I know that look.
It is the grim expression of a woman on a horrible date with her best friend’s
brother. It is the resigned expression that means this is a situation with no
easy way out. The pinched smile hides an effort to stay cheerful and
enthusiastic.
Nicky is wearing that look.
But Nicky is not on
a date. She is strapped vertically, belly down and head first into a canvass harness
connected with four metal clips to the highest, and one of the fastest, zip lines
in the world.
A three-hour drive from
Naples, Italy, in the heart of Basilicata, Volo dell Angelo is an adventure experience called “Flight of the Angels.”
Nicky
was about to fly - zipping from one mountaintop to another on a cable strung between
the villages of Castelmezzano and Pietrapertosa.
Her husband Joe is applauding
her courage from the landing pad where eight of us are standing after our own
headfirst flight from one mountain to another. Our adrenaline is still pumping. Because we have to do it again, to get back.
This is so
terrifying, that two in our group have declined to fly the zip line after hiking
up the steep trail to the first flight station platform. The fear is easy to understand, which is why
I went first, before terror could fully kick in.
The operators said that no journalist has ever done the zip line with
a still camera. I felt challenged to photograph firsthand such a thrilling, albeit intimidating experience, and I did not want any time to
ponder a worst case scenario.
Cinched into my harness face down, the zip line disappeared ahead into thin air with no end in sight.
Below me was
a rock cliff dropping off to a deep canyon. The push from the ramp came, the
ground fell away, and the thrill of “flying” 74 miles per hour at an altitude of
3,200 feet for almost a mile trumped the fear. Fighting to keep my head up
against the wind, I had tried to capture the experience through the lens.
Euphoric after our
wild ride on the “Peschiera” zip line from the town of Castelmezzano to
Pietrapertosa, we are shuttled a short distance into the second village. The
return flight on the “San Martino” zip line is going to take us back
across the canyon, and it’s a short hike to the flight station.
I am the last flyer geared up, standing on the platform overlooking the mighty Dolomites and a deep ravine scattered with colorful villas, winding rural roads and tiny farms.
But this time it is not the frozen grin of a terrified American, dreading the launch off a mountain in Italy, but the smile of another angel ready to fly.
The End