; in this case wedged at 15,000 feet between two ridges of the Swiss Alps, with two lakes completing the 4 sides of a valley and the city of Interlaken. In the distance, you could see more than 300 miles away to Mont Blanc in France, covered in snow for miles in every direction. The helicopter was also great because the ride up to 15,000 feet was slow and controlled so I was really able to look around and appreciate the scenery.
We came back to the hostel, ate a huge lunch, and I’ve spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on our balcony looking at the snow-covered Alps, and writing about my experiences of the day.
You will have to ask me for more details in person, because it is more than I could possibly explain in words.
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