Saturday 2 January 2010

Something scary.


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While in Switzerland, Traveller went paragliding!!

T paraglided from Schiltgrat-Stechelberg which was right near where she was staying in Murren. T had to take a ski-lift up to Schiltgrat which was 2150m above sea level! Traveller is a wee bit scared of heights, and hadn't even been on a ski-lift before, however, she decided to simply grin and bear it!

The most terrifying part (after the ski-lift!) is the running. You have to run 20 metres towards the edge of a hill and hope for the best. The paraglide is supposed to lift you up once you reach the edge. Husband went first and everything went according to plan. As soon as he was flying, my paragliding instructor yelled, '3-2-1' and we were off!
However, because we had received a lot of snow the night before, the top of the mountain was covered in powder. This slowed us down and caused T to lose her shoe! T kept running, not wanting to ruin the experience, but then a few steps later, she completely face planted! Her whole head was under snow just before the edge of the hill!

T's instructor helped her up and we made our way to the running point again. Believe it or not, Traveller actually felt good by this stage. It seemed she lost all of her fear after the face-planting and was ready to run!

'3-2-1' and we ran again, and this time had the most stunningly beautiful {and cold} flight over Murren and down to Stechelberg. It took 20 minutes.

It was one of the best experiences of T's life so far and she really wants to go again {perhaps somewhere warm this time}!

7 comments:

Trissa said...

Oh my - that is very scary! I went bungee jumping once and that was enough of heights for a lifetime! I have to say, it does look beautiful though. Have a great 2010!

June said...

Wow - that is amazing. What an incredible experience! How's the detox coming? We've been cooking low fat, low cal, low carb so no pasta for us for a while. Boohoo.

Traveller said...

Thanks, Triss! It was a little on the scary side...although like all worthwhile scary things..I do want to do it again! My hat is off to you for bungee jumping! I don't think I could do that one!
June - yeah, it was pretty incredible! The detox came..and went! It lasted about five days..and I lost most of my swiss 'coat' :) Now hubs and I are on a healthy eating plan... with tonight serving italian bean and vegetable soup! I think I'll hear some complaints once he realises there's no meat in it!

Jen said...

Such a trooper! You are so brave! I would LOVE to do that. I've been wanting to go paragliding in the Caribbean on our many trips there, but it's never worked out. Your pictures are gorgeous. It does look intimidating looking down on you and seeing your feet so far above the houses below!

Those are the moments you live for though, the ones that take your breath away.

And, don't worry, I'd probably trip and face plant too!

Traveller said...

Oh thanks, Nifer :) I was a little proud of myself! You should definitely do it...and the carribean sounds like a PERFECT spot to get started!
Yeah it's just like me to be super graceful and face-plant! Luckily the instructor rescued me from being buried in snow!

TheBeautyFile said...

SO cool! Wow...this looks amazing! That's about as close as I could get to doing it, my fear of heights is far too severe, but looks really cool.

Traveller said...

Oh you should try 'beauty file'! I'm really scared of heights, too. I just had to talk myself through it!

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