Attention adrenaline seekers, there’s a new reason to visit the Swiss Alps this summer.
Perched at an altitude of 2,110 metres on the Grand Chamossaire peak at the Villars ski resort is a giant swing.
The towering V-shaped structure catapults visitors out over a gaping void with a breathtaking Alpine panorama stretching before them.
The 12-metre-high swing opened earlier this month and is the latest effort by Alpine ski resorts to attract off-season visitors as snow becomes less reliable due to climate change.
‘You feel like a bird flying’
The swing, which is accessible to anyone with a ski lift ticket, can take three people at a time.
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.
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.
When the security cable is suddenly released, the swing plunges forward out over the sharp, jagged drop to exalted screams, before a spectacular view of the valley below against a dramatic backdrop of rocky and snow-dusted Alps rushes in.
“The feeling of hanging up there, and then being released, it’s an amazing sensation,” Yannick Boudouin, 38, told AFP.
“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.
“But once it is happening, it is just incredible. You feel like a bird flying.”
Alpine resorts prepare for less snow
The Grand Chamossaire swing is part of efforts to introduce year-round appeal and make use of ski lift infrastructure when snow is scarce.
“We are really trying to diversify our offering,” Martin Deburaux, head of the Villars-Gryons-Diableret ski area, told AFP.
The new structure “provides us with a source of attraction that can function independently of snow conditions”, he said.
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.
“But we know we are facing climate change,” he said. “We are looking for substitutes to conserve jobs, the dynamism and the tourist economy built up around our ski lift facilities.”
Currently, the resort draws more than 700,000 people during the winter season, but just 100,000 in summer.
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.
Nearby hikers filled the grassy paths, while mountain bikers sporting helmets and protective gear sped down a separate, steep dirt trail.
They wind past an ephemeral land art fresco painted by French artist Saype across an entire hillside showing a child drawing.
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.
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