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From mountain biking to paragliding to white-water rafting “sans raft”, the Swiss Alps offers adrenalin-pumping activities-a-plenty to tempt the daredevil in us all.
Words and pictures Suzy Bennett
Paragliding
Why decide to jump off a perfectly good mountain? Well, there’s the adrenalin buzz for starters. Nothing can prepare you for the thrill that comes with flying silently over roofs, treetops and snow-capped peaks.
It takes a while to adjust to the sensation of not being attached to anything solid – my legs pedal in midair at first, instinctively searching for terra firma. “If you’re going to panic,” my pilot Christophe tells me, “best do it now because you can’t do much damage up here.”
We are in Villars, in the heart of the Swiss Alps, and we drift over classic Heidi territory. There are lush green pastures, flower-filled meadows, sweet-scented pine forests, log cabins festooned with geraniums, and no sounds other than cow bells. We also have a bird’s eye view of the holiday homes of the rich and famous – including the luxurious pad of Formula One driver Jacques Villeneuve.
Landing is the hard part. I’m told to start running, but naturally I forget this the minute solid ground starts rushing towards me. We land with a jolt and a string of expletives but luckily our ankles are intact. And then, there’s only one thought in my head. Again.
Flights start at €83 (CHF130). Christophe Smith, Villars, tel: +41 (0)24 495 4141; www.smith.li
Via Ferrata
Via Ferrata – Italian for the Iron Way – is rock climbing for softies. Ferratistas, as they are known, scale cliff faces by hooking themselves to a steel cable nailed into the rock. It’s safer than rock climbing because you are attached to the wire at all times, so even amateurs can attempt sheer-sided walls.
My guide, Alex, is an adrenalin addict but, like most of that breed who still have the regulation number of limbs, he tempers his thirst for danger with a high level of caution, and makes sure I have a good foothold at all times. He teaches me how to conserve my strength and, crucially, shows me how to plan a path up the rock face.
The trickiest part is to keep climbing: perched on a matchstick-thin ledge with the ground a blur below, a primitive but sensible instinct tells me to stop going any higher. “It’s a long way down,” it says. “What do you say we climb down and go some place more sensible, like sea level?”
What’s needed is a little self-deception – I breathe deeply, look up and pretend the ground’s just below me. Besides, I’m attached to the rock, I tell myself. Even if I do slip, I won’t fall.
At the top, I summon up the courage to look out, and down. The view is spectacular: a ring of snow-capped peaks, vast fields of vividly-coloured wild flowers and in the far distance, the turquoise shimmer of Lake Geneva.
Via Ferrata, Leysin, tel: +41 (0)24 494 2244; Les Diablerets, tel: +41 (0)24 492 3358, www.viaferrata.org Guiding fees start at €193 (CHF300). Tel: +41 (0)24 494 1846; www.guideservice.ch
Canyoning
Billed as white-water rafting without the raft, canyoning is Switzerland’s newest adrenalin sport. Participants shoehorn themselves into a wetsuit, don a lifejacket and helmet and then jettison themselves – “sans raft” – down a fast-flowing glacial river.
It’s an activity for thrill-seekers only. Kept afloat by my lifejacket, I spend the first half off my journey ripping down the river at full speed – swishing down rock-slides, leaping off waterfalls, ricocheting around whirlpools and swooping around gushing gullies. It’s frightening, and the water is shockingly cold, but it’s sensuous, too, like having an all-over body massage with frozen silk.
Downstream, the river widens and calms, and my journey through the gorge flows at a more stately pace. Lying on my back, I drift through bubbling natural jacuzzis, limpid pools and moss-laden caves, and marvel at fantastical shapes gouged in the rock by centuries of water erosion.
The forested slopes of the gorge above throng with life: mountain goats teeter precariously on impossibly narrow ledges; birds wheel from tree to tree, while colourful butterflies flutter to and fro, searching for a place to settle.
Getting in touch with my inner fish isn’t difficult. The trick is to relax. And the beauty of it is that, while for most adrenalin sports you have to be strong, nimble or fit, for canyoning you just have to obey the laws of gravity. Literally, you go with the flow.
Half-day sessions start at €52 (CHF80). Rivières Aventures, Chateau d’Oex, tel: +41 (0)26 924 3424; www.riviere-aventure.ch
Mountain biking
Don your lycra and eat your spinach – mountain biking in the Swiss Alps is not for the faint-hearted. Uphill or down, it’s hard work. Go up and you need pistons for legs and a heart the size of a small car engine to power you up the steep slopes. Go down and you risk a run-in with a dirt track that’ll leave you picking gravel out of your thighs for weeks.
Mastering the downhill technique is a dark art. Use the front brakes too much and I lurch over the handlebars. Use the back brake, and I skid. It’s bone-shatteringly bumpy, my arms feel like jelly and my tyres keep losing their grip. It is, without doubt, the most frightening adrenalin sport there is; the terminally vain may wish to note that the experience also plays havoc with a wobbly midriff.
The afternoon redeems itself as soon as I reach a paved road further down the valley. It’s wide and traffic-free and, most importantly, smooth. I freewheel down the valley at warp speed grinning from ear to ear, feeling like an eight-year-old again. The hour I spend picking flies out of my teeth later that evening seems a small price to pay for the thrill.
Bikes are available to rent nationwide from €32 (CHF50) per day. Rent A Bike, www.rent-a-bike.ch. For biking trails, visit www.myswitzerland.com
Sailing
The lofty, mist-wreathed peaks that ring Lake Geneva are best seen from the comfort of a sailing boat. Wind or no wind, it’s worthwhile taking a trip out. If there’s no wind, the lake will be millpond-calm and you can sun yourself on deck, take a dip in the cool, clean water, or watch as the elegant city of Lausanne, tiered high above the shoreline, drifts by.
If there’s wind, get ready. The blasts that come down from the Alps can be fearsome, and navigating through them safely demands a quick mind and a sure hand. Each year, dozens of amateur sailors get caught unawares and have to be rescued.
A private, two-hour sailing lesson will teach you basics: the ropes, knots and sails, how to steer, stop on a buoy, and how to navigate through a harbour.
You’ll also learn about weather conditions, winds and how to rescue someone who has fallen overboard.
If that seems too much like hard work, ask your instructor to take you across to the Royal Parc Evian Spa resort on the French side of the lake instead – and indulge in some pampering.
Prices for a two-hour lesson start at €130 (CHF200). Ecole de Voile D’Ouchy, Lausanne, tel: +41 (0)21 635 5887, www.ecole-de-voile.ch
For further information on summer sports in the Lake Geneva region, freephone 00800 10020030 or visit www..myswitzerland.com
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