Taking the Plunge

At 220m above the floor of the Verzasca Valley, the Val Verzasca Dam is home to the world's highest fixed-point bungee jump. It took seven years of lobbying before the Swiss government granted Trekking Team AG a license to install jumping equipment there, and since then the company has maintained a perfect safety record. When I arrived, I thought I knew what I was in for. Then I saw the dam, and its immensity immediately melted my certainty.

Physics suggests that a falling body should cover the distance in under seven seconds, but until the youngster next to me on the bridge threw a rock into the void, I had no idea how long that seemed.

After jumps by eight others, none of whom flinched before takeoff, I found myself at the edge. One second I was standing with my toes curled around the end of a metal platform, a staff member hanging onto my vest, then came a three-second countdown and the hand was gone. The sensation of falling felt like the most natural thing in the world.

Contact Trekking Team at www.trekking.ch. Open Apr.-Oct. Sa-Su; Jul-Aug W-Su. Reservations required. 255SFr, students 195SFr; additional jumps on the same day 125SFr. Night jumps possible.