PART I
The Mont 4 ZipLine 4 All
The plan was to take our young uniskier up to Mont-Fort to show her the panorama of the Alps. I hadn’t bargained on Sophie. That Saturday, we were skiing with a very determined young American. When Sophie suggested the Mont 4 Zipline, I swear I saw sparks fly out of her eyes.
“A zipline, it’s on my bucket list, » she told me, “But everywhere I ask in the States, they won’t take me.”
Well, there I got a little carried away with a sense of pride which was 100% Swiss, but also by a sense of injustice. Why on earth shouldn’t Nadia (not her real name) have the right to go down a zipline?
Once Sophie spoke to Carine of the Mont 4 ZipLine, there was no turning back. Carine was totally up for it and pulled out all the stops so that Nadia’s dream could come true in Verbier. She moved into top gear, telephoned the head of security, weighed Nadia, fitted her, made her sign the disclaimer, (thanks Carola for translating that section which was weirdly in German) and selected a harness whilst the Mont-Fort cable car team worked hard to fix the lift which was temporarily out of order.
We got the red carpet treatment: Carine escorted us to the service lift, the liftie opened the barrier for us and we entered unimpeded into the cable car which would take us up to the 3,300m Mont-Fort station.
We made time at the top, of course, to take in the view and for photos as originally planned. Nadia was thrilled with the view. I got a call Carine. « there’s a weather window, a drop in the wind, hurry up,’ she pleaded.
And so then, Sophie paid the price for her interference: with Henri, Cat and Carola, she carried Nadia in her wheelchair, down the long Mont-Fort staircase while I watched on: it was Sophie’s idea after all, let her take the consequences!
At the foot of the stairs, Christophe of the Mont 4 ZipLine came to our rescue for that last, snowy part of the path. “We’re never going to do that!” Nadia whispered to me. “Yes, we are” , I replied, thinking, because Sophie has made her mind up and because you want it. At that point, Sophie and I, walking backwards, dug our heels into the snow before each step to make sure we didn’t lose Nadia over the side of the cliff. The last steps up to the platform, I leave it to Christophe, Cat, Henri and Sophie carry Nadia. I have to give it to Sophie, she accompanied Nadia every step of the way.
Cat and Sophie go down the wire before Nadia to be there at her arrival. Christophe teases them about the state of the equipment to add to the fear. Then Henri, Carola and I lift Nadia onto the platform so that Christophe can attach her to ZipLine.
“What do I do at the bottom ?” Nadia asked. “Sophie and Cat are waiting for you,” I said reassuringly, thinking, as she dangled in mid-air, that it was a little late to be asking me that. “Keep looking straight ahead! “
And suddenly Nadia was gone, disappearing as fast as lightning towards the col des Gentianes. We all shouted, we could hear Carine shouting on the walkie-talkie, the mood on the ZipLine platform was euphoric. The other clients congratulated us. We congratulated ourselves.
And then Henri and Carola carried the wheelchair all the way back up that long staircase and we headed down in the cable car to find Nadia. wrapped in a blanket and Carine’s own jacket for warmth.
She was a very happy, shiny-eyed uniskier.
“Thank you,” she said, “that meant a lot to me, to see that view from the top and go down the zip line. “
A big thank you to the Mont 4 ZipLine team, you got involved in our story, and you showed not only great professionalism, but you also showed how much you care. Welcome to the crazy Verbier4All family.
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