Mara Vorhees Travel Blog: Flying High

Moscow, Russia - I think I am a pretty adventurous person, but I have never had any desire to jump out of an airplane. Not because I was afraid, but I just didn't see the point.

Until I met Leonid and Eric. These two guys are training to be solo skydivers, which means they go every weekend to jump out of airplanes, doing flips and turns in the sky, completing seven different stages of training to get their certification. After that, they will be able to jump out of airplanes without any accompaniment at drop zones around the world.

When they talk about skydiving, they are effusive about how incredible it is, how rewarding, how it changed their lives.

"You are kind of evangelical about it," I teased them.

"It's the best feeling in the world," came the response. That certainly piqued my curiosity.

That is how - contrary to anything I ever imagined - I found myself signed up for a tandem dive at Kubinka airbase, outside of Moscow. The tandem jumpers are highly trained professionals, I was assured, members of the eight-time world-champion Russian skydiving team. (Who knew there were international skydiving competitions...?) Leonid and Eric assured me that they had done plenty of research about safety records and these guys were the best in the business.

We showed up at Kubinka around mid-day. It was about 90 degrees and the sun was blazing on the wide-open fields of the airbase. Due to the good weather, there were loads of people lining up to jump out of the airplane, so we were assigned to the seventh flight of the day. That meant we would have to wait a few hours - plenty of time to change my mind.

We passed the time by watching the other divers suit up, watching the plane take off, trying to spot the airplane as it circled high above overhead, and waiting for the humans to fall out of the heavens. It was a big blue beautiful sky, with soft, fluffy clouds. If you concentrated, you might be able to spot the tiny specks as they fell through the atmosphere. Then suddenly, bursts of color would appear in the sky - yellow, green and blue - as the jumpers opened their chutes and floated to the ground.

The airplanes climbed to 4000 meters, where skydivers exit the plane. (Just in case 4000 meters does not impress you, let me remind you that is more than two miles high!) After jumping, they freefall for 40 to 60 seconds, then open their chutes at the designated altitude and float to the ground. I would be doing a tandem jump, meaning that I am strapped at the hips and shoulders to a professional guy - Lyosha. So I don't have to do anything but look around and have fun.

Finally, Lyosha was ready for me. We talked through the jump - how to exit the airplane, how to hold my arms, how to land. Mostly the instructions were to ensure that we would get some good photos, as we would be accompanied by a photographer. (There's a job - skydiving photographer.) Then he suited me up in my super hero uniform - I definitely felt like I was ready to fight some intergalactic crime - and we were ready to go.

"Are you scared?" Lyosha asked as we walked to the plane.

"I think you do this everyday, right?" He nodded. "So I don't have anything to be scared about." I think I was not really answering his question, but trying to convince myself.

About 20 people crowded into the little airplane, which climbed steeply into the sky for 15 minutes. We cruised through the clouds and emerged out the the clear blue above, then circled back around over the airbase. The guys in the airplane were chatting and joking with me, distracting me from the craziness that I was about to jump out. Lyosha attached my harness to his - I was definitely going wherever he was going.

Suddenly, we were at 4000 meters and it was time to jump. First the sportsmen left the airplane, then the students-in-training, then it was my turn. I watched the guy in front of me, falling away from the plane so fast, but I didn't have time to react. Lyosha was behind me, guiding me through the door and into the air.

My first thought was that it was really cold. It had been HOT on the ground and I was melting in my spacesuit on the airplane. But now there was some sort of Arctic wind gushing past us. That was the other remarkable thing - the force of the air was incredible. I couldn't really control my arms and legs, they just floated up into position. I didn't really even have control over my facial muscles. Every time I tried to smile at the camera, I felt my lips peeling back like a mean dog.

The freefall was amazing. I was told later that I didn't need to look at the ground, because I am looking down in all the photos. But it was such a charge to watch the ground rushing up towards us and to feel the cold air gushing past.

Then suddenly - thump - Lyosha released the parachute. I didn't expect it (as you can see from the photo). But suddenly it was quiet, as there was no longer the thunder of air moving past us. And for the first time, I could feel the tug of gravity, pulling against the chute.

Turns out that Lyosha is something of an acrobat with the parachute. So as we descended, we were spinning in circles as if on the Teacups at the fun fair. I thought I was going to lose my stomach.

As we approached the ground, Lyosha instructed me to grab my knees and we floated gracefully to the ground. I was nervous about that. I had seen many parachutists landing fast and furious, but we landed so softly, on two feet. I only stumbled because I was still attached to Lyosha by the harness. And also because I was so dizzy from the descent. Actually, it took about a half an hour before I felt stable on solid ground.

Sasha - the photographer - gave me a high five. Lyosha gave me a huge kiss. "Maybe this is not acceptable in your country, but in our country it is necessary."

First question after the first time: Did you like it? Answer: Yes.