Zermatt
The scenery very suddenly changed in front of me, from the French lowlands to the snowy, irregular Alps of Switzerland. It seemed that we were already low, and before I knew it, the crevasses and valleys engulfed us, we landed. I made my way out, dreading the 4-hour drive from Geneva to Zermatt, but at the same time, waiting for it.
We were in the car, driving. This kept going for hours, seeming like years… Although there is nothing I can complain about as everything around us was so beautiful – we seemed to never have left the valley we set out from, the mountains looked like something that was about to fall and crush us anytime. With all those mixed feelings inside me, I failed to notice us passing lake Geneva, like something straight out of heaven. There was a mist above it, a mist of curiosity and jealousy for me. ‘How lucky these people are, to be able to live here…’ I thought. At that, with a blink of an eye, all this wonder disappeared, and we were among the rocky giants again; but it is not like we ever left.
I have noticed along the way though, that we were getting higher and higher, and what I have not noticed is that we were already in Zermatt. My eyes widened as I caught sight of the gorgeous Matterhorn, a mountain ≈7 kilometres away. As I got out into the crispy, cool evening, I looked up to see the sky partially blocked by paragliders. I must try this.
After a few days of browsing the internet and skiing, I found the website with the paragliding on it; my heart skipped a beat as with great uncertainty and my dad acknowledged my enthusiasm with a booking of one of the flights, in 2 days.
I waited and waited, for what seemed to be months of skiing, browsing and sleeping until… My dad woke me up one morning with indescribable dread in his voice, coming from his heart, for me to go paragliding. It was only around 45 minutes, so I would not have stayed up there for long – but for long enough as I would soon find out. I met my instructor and my drowsy self overlooked the fact that we were already on the ledge. The ‘runway’ was just some 15 metres of treated snow and a cliff. Now, it was time.
I ran. I jumped. I got blown back.
The instructor told me to try again; I ran, I jumped and was in the air… I was in the air!
How beautiful was the new experience, especially in Switzerland; everything suddenly increased in size as we were seamlessly transported into bird’s-eye view; the insignificant municipality below, valleys and ridges as far as the eye could see – and the mouth-watering Matterhorn – no one could have made me speak for the rest of the flight, my mouth was shut at all times.
Like a snap of fingers, before I could process anything I saw, we landed behind an old train and I nearly fell over, partly because of the absence of tandem-paraglider landing expertise, partly because of a shock-induced stiffness. Next objective – skydiving.
Zermatt
The scenery very suddenly changed in front of me, from the French lowlands to the snowy, irregular Alps of Switzerland. It seemed that we were already low, and before I knew it, the crevasses and valleys engulfed us, we landed. I made my way out, dreading the 4-hour drive from Geneva to Zermatt, but at the same time, waiting for it.
We were in the car, driving. This kept going for hours, seeming like years… Although there is nothing I can complain about as everything around us was so beautiful – we seemed to never have left the valley we set out from, the mountains looked like something that was about to fall and crush us anytime. With all those mixed feelings inside me, I failed to notice us passing lake Geneva, like something straight out of heaven. There was a mist above it, a mist of curiosity and jealousy for me. ‘How lucky these people are, to be able to live here…’ I thought. At that, with a blink of an eye, all this wonder disappeared, and we were among the rocky giants again; but it is not like we ever left.
I have noticed along the way though, that we were getting higher and higher, and what I have not noticed is that we were already in Zermatt. My eyes widened as I caught sight of the gorgeous Matterhorn, a mountain ≈7 kilometres away. As I got out into the crispy, cool evening, I looked up to see the sky partially blocked by paragliders. I must try this…
After a few days of browsing the internet and skiing, I found the website with the paragliding on it; my heart skipped a beat as with great uncertainty and my
- Author Name
- : Russian
- : youth_(12_–_18_as_of_31st_december_2019)
- : This is the first time this story has been published.