As adrenaline pulsed through her veins and her fear reached its peak, Jennifer Lewis stepped into the wind tunnel, leaving all her reservations behind, and experienced one of the greatest thrills of her life.
Imagine skydiving, but without the parachute, and imagine soaring through the air, but surviving to tell the story.
Lewis, 22, along with her friend Kevin Saunders, 24, spent last Saturday sightseeing around the Niagara Falls area on vacation. In the distance, they saw a newer attraction beckoning to them – Niagara Freefall. The duo made their way to its entrance before even truly making the decision to suit up and jump into the tunnel.
Lewis and Saunders experienced the exhilaration of skydiving while floating through 140 mile-per-hour winds at Canada's only indoor skydiving tunnel.
'It felt like I was on a rollercoaster, but I wasn't strapped in,' Lewis said.
In March, Andrew Cserpes, along with his brother Attila, opened Niagara Freefall in Niagara Falls, Ont. The attraction offers the chance for anyone to fulfill his or her dreams to fly, but at a much safer distance from the ground.
'For people who have never skydived before, it's the safe way to do it if you don't want to jump from an airplane,' Cserpes said. 'But it's also for professional skydivers. They can fly all year round and practice their sport.'
Although the attraction hasn't yet celebrated its second birthday, Niagara Freefall has been six years in the making.
'I saw it on the Travel Channel six years ago,' Cserpes said. 'We were looking for something unique to bring to Niagara Falls, so I hopped on a plane to [Las] Vegas to try it out. Then we did a market study and found a great demand for such an attraction in Niagara Falls.'
But when he tested the machines in Las Vegas and then Orlando, Fla., Cserpes encountered a major problem. As both businesses were using outside air to circulate throughout their tunnels, it would be impossible to make his attraction operational throughout the year with below freezing temperatures plaguing the area.
The brothers' solution to the bleak weather was to custom design a recirculation airflow skydiving simulator that would be sealed off to outside elements.
'It's a closed system, a tunnel within a tunnel,' Cserpes said. 'The air comes up through the center and down the outer walls of the tunnel and then back up again. The friction itself is enough to heat the air, so it could be 20 below outside and it would still heat itself.'
During the summer, the levers are opened to let the hot air blow out the top of the tunnel, making it possible for the attraction to be open seven days a week during the year.
According to Cserpes, an employee manages the airflow from inside the control room to accommodate skydivers of all sizes and skill levels. The brothers vary the wind speed based upon the weight of the customer and also position an instructor inside the tunnel to keep the skydiver in control.
First time flyers like Lewis and Saunders quickly realized that spiraling out of control inside the tunnel was not easy to avoid.
'There's a whole technique to it,' Lewis said. 'You have to make sure your legs are at a 45 degree angle, and one slight movement can throw it all off.'
Luckily, instructors do not allow customers to jump into the tunnel without instruction, providing 25 minutes of pre-flight training, included in the $70 fee.
'You watch a video before you go in and then you have to sign your life away,' Saunders said.
After training, flyers put on goggles, a suit, a helmet, knee and elbow pads, gloves and earplugs in preparation for their flight. Then they jump onto a column of air and begin the ride.
'It's just that wind hitting you, it's a rush,' Saunders said.
The skydivers make their descent onto a soft, padded floor, without crashing into hard ground.
'It makes you want to do the real thing,' Lewis said. 'But it's a great substitute because you know if you fall, you won't die.'
Like skydiving in its true form, the experience in the tunnel is over almost as soon as it begins. The session lasts only about three minutes for each flyer.
Despite the cost and the small-allotted time to fly, Lewis and Saunders agree that it was well worth a trip to Niagara Falls and an activity they would try again.
'We have been voted one of the newest, must-see attractions in Canada and have been featured on shows this summer on MTV, YTV, the Travel Channel, FOX TV and Canada A.M.,' Cserpes said.
Students who want to live on the edge but avoid the possibility of death can now head to the edge of the border. For more information visit www.niagarafreefall.com.
E-mail: features@ubspectrum.com
