Bungy Jumping in Switzerland

You will never catch me bungy jumping (or BASE jumping).

Indeed, the only kind of jumping I ever do is on and off of trains, buses or parked airplanes . . . however, IF I was ever going to bungy jump, I’d do it in Ticino.

The Verzasca Dam is a staggering piece of engineering at 720 feet high, 1,250 feet wide, and 23 million cubic feet of poured concrete (that’s about 2 million bathtubs’ full). Despite its smooth, space-age design and photogenic nature, the dam was built to create a hydro-electric power plant to serve the people in Ticino.

Verzasca came into the public eye with GoldenEye (1995) in which the opening scene has James Bond bungy jumping from the top of the dam, which in this context, is supposed to be a Soviet weapons factory in the Arctic.

I’d heard about this jump and despite the many offers and displays of encouragement for me to make the jump myself, I declined and found my solace as a camera man filming others as they tossed their fragile bodies from this massive concave man-made precipice.

I have always been very honest about my fear of heights and so I confess that simply filming other people bungy jumping gave me the willies. But I did it for all of you, dear readers, especially those of you who dream of free fall from a concrete wall. And so, for any of you adrenalin junkies out there who do want to jump the Verzasca Dam, check out Trekking.ch.

Normally I would tell you to not look down, but in this one instance, I don’t think you really have a choice.

In bocca al lupo!