what is it and is it Suitable for Children

 

I didn’t like hiking in the mountains for a long time. It just seemed boring and tiring. And such a combination does not inspire positive thoughts about spending any free time in the mountains. Because what for?

Change of attitude towards the mountains

The situation changed a few years ago, when during a canyoning trip (to be described another time) with Czubtravel , within a few days free from canyons due to unfavorable weather, we went to the mountains.

The mountains in the Czubtravel edition were not an ordinary trip along the beaten track. I found out about it only on the spot. So at the entrance to the via ferrata.

In the end, it turned out that it was impossible to climb on it, but the first meters were enough for this type of active leisure to begin to drill a hole in the mind and demand implementation.

Why did this happen?

The case is quite simple. In the end, the mountains ceased to be associated with something boring for me, with a path hidden between trees, with a long walk for many hours only to see the top of the mountain for a moment and again a few hours downhill. It turned out that mountains can be beautiful and interesting, that huge exhibitions can not only frighten but also fascinate, that rock climbing is also available to slightly less athletic athletes and those whose BMI says they are too short.

What is via ferrata?

Via ferrata is simply a constant supplier of adrenaline, joy, effort and considerable emotions in the world.

Simply put, it is somewhere between the more difficult trekking and climbing. In fact, more difficult roads can be very similar to climbing.

The whole game is about climbing up the rock sections, often vertically or even overhang (i.e. even more than vertically, the rock tilts backwards to slowly change from the wall to the ceiling).

Helpful in this trip are various facilities known also from the Tatra Mountains, such as buckles, rods and ladders driven into the rock and the key via ferrata element, i.e. a steel rope, to which we are constantly attached with a special harness. This harness is designed not to let us fall from too great a height and to slightly absorb the jerk.

Falls

Which does not mean, of course, that the fall from via ferrata is pleasant.

Well, not really. The sections of the steel rope are 2-3 meters long, so the flight from the end of the section is just 3 meters + probably from 2 tearable lanyards (the lanyard contains an absorber that reduces the forces that tear the spine when falling off the rock).

A total of 5 meters of flight before we stop.

So unless we are on the overhang section, we will most likely hit something along the way.

Either against the rock or the rope attachments or both.

I generally do not recommend it.

For this reason, the saying “ ferratas do not fly ” was born , because unlike via ferratas, flights on climbing routes are quite popular part of the activity.

But they’re usually much shorter and less traumatic.

Below I am attaching a video of a tired climber. His friend, instead of helping him, films his fall. Gloriously nothing happened, but I do not recommend trips in such company

Who came up with it?

If something seems stupid but it works, it isn’t stupid. That’s what the old Polish adage says.

In this particular case, of course, I mean the genesis of such a solution as a thick lightning rod stuck into a rock.

After what to whom?

Now it serves entertainment, tourism and fatigue.

A few nice years ago – during the First World War – Italian smarts figured out that it would be a good way to move troops from one side of the mountain to the other.

They did so, and after the war, civilians began to use these roads for recreational purposes.

It seems that the military concept made such a sensation that the iron roads (that’s how it translates beautifully into our language) basically created a tremendous crowd.

Oh – and now we have lungeons.

The soldiers didn’t have them.

Via ferrata a trekking

As I wrote at the beginning, I did not really appreciate hiking in the mountains.

Now I apologize for this error.

I have rediscovered the mountains and I like them very much.

Only the tall ones, with rocks.

Via ferrata is something else.

Trekking is exhausting, and if we choose an interesting trail, the views are breathtaking.

Nevertheless, it is during climbing, where we go the way more vertically than horizontally, we have this constant struggle with gravity, climbing technique (it definitely makes it easier to move on a rope), fear of heights and our own common sense, which says that this is not the best idea.

Most often, to get to the ferrata road, sometimes you have to overcome a difficult trekking approach and we have a 2-in-1 trip.

Not to mention the descent, which in the Dolomites or even the Austrian Rax massif is not easy.

Have you ever tried to climb down the scree sloping away from under your feet? An experience incomparable to anything else.

Via ferrata and climbing

As I wrote in the introduction, ferrat roads are a creation between trekking and climbing.

It basically combines their advantages and eliminates their disadvantages.

Well, climbing is great, but it requires a long technical preparation and amazing condition. In addition, it also requires a lot of equipment.

Via ferrata, of course, draws on climbing skills (that’s why I regularly attended artificial climbing walls for a few months before the first ferrata trip – it helped!), But it is definitely less demanding technically and basically also in terms of condition.

At any time, you can almost attach the resting lanyard (more about it in a moment) and hang over the chasm for a bit of relaxation.

Via ferrata is also much faster than climbing. At the same time, you can walk more roads, see more views, and have more fun😉