It was probably the most adventurous activity we have done since we arrived in Europe more than two weeks ago, and we are still talking about how fun it was several hours later
Take a look at the scenery around where we went canyoning:
The day didn't begin too well for me, though. Our room in the hostel is located on the top floor, so we have to go up and come down several sets of stairs each time we go to our room. No big deal, except when you are a little clumsy first thing in the morning.
I left the room around 7:30 a.m. to walk down for breakfast and somehow managed to trip coming down the second flight of stairs. I fell down about four or five stairs before catching myself, but I managed to twist my ankle ... not the way I had planned to start the day of canyoning. But, it was upward and onward.
We walked (well, one of us limped a little) to the the canyoning company, Outdoor Interlaken, where we met our two guides: Timo, from Germany, and Stan from South Africa. They helped us gear up as we picked out wet suits, water boots, life jackets and helmets. The helmets each had names on them, so I was Thor for the day while Chris was Big Willy. We then drove about 45 minutes to begin our Canyoning Grimsel adventure. There were eight people in our canyoning group.
The trip began with a 164-foot rappel down a smooth canyon wall. It was the first time I have been rappelling since friends Jason, Lizzie, Rachel and I drove to Alaska to camp for two months the summer we graduated from college. (I'll never forget my first rappelling experience at City of Rocks in Idaho after Jason took us on a two-pitch rock climb ... a story for another day!) When rappelling, you just lean back and walk down the canyon wall, trying to keep you feet farther apart than your shouldes. The hardest part is just leaning back and letting go, even though you can hold on to the rope if you want. It was a blast as we descended into the canyon.
Once we reached the bottom we walked a short distance and then the true canyoning began. We jumped from a boulder down into a pool of some of the coldest water I have ever felt. Even with a wet suit, it was so cold ... and refreshing, too! Our bodies somewhat warmed back up thanks to the wet suits.
From there, we spent the next 60 minutes jumping from boulders into the cool water. There were also several slides we went down -- the slides were smooth canyon walls where you sit back, relax, try to forget your fears and slide down into the ice cold water. The highlight for me was a zip line in the canyon. Instead of zip lining across the entire cable, however, we only zip lined to the middle of the cable. Then, we let go and dropped into the clear and cool water below us. It was incredible!
After canyoning, we had a quick lunch with the group. The guides brought bread, Swiss cheese, some vegetables and drinks. The Swiss cheese was incredible. It was the best bread and cheese sandwich I have ever eaten.
We returned to the hostel around 1 p.m. and rested in the room for a couple of hours. My ankle was hurting so I elevated it for a couple of hours before we walked back to the downtown area for dinner. The "Lonely Planet" book highly recommended this sandwich shop, so we went there for dinner. I had a hot ham and cheese sandwich and a cold chicken curry sandwich ... both were tasty! We bought some Swiss chocolate afterward and then stopped in McDonalds to use WiFi ... but couldn't connect. But, we saw they had a Toblerone McFlurry ... it was very rich!
Tomorrow is our last day in Switzerland before we head to Italy. We are going to make a day trip but need to start planning it now. I'll update again tomorrow night.
¡Buenas noches!
Justin
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