Swiss Extreme - The Adventure Sport Mecca

It is said that a picture says a thousand words. In the case of Switzerland, I have found that no amount of pictures or words could ever describe its incredible landscape, spirit or beauty.

Standing in the middle of the Swiss Alps between waterfalls, rivers, ravines and ice capped mountains where our camp site lay, I was in awed silence every morning taking in my 360 degree view from where I stood.

For me, Switzerland meant finding freedom from fear and discovering my capabilities as I pushed myself to higher levels of endurance and courage. Within the short five days we were there we found ourselves swimming through glacier rivers in Bern, mountain biking through the Swiss Alpine trails in Lauterbrunnen, paragliding off mountain slopes in Interlaken and jumping, flipping and belaying ourselves through gorgeous waterfalls in deep canyons in the area.

During the two day stop in Bern, the old capital of Switzerland, Iain and I discovered the locals favorite past time. A river surrounds the city of Bern and the locals have a tradition of swimming (or floating through the fast flowing glacier waters) for both fun and for their health. The cold water is believed to help boost locals´ immune systems and keep them feeling young. Since the weather was hot and we didn´t want to miss out on this experience, Iain and I swam down this river twice together.

It wasn´t as cold as I expected it to be but I was definitely a wake up for both of us since the water was so fast flowing and you have to pay attention in order to catch the exits along the way. Iain enjoyed one last flip off one of the bridges along the way home as onlookers enjoyed his little joust. Iain always looks happiest when he is either flipping off something or in the water. That made this experience an especially fun one for him.

A couple of day later we rented some mountain bikes and made our way from Lauterbrunnen to Interlaken. We originally wanted to find out about hang gliding but ended up booking paragliding and canyoning that afternoon.

Paragliding was such a fun experience for both of us. We both enjoyed it more than some of the other air experiences we have had including sky diving in Fiji. Just the feeling of flying through the air for 25 minutes as we took in the views of the Swiss Lakes, Alps and villages couldn´t be compared to anything we have ever done before and because we kept catching thermals (hot air rising) we kept going hirer just as we thought we were coming down. I ended up with a guide that was in the paragliding world championship and he did so many fun tricks with me in the air that I even felt G-force a few times.

Of all the activities we have done (including sky diving and shark diving) I found canyoning the most challenging and potentially dangerous for me. Because of this, it was also the most rewarding when we had finished.

Unlike many other outdoor activities (like kayaking, hiking, rock climbing, etc) canyoning can only be done in a handful of places in the world. It´s turns out it is a very dangerous sport and incredibly demanding physically. Five years ago 21 people died in a flash flood where we went and each year at least five people break their legs, one person broke their neck and there are about a dozen broken, sprained or twisted ankles along the way. Helicopter rescues are not uncommon for canyoners. Luckily, we didn´t find this out until after we completed the course.

Don´t let this scare you into not doing it if it interests you. It was one of the best, most beautiful and challenging experiences of my life, and I was proud of myself for completing it. I knew it was going to be a hard day when we got to the starting point and there were 29 guys and me. Not only was I the only girl, but 25 of the guys were on a hockey team and the other four were really athletic and then there was me.

The highest jump we had was right in the beginning, which was just over 10 meters high (like jumping off a three story building). Aside from the height, the challenge was to not hit any rocks on the way down. Once we went off this jump, there was no turning back. We had to complete the course to get out of the canyon. Throughout the day we did at least half a dozen jumps, at least ten natural water slides, belay down two waterfalls and get lowered into a dark rocky cave.

Our favorite slide was one where we had to run and jump off the side of a cliff and hit a particular spot on a rock wall to catch the slide several meters below. If you missed the spot, you would be broken somewhere. Actually, that was the case with most of the jumps and drops. If you were off from your aim, something would be shattered. Usually either your legs or your face.

The scariest drop was one near the end of the canyon. There was such a small space to land that the guide had to hang you off the side of the rock face by the back of your life jacket and drop you into a hole about three or four meters below. The scariest part was having your safety completely in someone else´s hands hoping is aim is bang on and not being able to look at the water below. Because of the tight space in which we could land, if we looked down we would hit our face into the rocks, so we had to look at the sky not knowing how far we were going to keep falling until we hit water.

The day ended up taking us about six hours, which included pick up, drop off, lunch and a great hike either way. I hurt my back a little on one of the jumps (where we were actually supposed to land on our backs because the water was so shallow) and Iain hit his elbow on a rock going down a water slide (it would have been his face if his arm wasn´t in the way) but aside from that we were totally unharmed and completely in awe at what we had just done.

Now we are safely in Munich to watch the Euro Cup Final between Germany and Spain. We are safe and looking forward to coming home next week. As for extreme adventure sports, I think I have the hardest ones out of my system and will be happy to take up most leisure activities again like snow boarding, hiking and biking. However, stopping in Switzerland made me truly feel that I held nothing back on this trip and I will have no regrets about not living life to its fullest.