We Jumped off a Perfectly Good Mountain

Brunni cable car

The view from our ‘jumping off’ spot

Whirlpool for hikers to sooth their aching feet!

Brunni ski-lift

At the top of the ski lift is this pond, along with a restaurant and small shop.

“OK, run!” With that, I was running down a slope as fast as I could and off the side of a mountain! Fortunately, I was secured to an experienced pilot who was attached to a paragliding wing. Before I knew it, we were airborne – we were flying!

We had ascended the mountain via a cable car from the Brunni Station in Engelberg, followed by a ski-lift to take us higher up the mountain. The route down was very different. First, we had to find the thermals to take us higher. Once we had sufficient altitude, the plan was to fly to Grafenort.

Michele was still on the mountain, having watched her Dad jump off, and she would soon be airborne also. As it happened, Michele and Urs (her pilot and the owner of Freeminds Paragliding) were able to pick up better thermals and gained better altitude. They were able to make the flight to Grafenort, whilst my pilot and I had to make a landing in Engelberg.

Both of us experienced a bit of a bumpy flight and felt a little queasy along the way, but we both made it safely to the ground, albeit several miles apart. It was pretty amazing to be flying silently above Engelberg and the surrounding mountains. The 30 minute flight soon passed and, after a couple of tight spiral turns, we touched down on solid ground.

We got a flash drive with in-flight photos and video but my iPad won’t open the drive due to its power requirements. Until I can upload some of them, I can only post some photos of the way up the mountain.

For information on the Freeminds Paragliding tandem flights, visit their website http://www.freeminds.ch