150th

This spring the weather in center Europe is really bad. The last five weeks looked all the same. A few sunny days during the week and rain if not snow during the week-end. There is still a hug amount of snow in the mountains. It's bad for us as it's impossible to get to the nice high jumps. We are around the 20th of May and they are still announcing snow at 800 to 1000 meters ...

To be sure to jump, last week-end I decided to make a little trip to the Lautebrunnen valley with my girlfriend. For the one who don't know Lauterbrunnen is one of the world mecca of Base jumping. The valley is well known because there is a huge selection of jumps of all difficulties situated in the same area. It's also in my opinion one of the most beautiful place in Switzerland. Everything looks like Heidi's home. Even if you are not a base jumper you should definitely go there once. If you are interested in base jumping it's the best place to see some people jumping and maybe meet some Base jumpers.

Stechelberg view from Mürren

We arrived in the valley on sunday late afternoon. The weather on the way wasn't really good. On the spot we had a nice sunny hole of blue sky. I could manage a jump and repack before the rain came back. I jumped from an exit called High Ultimate. It is situated under the village of Mürren. The good point of this jump is his access, crazy fast and easy. You take the cable car in Stechelberg, ride up to Mürren and walk 5 mins to the exit of an 700+m jump. The bad side of this jump is the exit. Very underhung, you have to be sure of your push. It's not a jump for beginner. In winter a ramp is built on the exit that helps to get a good position. Even if it's not recommended I like to wingsuit this jump with the ramp.  In summer, I let this jump to trackers as it's impossible to make a proper push with a wingsuit on it. 

Standing on High Ultimate ramp.

Exit High Ultimate

After this nice jump we went to a my friend Fabien's house. Fabian is one of the person who helped me the most when I wanted to start Base jumping. He showed me how to pack my rig and was always there if I had any questions. He is also an hell of a jumper. Living close to the valley he has now a huge amount of jump. 

Fabien and myself on the exit ramp.

Next day, we headed to Stechelberg again to keep on jumping High Ultimate. The first jump was my 150th Base jump. I made nothing special out of this one. I flew a nice line on the left of the jump and went back normally to the center of the valley to open my parachute. 

For the second one Fabien told me about a nice line to fly on the right side of the jump. He played the "guide" for me on this jump as I'm always flying some lines on the left. We exited two way, pushing directly on the right side of the exit. The visual of the underhung part was really intense. It is already pretty bad ass when you push straight out. Pushing a bit on the side gives you a fucked up view on the ledge coming "straight" to your face. After the exit we flew a nice line under the jump called Via Ferreta. We had a nice view on the waterfall next to it. To finish the jump nicely I made a little proxy on the wall after it. 90° left, I flew away from the wall to open safely. 

Two way off High Hultimate

After this nice jump we repacked our parachute but the wind raised and we had to give up our plans for more jumps. Next time I'm in the valley I definitely have to work on this new right line at High Ultimate. That was everything for this week-end. I hope the weather will get better soon. I'm looking forward to make some high mountains jumps.

PS: Thanks to my girlfriend for taking all those nice pictures !