Learning to Fly

Almost 12 months ago Rob and I were in the Swiss Alps.  It was our last few days before heading home and we decided to head up the highest via ferrata in the Alps -  The Jagihorn.  Climbing to 3205m via five ladders, 400 pitons, 1000m of wire rope and up steep rock faces sounded hard, but after our strenuous week with our Alpine Guide scaling peaks between 3500m - 4000m, this via ferrata was going to be straight forward in comparison.

About half way up, both feeling exhausted and surprised by the unexpected steepness of the terrain, far we started to hear rumbles of thunder.  Being in the mountains in a thunderstorm is bad enough, but when a metal cable is your safety line, it's a pretty scary place to be!

Rob, who is practical and experienced went in to safety mode and gave me some lecture on what we should be doing, how fast we needed to move and what i should do next.  I however just felt hungry, tired and wanted to hide in a rock hole until the thing blew over, then i started to sob!  After a comforting hug and pep talk, I got my wits about me and mustered up the energy and scrambled my way to the summit in the rain.

As we reached the top I punched the sky in elation and gazed across at the 4000m snow capped peak we had climbed a few days before.   The rain then stopped, the sun came out and Rob handed me a book with a message that said "will you marry me?"

It was the most exhilarating and memorable day of my life and I knew that my life with Rob would always be full of fun and adventure.   I never thought I would ever experience so may emotions like I did that day such as anticipation, excitement, anxiety, fear, adrenaline, happiness, elation and shock.

Then to mark the occasion of that special day 12 months ago, we decided to go sky diving.  Once again I experienced all those emotions I did on the Jegihorn and will remember this as the second most exhilarating and memorable day of my life...