This Footage of Paragliding Over the Alps Is Bonkers

Paragliding in the Swiss Alps
The Young Voyagers
The Young Voyagers

In theory, the phrase "paragliding past the Matterhorn" should evoke feelings of cold air, spectacular views, high-speed excitement, and pretty much everything else you feel when you bite into a York Peppermint Pattie. In reality, it invokes feelings like when HR says, "We need to talk." Sure, strapping yourself to a parachute and running off the side of a perfectly good Swiss Alp might SEEM like a beautiful way to experience Europe. But once you're up there, you realize all that stands between you and crashing into said alp is a scanty piece of branded nylon, and your stomach drops to somewhere around your kneecaps.

So, thank goodness a pair who shoots aerial films as the Young Voyagers, Ali and Alan (their real names, they swear), brought some seriously high-grade video equipment along when they paraglided off a mountain in Zermatt, Switzerland. That's the home of the Matterhorn, a peak you may recognize from the three hours you spent in line at Disneyland or the beginning of a Paramount picture.

The video begins with the pair atop a mountain, then adds a backdrop of M83's ascendant-as-hell "Midnight City." We see drone footage of each of them sprinting down the side of a mountain and lifting into the air, and then all the spectacular views that come along with the ride: snowy mountains, villages, trains. This is best watched with your A/C cranked up and daydreams of cooler weather rushing up like a Swiss meadow when gravity takes hold of you.

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Matt Meltzer is a staff writer with Thrillist. Follow him on Instagram @meltrez1.