skydiving in interlaken, switzerland

SO WE DID IT!

I still can't believe it, but we went skydiving! We took an evening train from Gimmelwald back to Interlaken with the hope that it would be nice the next day so we could go skydiving. Well on the way to Interlaken it was just pouring rain, so we really weren't getting our hopes up. When we got to the hostel we signed up anyways, and the guy who runs it all, Andrew (and the guy I jumped with, who has like 6,000 jumps under his belt) said they would check the weather in the morning and to meet in the lobby at 10.

When we woke up it was still pretty crappy weather, and we really didn't think it was going to happen. Andrew called the hostel and said they had checked the radar and we had a new jump time of 1:00. After a light breakfast, Mike and I killed some time until then, nervously checking the sky every 5 minutes. It really didn't look like it was going to clear up, but then around 12:45 the clouds parted and there was beautiful sunshine. I couldn't believe how accurate they were with predicting the weather! After waiting around all morning, it was finally go time! Our roomate Sam was also going to go as well, and we all jumped in the van and headed to the Skydive Interlaken office where we took care of payment and whatnot. After that we were shuttled to the helipad where the helicopter came to meet us. Interlaken (well, Switzerland) is one of, if not the only, place in the world where you can skydive out of a helicopter. That made it really unique for us, and quite the experience as well! The helicopter we took was reallllly tiny. They had to take the door off one side, and Mike was sitting with one leg out of it the whole way up, which made him even more nervous I think! We did our little pre-jump interview on camera for our souvenir videos, and then we were off! The ride up was aweome, and we had the most amazing view of the Alps and Interlaken below. I think I was a little distracted by the view, and it was only when I saw Mike tumble out before me that I realized what I was about to do and there was no turning back. Once we had reached 14, 000 feet, the helicopter stopped and just hovered. Mike and his tandem partner, Mark, scooted forward until they were balancing on the edge, and before you knew it, they were GONE. With a firm push on my hips, Andrew then scooted me over to the edge and I dangled there for what seemed like forever while the helicopter got re-positioned because of the wind. I tried to just look straight ahead instead of down, but before I knew it I was tumbling out, head first towards the ground. I screamed and screamed for the first little while until we reached what's called terminal velocity (when you've reached maximum acceleration and can't speed up anymore). Then I relaxed a bit, and even though we were still falling at 120mph, it felt like we were floating. It was incredible! Our freefall lasted for about 40 seconds, then Andrew pulled the cord and everything just STOPPED and got really quiet. Andrew let me hold the straps for the parachute and try to steer, but it was really hard because I was shaking and couldn't concentrate! with even the littlest movement he was able to spin us in circles or do quick little drops like a roller coaster. The view was amazing and felt so surreal, like I was jumping into a postcard or something!

We floated down to the landing field, and I could see Mike waiting below. I lifted up my feet when instructed, and braced for the landing, which was really gentle and easy as pie. I was so ecstatic and proud of myself for what I had just done! I instantly wanted to go again, and so did Mike! We hung around and waited for our videos to be edited, then one of the guys there gave us a ride back to the hostel, and then to the train station. We had been talking to our roomates the night before and realized the next day, Oct 3rd, was the last day of Oktoberfest in Munich, so we wanted to head there for that; even though it meant that we would have to spend like 12 hours on a train to get there in time!

We're hopefully going to put our videos up on YouTube, so hang tight for updates on that!