In 2018 Guinness World Records certified the Jebel Jais Flight in Ras Al Khaimah as the world’s longest zipline, at 2.8km, on the UAE’s highest mountain. In this episode of Guy in Dubai, Paris takes on both of the mountain’s zipline adventures.
To build up his courage he starts with the Zipline Tour, seven ziplines that carry riders from peak to peak close to the mountainside, with a sky bridge fixed to the cliff along the way. Paris meets Giovanni, one of the team who built it while hanging off the rock and drilling into the mountain. He also notices how peaceful the mountains are when the lines fall silent.
Then comes the main event. Riders fly face-down for about two minutes at speeds of up to 160km/h, with around 450 metres of air between them and the ground.
Paris finishes the day buzzing with adrenaline, calling the mountain beautiful and saying Jebel Jais has become the adventure capital of the UAE.
Key moments
- 0:00 Arrival at Jebel Jais
- 1:01 Seven-line zipline tour
- 4:43 The longest zipline flight
- 7:31 Reflecting on the adventure
Adventures like this one feed directly into The Grit Code, Paris’s keynote on grit, resilience and high performance. Planning an event? See Paris as a keynote speaker in the UAE. Browse more episodes on the Adventure TV shows page.
Full transcript
Read the full transcript
(Laughs) What am I doing? Hanging by a piece of rope? (Air Turbulence) This is Amazing! (Voice echoes) # Let's get it on # MUSIC: What You Kidding For by Gem and the Deadheads (Rock guitar) (Rock guitar and drums) (Whistling winds) (Bird cries) (Goat bleats) MUSIC: Green Mountains by Martin Klem (Typewriter clacking) Welcome to Ras Al Khaimah! Right now we're here on Jebel Jais. We're here because it's the adventure capital of the UAE. We've come to see what all the fuss is about. We've come up here to the top of Jebel Jais mountain where Toroverde and the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Authority and have built the world's longest zip line. The cool thing about this is Toroverde is a Puerto Rican company that pretty much invented zip lines. But get this: the number- one longest zip
line in the world is right here in the UAE. Here, in Ras Al Khaimah on the UAE's largest mountain, Jebel Jais. In 2018, The Guinness Book of World Records certified that Jebel Jais Flight is the world's longest zip line. Up here, there are two types of different zip- line adventures. The Jebel Jais Flight, the world's longest zip line and the Zip Line Tour which consists of seven different consecutive zip lines throughout these stunning mountains. I'm going to start with the Zip Line Tour so I can work up the courage to do the Jebel Jais Flight where, apparently, speeds can reach up to 160 kilometres per hour. How fast are we going to go on these zip lines? We're gonnna be somewhere around 60-80 kilometres. 80 kilometres? This is going to be scary. All right. -Make
sure you look down. -No, that's what we don't do! (Laughs nervously) -Right, are we ready? -Oh yeah, we are. -OK. See ya! Whoo! (Whirring) Yeah! Woo-hoo! (Whirring) Oh my God! (Whirring) Look down there! (Whirring and air turbulence) Wow! Woo-hoo! Yeah! Woah! (Laughs) Wow! Congratulations. There's no way back. You mean this is it? So the only way out of here is to finish all of them? How many more have we got to go? -Six more. -Oh God! One was enough. That was insane. MUSIC: Green Mountains by Martin Klem (Whirring) (Paris screams) So we are now on a sky bridge attached to the side of a mountain. Giovanni, you were one of the guys that built this? We used a rope from the top to pull down everything. PARIS: Every little piece? And I presume you abseil?
-Yes. -So some people abseil. And attaching it, you're drilling holes in the side of the mountain? -Yes, we are hanging all the time. -You're mad. This is your day job, right? This is your day job? It's my day job just for one day. This is your day job every day. When the zip lines aren't going, you realise how peaceful it is in the mountains here. (Loud whirring) Until that happens! (Whirring) Yeah! (Whirring) Oh! (Laughs) Wooh! (Laughs) That was incredible! (Laughs) Insane. Wow. Wow! You go so fast through there. I can't, you know... Can't even catch my breath when you're going down there. You go that far from the rock when you come down. Seven zip lines, 80 kilometres an hour. Literally, my childhood fantasy just came true. I used to, at home, have three zip
lines in my back garden. Not quite as well set-up as these ones, I'll tell you, but it was something I always dreamed of. And this is just impeccable with the scenery around here. Incredible. Now that was a lot of fun. But it's not over yet. Still one thing left to try. (Cinematic theme music) So if the Zip Line Tour wasn't enough zip lines for the day now I'm going to go and give the Jebel Jais Flight a go which has got the Guinness World Record for the longest zip line at 2,800 metres long. Boom Shaka Laka! Right, here we are at the top of Jebel Jais. Ready to try and beat the fastest record going down the zip line. Woo-hoo! Woo! OK, my buddy's just gone down. That's insane how fast that goes! He's now,
like, halfway down. Apparently this takes about two minutes to get down. Two minutes, going 160 kilometres an hour is rather petrifying and pretty fast. It's insane. Absolutely insane. What am I doing, hanging by a piece of rope at the top of a mountain, about to slip all the way down it at 160 kilometres an hour? (Walkie-Talkie rumbles) What am I doing?! ASSISTANT: Three, two... Uh-oh, here goes... ASSISTANT: ..one, go! Oh my God! (Yells) Wow! (Shouts) Oh my God! Wooh! Wooh! (Echoes) Ha ha! This is amazing! (Wind turbulence) Yeah! Wooh! (Wind turbulence) Oh my God! Wooh! (Echoes) Wow! (Echoes) (Wind turbulence) (Yells) Wooh! (Echoes) Unbelieveable! (Echoes) Amazing! (Whirring and wind) Wooh! Uh-oh... Uh-oh... Oh-ho-ho! Ha ha! My goodness! That was excellent! Wooh! Ha ha! That was amazing. Incredible! My whole mouth filled up with air. Like
a parachute! I thought I was going to stop halfway, there was so much air in my mouth. Unbelievable. Wooh! Literally, you start off - and you're so close to the mountain when you start that everything is going past you so quickly... And then, when you pick up speed you're, you know, hundreds of metres above the ground Like 450 metres below you. And just the epic scenery, the mountains all around. It's incredible. Absolutely brilliant. Gotta try it! Well that was a sensational day here in Jebel Jais. We did the Zip Line Tour and then the Jebel Jais Flight just to finish it off. I'm absolutely buzzing from the adrenaline. The mountain here is so beautiful and they've really made a destination out of this place. It's now become the adventure capital of the UAE. But for
me, it's time to go home. And I've got a long way to go, back down this mountain. # Let's get it on # MUSIC: What You Kidding For by Gem and the Deadheads (Heavy rock guitar and drums) Subtitles by Vaishnavi Brassey