A group of nice but irritatingly gung ho chaps picked us up from the restaurant and we drove for about 10 minutes into the mountains. Once we got to the launch site (or should I say downhill slope) a few of the gung ho types quickly started setting up the gliders while the rest were in charge of harnessing us with safety straps and giving launch/safety brief. "Do not on any account stop running downhill! Just keep on running downhill and only stop when you are airborne!" Gulp.
They had to be kidding me
So I was strapped in and ready to run. Scared, but strangely excited.
They look much flimsier close up
It is fairly simple. You are strapped on with safety gear not only to the glider but also the "expert" pilot. You wait for the winds to pick at the edge of the cliff. When the pilot says run, you hang on and run down the cliff as fast as you can, and just keep on running until you feel air and you are up...gliding..thousands of feet in the air. Then it dawns on you...you are strapped on to what is essentially a big kite. That is when you ask the pilot "Uh, for some reason this did not cross my mind on solid ground, but exactly how long have you been doing this?". I was safe, he had 20 years experience under his belt.
I am hanging on for dear life
You marvel at the beauty of the Swiss lakes, the mountainside, at the still snow capped alps on the horizon. You look down and note how small everything seems, the houses, the boats on the lake, the minute sheep, and how quiet it is up there. You only hear the wind and the flapping of the glider. You are flying with the Gods. Ok, in my case a rather hunky Swiss guy and a few birds. It is exhilarating as you are taken so close to the mountains that you can see right into the living rooms of the houses underneath you. It hits you how wonderfully free birds must feel as the expert takes advantage of a strong gust of wind to sweep you up even higher, and as the huge lakes get smaller and smaller.
I am still alive
Then you realise that you are so very very far from land. This is not like looking down from 3 story building thinking, ok, if I fall, I may still survive albeit with a few broken bones. This is if kite fails, I am beyond kersplatt. Of course the motion sickness helped me overcome the fear of death from extreme heights (I was thinking if I die I would haunt D forever). The pilot was very nice and he wanted me to enjoy the experience with acrobatics and the whole shebang...I was feeling sick. It is the sick to my stomach I am going to puke sort of sick that I get when I go on those damn gondola rides at Six Flags. I didn't think you could get motion sickness while being rather motionless in the air. The fun was over and the torture of keeping sick in began. After all, I hardly knew the pilot and I did not want to embarass myself.
I was feeling so sick then
It still amazes me now how I could feel sick up there, yet still feel so great flying like we are so not meant to be flying. It was a humbling experience to say the least. We had a smooth landing. I don't know if I will do it again. If I do though, I will take something for the motion sickness. But then again, if not for my having to concentrate on not hurling, I may have been more freaked out by possible kersplatting than I was. But I do know one thing, I would not trade feeling of being as free as a bird for anything.
The unbelievable sense of relief that my pilot and I are on land again.
4 comments:
Wow
well...it may be comforting to think that in the event you did fly downwards into the lake, the lake sure is beautiful :P
Something I wished I had done but now I don't think I will ever do -- sky diving. Wowwwww Awesome, Sofie!
Dear Yam: Yes, it was bloody difficult keeping it in while gliding. But to be honest, I did at the end blow and covered landing strip with Raspberry sorbet. But was able to do it with head sideways and downwind. Did not want to spew all over pilot. Pilot later told me that they had a chewing gum to combat motion sicknes...yah..too late innit.
Fakey, trust me, all forms of "forced" landing scenarios went thru my head. Including landing on water/mountain side/cows. Figured that albeit pretty, the crash would probably decapitate me anyway. The beautiful skies are very different from inside a nice plane. When you are danggling from a kite, being piloted by someone who probably had a couple of joints earlier in the day...well, totally different feeling.
Lisa, they also have sky diving and para gliding at Interlaken.
Ls, they had tandem parachuting in Interlaken but not too sure if they have it in KL. I know they have parachuting lessons in Sungai Besi. My dad says that parachuting is basically you committing suicide when you jum out of perfectly good plane, then saving yourself when you pull the cord. And he says when chute does not open, then well, padan muka.
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