Via Ferrata

Date - 23 Jul 2007

So, you’ve been walking in the UK, and perhaps abroad too, for a number of years. Then try this!

Introduction: So, you’ve been walking in the UK, and perhaps abroad too, for a number of years. Your mountain skills and navigation are OK, you’ve maybe done a little climbing in the lower grades and you’re looking around for something new to try? How about a trip to Italy to sample their Via Ferrata? Via Ferrata? What’s THAT when they’re at home, you may ask. Let me explain, and see if I can whet your appetite for this half way house between walking and climbing.

What are they? The clue is in the translation, which is ‘Iron Way’, and refers to a large number of routes, mostly in the Dolomites, but also in the Pyrenees and elsewhere, which have been protected by means of wire ropes, rungs, pegs and ladders to make them accessible to the average fit and experienced walker. That having been said, a complete lack of vertigo coupled with a reasonable degree of mountain experience is necessary to complete the more technical routes safely, and the most difficult routes DO require rock climbing experience. Some of the routes originated during the First World War when competing armies fought over the Dolomite area, and needed to get men and equipment to points of vantage easily, but the real development in the routes began in the thirties when the Club Alpino Italiano, and others, shortened the approaches to popular climbing routes by installing artificial aids.

For more information and a sample route visit Walking Europe. In addition you will find details of a growing number of walks across Europe.

More information.