Vertigo

The dam

At 220 metres high, the Contra dam in the Verzasca Valley (arch dam), built between 1961 and 1965, is the fourth highest in Switzerland.
The Lago di Vogorno reservoir was created by Verzasca SA to produce electricity and generates around 230 GWh of electricity each year.
At the centre of the dam is the jump facility, the highest fixed bungee jumping facility in the world.

Unprecedented, very high, for the Verzasca Valley the construction of the dam was a very significant historical moment.
In the reservoir, the road, the hamlet of Pioda and important agricultural land disappeared.
After almost 60 years, thanks to the maintenance work that led to the emptying of the reservoir, it is possible to rediscover what the valley was really like.
The landscape is barren, grey, lunar... a few fossilised plants remain, bits of the old road, a couple of bridges, but the scenery 60 years ago was quite different.
Now everything has disappeared. Forests and houses were cut down before the reservoir was filled.
The construction of the dam created a lot of havoc. A lot of farmland was expropriated. There was discontent and fear in the valley.

But today, for those who come to visit, it is one of the highest dams in the world: it is vertigo, thrill, awe and finally flight.