Sweet As! (September 9, 2006)







Where to start? The picture covers the important bits; I'm officially qualified as a New Zealand Stage One snowboard instructor. In all honestly, this last week has had it's fill of ups and downs and it feels great to have it all finished. The mountain didn't deal us any favors, either. It rained Monday and Tuesday and my snow gear didn't fully recover until Friday. On Wednesday and Thursday we were treated to solid ice in the morning and thick, sunny slush in afternoon. And on Friday a nice cloud layer settled in; the reduced visibility made our final exam a little more stressful than it needed to be.

But I did well this week. After I finished up the last bits on Friday I went home happy. We wouldn't know our results for another five hours, but I knew I did as well as I could have through the week. I wasn't 100% sure I passed, but I knew I gave it my best.

However, the last thing on my mind right now is snowboarding. For the last six weeks I've spent pretty much every waking moment snowboarding, talking about snowboarding or thinking about snowboarding. I stored my board away Friday afternoon and don't intend to stand on it again. Instead, I've been focusing on celebration.

So how does your average snowboard instructor celebrate? After our award ceremony we all went out for a few drinks. There's also this strange tradition where all of the new instructors take a jump in lake Wanaka. When we wandered over there at 11:45pm it was roughly 0 degrees Celsius and the lake wasn't much warmer. After discussing the options with my fellow boarder Stijn, I was convinced to take a dive and came out a little colder, but very happy (thankfully those pictures are really dark...).

I didn't stay out too late though, as I had more antics planned for Saturday (and standing in bar with wet, freezing cold boxers on is about as much fun as it sounds). I was booked for not one, but two bungy jumps! As a first time jumper I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was trying not to think about anything too much. Saturday started with a drive to a Kawarau bridge, the first commercial bungy site opened (in 1988). I had convinced myself that a 134 foot jump is not impossible, but once I actually saw the bridge I knew there was no way I'd willingly jump off it.

I walked onto the bridge and told the operator that I needed some time to consider my options. He seemed to understand and said, "No worries, why don't we just get your harness on and you can think about things." No harm in that, so I slowly pulled the gear on. "Why don't you come sit down here?" he suggested. It seemed a little closer to the edge than I wanted to be but my legs weren't working very well at this point and sitting sounded like a good idea. As I'm sitting down he started wrapping something around my leg. "Wait, I'm not quite ready," I told him, hearing an unsettled sense of urgency in my voice. He nodded, laughed and kept moving forward.

Somehow I found my self standing up and moving toward a very small and very unstable looking ledge. I took one look down, saw the river flowing 134 feet below and immediately sat back down. "I just need to think about this for a minute." Everything seemed to be moving took quickly. Just a minute ago I was arriving at the bridge, convinced I wasn't going to jump. Now I was fully strapped in, standing inches away from the edge. "The longer you wait, the harder it gets," he responded. Somehow that convinced me to stand up again. But still, standing over the edge, I knew there was no was I could jump off. Suddenly he started counting down, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and for just a split second I was able to forget where I was and what I was doing, and I jumped.

As soon as my feet left the platform everything changed. I can't come close to describing the feeling, but I loved every last second of it. I screamed, I yelled, I grinned like an idiot. My hands splashed into the river, I bounced around, and I could feel the adrenaline kicking in. I conquered -- at least temporarily -- a very strong, innate fear of heights and I felt fantastic!

But that wasn't the end of my day. For some reason I'd signed up for a second jump at the Nevis Highwire site. As I mentioned, the Kawarau bridge is famous because it was the first commercial site opened. Nevis, opened in 1999, is famous because it's one of the highest free-falls in the world. A 440 foot drop, each jumper is treated to over eight seconds of free-fall. Eight seconds doesn't sound like that much time, but count it out in your head. Now imagine falling the entire time.

I joined up with a few friends (Stijn, Sophie and Chris) for the main event. After an incredibly steep drive up to the absolute middle of nowhere we finally laid eyes on the jump site. It's really a surreal set up all together, which probably makes the jump a little easier. And after the Kawarau jump I knew that, despite the fear, the fall was actually fun so I felt a little more confident as we were ferried out to the platform on a tiny gondola. Actually, I think the gondola ride was the scariest part. It's a tiny little thing with a grated floor so you can see straight down below you as you slowly crawl away from the canyon wall.

Anyway, despite looking a little concerned before the jump, I was a very happy camper as I was pulled back in. And with that, I was done. It's strange, the feeling I felt while falling was unlike anything I've ever felt before. I absolutely loved it. Yet, I don't really remember what the feeling is and obviously can't explain the feeling to anyone else. I guess that why they get repeat customers. The fear as you stand on the edge of nothingness, peering down hundreds of feet, is almost incapacitating. Yet the euphoria you feel the split second you jump off is absolutely overwhelming. I still get both nervous and excited just thinking about it.

And I opted for the DVD pack, so I can relive the jumps whenever I want to (I've already watched them three times today). I'll try to get them online at some point, but if that doesn't work out I'll just carry the DVD on me at all times. If you run into me we can have a little sit down and I'll tell you all about it. :)