Trains, by the way, although they arrive with a precision of a couple of minutes, can totally be a minute or two late. Sometimes, they say, even more.
On Sunday, our plan was to ride a train up the mountain and fly off it on paragliders. Oddly enough, you can find even six tandem pilots, although getting a license in Switzerland isn't easy; it's much easier in Latvia. Interestingly, you can fly with a Latvian license, but only until you move here to live.
To get to Mount Rigi, we made it to Arth-Goldau station and transferred to the Rigi-Bahn, an incredibly steep and slow railway snaking its way to the top.
It was my first time riding a train with such a steep incline. Sometimes it dragged along at a walking pace, and you could physically feel that it wasn't easy for the locomotive.
About forty minutes later, we were on a typical Alpine peak, with very green grass and cows with giant bells around their necks. Not everyone knows that the heavy bells are needed, among other things, to weigh the cow down so she eats more.
We waited a long time for a headwind, which is very important for takeoff, especially in a tandem. Eventually, the first wave took off. They got lucky: they quickly found thermals, meaning columns of warm air rising from the ground. Thermals allow you to gain altitude, sometimes a massive amount. This time, the girls climbed 200-300 meters from the initial 1700, maybe even more
It's hard to judge by eye when there are no reference points.
Through connections, they wanted to give us a longer ride than the usual 15-20 minutes you get here for 200 euros, but that depends heavily on the weather and luck. In the end, luck only favored the first wave. The rest of us settled for less. However, this "less" is astonishing and takes your breath away. Even a guy like me, who has seen a fair bit and is already a little tired of living, is touched by this beauty.
Looking at the hills and mountains while soaring like a 🐦 is even more impressive than standing on the peak.
All around are little towns, lakes with emerald water, and lush Alpine meadows bathed in the ☀️. And you just hang unhurriedly and completely without fear over all this magnificence. My pilot was a girl named Eva. I specifically asked for her as a show of support for feminism, but at first she refused because her glider was small, and I weigh 93 kg.
Taking off in a light headwind is tough, since lift depends on the headwind and the wing area. You have to run with all your might to inflate it.
Eventually, we were out of options because there were no pilots left, so I flew with Eva. I got a good running start and flew right over the fir trees.
Eva let me steer the paraglider a little, for a couple of minutes. And she pulled some acrobatics, but my body doesn't handle that well. I'd love to do it myself, I'm not scared, but I start getting nauseous.
In the end, about twenty minutes later, we landed on a lawn near the Rigi-Bahn station where we had started our journey.
The experience is wonderful; I highly recommend everyone go flying in the mountains if the stars align. You're not going to fly every month for a couple of hundred bucks, but you can treat yourself a couple of times a year.