As the chairlift nears the Grand Chamossaire peak at the Villars ski resort in the Swiss Alps, screams of terror and delight suddenly pierce the air.<\/p>\n
Perched on the mountaintop, at an altitude of 2,110 metres (6,923 feet), a towering V-shaped structure glistens in the summer sunshine, holding a giant swing that catapults visitors out over a gaping void with a breathtaking Alpine panorama stretching before them.<\/p>\n
“I had a bit of a pit in my stomach” before getting strapped in, acknowledged Alexandra Henchoz, 37, who tested the new swing with her husband and 10-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n
“But once it is happening, it is just incredible. You feel like a bird flying.”<\/p>\n
The Grand Chamossaire swing, which opened earlier this month, is the latest effort by Alpine ski resorts to attract off-season visitors and make use of ski lift infrastructure as snow becomes less reliable due to climate change.<\/p>\n
“We are really trying to diversify our offering,” Martin Deburaux, head of the Villars-Gryons-Diableret ski area, told AFP.<\/p>\n
The new 12-metre-high swing “provides us with a source of attraction that can function independently of snow conditions”, he said.<\/p>\n
– Preparing for less snow –<\/p>\n
Deburaux stressed that the resort had seen record numbers coming during the past two ski seasons, as visitors who usually skied lower-lying slopes sought higher ground and more snow.<\/p>\n
“But we know we are facing climate change,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We are looking for substitutes to conserve jobs, the dynamism and the tourist economy built up around our ski lift facilities.”<\/p>\n
Currently, the resort draws more than 700,000 people during the winter season, but just 100,000 in summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It aims to triple its summer season numbers in the next couple of years, Deburaux said, adding that doing so would require offering a multitude of activities.<\/p>\n
Nearby hikers filled the grassy paths, while mountain bikers sporting helmets and protective gear sped down a separate, steep dirt trail.<\/p>\n
They wind past an ephemeral land art fresco painted by French artist Saype across an entire hillside showing a child drawing.<\/p>\n
Deburaux said the new swing had intentionally been erected in a spot that had already been brimming with activity, while leaving other parts of the resort untouched to appeal to those seeking a pristine nature experience.<\/p>\n
– Terrified –<\/p>\n
The swing, which is accessible to anyone with a ski lift ticket, can take three people at a time.<\/p>\n
Each person straddles a saddle affixed to a metal structure made to look like an Alpine Ibex, their hands clenching handlebars as they are strapped down tightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then an elaborate system of cables and pulleys is used to draw them as far back as a 90-degree angle, leaving them suspended face down, perpendicular with the metal platform far below.<\/p>\n
When the security cable is suddenly released, the swing plunges forward out over the sharp, jagged drop to exalted screams and a sprinkling of curses, before a spectacular view of the valley below against a dramatic backdrop of rocky and snow-dusted Alps rushes in.<\/p>\n
“The feeling of hanging up there, and then being released, it’s an amazing sensation,” said Yannick Boudouin, 38.<\/p>\n
“A mini free-fall and then nothing but fun,” agreed his 31-year-old partner Anais Fougairolles.<\/p>\n
Marc Truffer, 70, meanwhile said he was terrified, and then thrilled.<\/p>\n
“It was so scary… I didn’t even scream,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
“It took my breath away going down, but then the view was magnificent.”<\/p>\n
nl\/ag\/jj\/rlp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the chairlift nears the Grand Chamossaire peak at the Villars ski resort in the Swiss Alps, screams…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,52303,52304,25547,26625,6943,52305],"class_list":["post-106992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-giant-swing","tag-martin-deburaux","tag-ski-lift","tag-summer-season","tag-swiss-alps","tag-villars-ski-resort"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116968017661463977","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}