Verzasca Dam

In the opening scene of Goldeneye, James Bond (Pierce Brosnan in this case) breaks into a Russian secret base within this dam. Against the immensity of the sweeping arch of the concrete dam, Bond is a tiny black figure. From his POV we see the dam and it’s bowl spread out what looks like hundreds of metres below, steep cliffs on all sides and the steeper wall below his feet - he dives spectacularly off the lip, plunging 220 metres straight down the sheer concrete wall on a bungy cable. With milliseconds to spare he pulls out his grappling gun and shooting it into a pylon manages to reel himself in to safety.

If you fancy yourself as 007 this is one of the most impressive scenes to re-enact - it was also voted ‘Best Movie Stunt of all time” in 2002. It is still the highest jump shown on film, the stunt-man jumped from a platform suspended out from the wall to stop him from getting too close to the wall and there is a similar gantry built on the spot today.
It’s not in Russia but Switzerland, but everything else about this spot is just how you see it in the film, you’re as close to the wall as Bond, travelling at the same speeds and dealing with the same wind pockets pushing off the bowl of the dam, making it (I‘m reliably told by someone who has done it) one of the world‘s top legal thrills. I’m also told that being strapped to the gantry at the top is like being told to walk the plank or off a gallows you’ve been strung up to. At seven seconds this is also one of the world’s highest bungee jumps.

It’s run between October and April when the wind conditions are at their least terminal...