Bungy sites:
	> Victoria Falls (111m)  > Slovakian Bungy (79m)  > The Pipeline (104m) > The Nevis (134m) > The Ledge (47m)  > Kawarau Bridge (43m)  [ Back to main Bungy page ]

Slovakian Bungy (79m)

Buried in Slovakia are the Tatra Mountains. It's a beautiful place that's full of people all year round - as a ski resort in the winter and as a hiking venue in the summer.

My girlfriend and I were exploring the area, and occasionally we'd hear a scream echoing through the mountains. After looking around for a while we found the source of the wails not to be a Slovakian Yeti, but rather a bungy jumper flailing about below the top of a ski jump.

On closer inspection we found that some crazy Aussies had set up a bungy rig from the window at the back of the ski jump, and rather than having an external plank to dive off, one had to jump out of the rear window. The price was a mear 7 quid, and this combined with the jerry-rigged setup made me a bit nervous - to throw oneself out of a window 79 meters above sharp pointy rocks only saved from doom by a posh elastic band tied on by grinning aussies is a bit crazy.

"Oh well", I thought, "I've got 7 quid in my pocket and faulty danger perception, so why not".

After handing over my money and getting tied up, I crawled out of the window to stand on the ledge (a tricky manoeuvre with ones legs tied to heavy bungy cord). It was nearly 80 meters down to the forest floor where some very un-soft looking boulders were piled up. I had been feeling a bit cocky as I'd done higher jumps that this before, but this turned out to be really scary.

The 111 meter Vic Falls jump had been over a huge canyon with all objects far off in the distance, but with this jump I was surrounded by tall pine trees only a matter of metres from me. There were simply so many depth perception cues around that it was a hundred times scarier. In fact I will admit that I nearly bottled it. I was standing there thinking "I'm paying 7 quid to jump out of a window in the depths of the Slovakian mountains - how safe can this be? Those rocks sure look uninviting… Julie thinks I'm mad doing this anyway, so how about I listen to her for a change… I'd only loose 7 quid if I bailed… Ahh, screw it… Bungy!!"

"oh no… not again!*"

Needless to say, I survived, but for about a month afterwards whenever I looked out of a window in a tall building I felt the falling sensation from the Bungy - very weird, but pretty thrilling.