With all this amazing camping, scenery and wildlife, sometimes it’s tough to know what to blog about. You could be forgiven for thinking that with our bumbling ‘caravan’ lifestyle and progression in hobbies from running to hiking to fly fishing, that we are truly middle aged. Time to reverse that thinking with our next adrenaline-packed adventure: Via Ferrata.
Italian for Iron Path, Via Ferrata started in the Dolomites (actually as pathways for the Italian army over the mountains in the First World War) and the number has grown over the last 30 years. It is now popular in many other mountain regions in Europe, primarily as a Summer tourist activity. It’s not yet big in the US however. The Via Ferrata in Teton Village near Jackson, Wyoming, was the first in the US – and is only in its second season, having opened in 2017.
I didn’t have too much in the way of expectations. In fact I really didn’t know quite what to expect at all. I’d seen a picture of a narrow suspension bridge that you had to cross, and that didn’t bother me too much. I’m not afraid of heights, just afraid of falling. So walking with something solid and reliable under my feet is fine, even with a few hundred feet drop below. I thought they would play on the irrational vertigo-induced phobia that many people have, and the Via Ferrata would consist of these narrow suspension bridges along with precarious ledges and steep drops, all while being safely clipped in.
Umm no. Well, not really. Yes there were steep drops, and indeed they do throw in a suspension bridge (more for the photo ops I think) – but what it’s really about is climbing. Climbing up a rock face at the top of a mountain.
A climber I am not. Luckily, this is very much assisted climbing, for those of us who struggle with contemplating the likes of a sheer bare rock face. So it’s not just you vs the mountain, they throw in some iron steps set securely into the rock, and steel cable strung along the route to clip carabiners into. So even that I could cope with. But no. They also throw in random bits in between where there are no iron steps and you have to negotiate the rock face, looking for crevices – basically anywhere suitable to plant a foot or grip with a hand, to give you leverage to climb up to the next out of reach iron rung.
Luckily, we’d opted for the private tour option – just me, Darren and our guide. I brought up the rear – but it was never made to feel like it was a race (kinda happy about that, I would have earned a wooden spoon). I ritually followed our guide’s advice of never having less than 3 points of contact on the rock (out of two hands and two feet). In fact, I frequently went above and beyond in having way more than that, using elbows, knees and bum for contact with the rock. Most ungainly I’m sure, but it worked. Put it this way – I made it through in one piece. I’d even go as far as to say that I enjoyed it.
Via Ferrata : I came. I saw. I conquered.
Would I do it again? Well, rumour has it they’ve just opened a Via Ferrata in Mammoth, so maybe, just maybe, I will.
Kind of feel I earned that beer!
And…. RELAX!!!