Jungfraujoch and Glaciers and Ziplines and Snow.

I finally step out of the dark cave into the light which burns my eyes, causing me to blink against the sun. The sun reflects off my eyelashes, exploding when it hits them into little sunbursts. And hurting my eyes. I'm finally able to open them a little, enough so that I can squint and look around at my surroundings. I'm standing in a glacier, at the top of the Jungfrau, Switzerland. We took the gondala to the top of a rise from Wengen, hiked to Kleine Schedegg, and just had taken a train up the Eiger, the mountain that was more like a cliff, besides well, being mountain sized, in a little trolley called the Jungfraujoch. I love all of the Swiss words so much. To the left is the Eiger, which towers over Kleine Scheidegg, it's dark ominous cliffs casting a shadow. Kleine Scheidegg is like the best place ever, our lunch yesterday cost $80 for some hot dogs and hashbrowns. It also has a population of like 20. Who knew? On the right is the Monch, slightly less imposing but still beautiful. And right here? We're on the top of the Jungfrau, the tallest, most amazing thing like Ever. And there's a glacier. With sledding. What could be better?
As if to answer my question, a piercing scream sounds out from above me, as well as the short buzz that can only be linked to a zipline. OMG, I say, and run in that directions, my boots crunching on the snow. My family and I run up the metal steps, almost up to the glass viewing station, and stop on the platform. The guy there, with dark hair and light blue eyes, smiles at us. "Hey", he says in perfect english. "Who wants to go first?"
My dad goes, and then my mom. Finally it's my turn. I put on the orange jacket, and the guy clips it around my and yanks and the straps, tightening it. Finally he clips me onto a weird slidey-device looking thing, on the string, and tells me to hold on. He winks at me. "Fly like a bird", he says, quote-un-quote.
And then he lets me go. I start sliding, zipping and buzzing along, and begin to pick up speed.  zip past a couple people on the ground, and they look up in surprise. The icy wind blows against my face, whipping past me and sending my hair streaming out behind me, and then whipping and cracking back on sharp directions, sometimes against my face. The sun flashes in my eyes, which sting and water. I like go of the strap, and lean forward, spreading my arms out to the sides like wings. The wind threatens to tear a scream from my throat and I let it. "Whoohooooooo". Did I really just scream whoohoo to the whole glacier? I shrug. And then ahead of my appear the end of the zipline. The end of the string disappears into the snow ahead of my. Just disappears into the ground. But how am I supposed to get off?
I fly towards the end, fast and lean backwards, trying to position myself so that I don't face plant in the snow. There is a big plastic sign that says "caution; no unloading beyond this point". Helpful. I laugh out loud. Grinning, I shout down to my mom and dad, who are standing off to the side. "How do I get off the thing"? " You Just do It", my dad yells back. And then i'm almost there. And I hit. I hit the snow  and my momentum carries me forward. Snow kicks up in my face and I get dragged across the ground, spinning out and finally coming to a stop. I get up shakily and brush snow off me, laughing. "That was fun" I say, only half-sarcastically. Actually it was amazing. I unbuckle the harness and disconnect the carabiner from the cable and step aside to watch my brother.

 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rauleltaz/6074432946/">Raul Garcia Piñero</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>