Me and the missus are off to Slovenia and I fancy hiking up a few mountains. I’ve noticed on summitpost that a lot of the routes contain a bit of via ferrata… anyone care to comment on the following:

– What’s needed? Just a climbing harness and the via ferrata sling/carbinna thingy?
– Would we be stupid trying it without a guide – not talking the extended routes, just the bits on standard hikes where cables have been put in as a means to an end.
– Is there much to it? It appears it’s just a matter of making sure at least one of the slings is clipped to the cable at all times.

Experience wise i’ve not climbed in a good few years and only did it occasionally back then, the wife is quite a good climber but only does indoor routes (never multi pitch etc). I’m fine with a map / being out in proper mountains / scrambling etc.

So, is this a silly silly idea?

There is plenty you can do in slovenia without going on the ferrata. A lot of the locals use it without clipping in. Personally if you are not used to the kit then don’t do it.

Me and t’missus did a couple of tops in slovenia without using the ferrata

Thanks – do you mean you went on routes with it but didn’t use it? Or you just avoided the routes with it on? From the route discriptions it just appears there are some bits of routes to summits that have the cables there as additional protection due to the exposure?

Can you suggest any mountains to do that don’t need it (that would be ideal!) – needs to be a proper pointy mountain with a summit 😀

Did a bit a few years ago up North of Lake Garda. I don’t like heights at all so was a bit more keyed up than usual. On a particularly squirty bit (imo) there was a Dad and a little lad (locals) of about eight happily pottering along with no harnesses at all.

I was ashamed but still had the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Long and short being if you climb them you may well think there is nothing to it.

I’ve not done VF in Slovenia, but I’ve done them loads in Dolomites.
The idea of VF there is that they offer a protected walk (walk – not climb or scramble).

I’ve done lots without any gear (I’m a scrambler, not a climber although I dabble).

Slings doubled up round waste with a carabiner offer the most minimalist level of protection. Failing that you can gear right up with shock absorbing chest harnesses (over kill).

Lets not forget though that VF are often very VERY VERY exposed. For example – they can just be iron pegs sticking out a rockface that you have to walk across. Alternatively, they are often an iron handrail / ladder which you will feel safer on.

Exposure is the key to them as they get you across rockfaces generally.

Enjoy – I know we have (OK, maybe not the missus so much !)

Not a silly idea in the slightest. You’ll have a blast and if you’ve climbed before I doubt you’ll find it too daunting. You don’t need a guide, just a guide book but I’d suggest fingerless gloves and a helmet in addition to the arrest leash. I’m off to the dolomites in September for some VF fun, can’t wait.

we avoided it in the main – IIRC a couple of smallsections we did but did not clip in.

Plenty of mountains you can do without it. We did two Kanjavec and Krn.

Krn has a bunkhouse very near the top and is easy an very scenic, Kanjavec is a bit more scrambly.

We did two multiday walks each with a summit on route – staying in the bunkhouses / mountain huts

Krn

Krn from Planina Na polju by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

View from Kanjavec

View from Kanjavec by TandemJeremy, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25846484@N04/sets/72157607416217082/with/2876356465/

we’ve done loads of VF in the alps and pyrenees…. never did any particular ‘training’ for them, but we’re experience climbers (trad, sport and some winter).

some of them are most definitely ‘climbs’, not walks – although the steeper it gets (vertical and overhanging sometimes) the more stuff they’ll put in the wall for you to use – so if you get a big spire to climb, or an overhang, you’ll be virtually climbing a ladder.

You will need reasonable stamina to hang off the rungs and move your clips to the next section of cable – can be a bit hairy if you’re not used to it. A bit of climbing experience pays dividends there – you need to know that hanging on a straight arm is more sustainable and relaxing; if you death grip it with bent arms, you’ll be knackered.

No real danger of death involved, but if you slipped off a long way up from the last cable swap you could do yourself a nasty injury.

They are low commitment fun, but be careful out there 🙂

Dave

If you are not used to using harnesses and slings don’t do get one without training in using it. – and you really need the specific sling with a fall arrester as there are places you would go many mtres if you fell – stop dead on a normal harness and sling and the shock loadings will injure you.

As I say tho – a lot of the locals use the ferrata without clipping in. However IIRC its climbs not protected walks

http://www.rockclimbing.com/Articles/General/The_Via_Ferrata_Definitely_Not_a_Good_Option_47.html

It would appear that others share TJs misgivings.

Maybe I should caveat my recommendation – the easy ‘walking/scrambling’ VFs need no prior knowledge or experience, but the advanced/steep/difficult ones do need you to be used to using a harness and karabiners (at least the ones on your harness) and have some experience of dangling on one arm while moving clips about.

Dave

alfabus – I would agree with

the easy ‘walking/scrambling’ VFs need no prior knowledge or experience, but the advanced/steep/difficult ones do need you to be used to using a harness and karabiners

Might be that I am an old tart but there would be no way I would my kids loose climbing those ladders that I remember without a harness. Some of “paths” were only inches wide with a shear drop of hundreds of feet.

Some of the ladders swayed as you climbed. It was not fun for me.

Google images “trigalev via ferrata” to get some ideas.

You will need a strong head for heights and make sure you research the ones you are going to visit. Gloves would also be a good idea. Some of them are sketchy,and the sheer height and exposure can be interesting,(experience of the Dolomites) and I was/am pretty comfy on the Skye ridge. I am not saying you shouldn’t indulge, just do a wee bit of homework first.

I hate to say it, but please totally ignore everything allanbill99 said. Apart from the stuff about them being exposed and fun, what he’s said is totally wrong and potentially dangerous.

Via Ferrata (in the Dolomites at least) are graded. Go on a grade 1 and it is essentially just a walk. You’ll almost certainly be fine as a first-timer and with no kit.

Go on a grade 5 and you will be climbing. Do it with allanbill’s ‘sling around your waist and a karabiner’ if you must, but don’t fall off – you can take some very significant (in impact) falls on Via Ferratas and that set up has the potential to seriously injure you or snap. You do need a shock-absorbing set up. (In climbing terms, you can very easily go well over a factor 2 fall on a Via Ferrata. Do that on a sling and it’s likely to snap. If you’re lucky and it doesn’t you will mush your innards.)

From your post I’m guessing you won’t have a guidebook, so it’ll be totally unknown. And thus more fun! If you both climb, take your harnesses, take a helmet (if there’s anyone above you kicking stuff off, you’ll want it) and get a Via Ferrata kit (£30 – £50). As I said above, you’ll be fine on easy stuff and probably surprised by what you can get up. It’s most about scrambling, swinging around on metal rungs and having fun. It’ll be awesome.

A decent guide will be able to take you on stuff that’s fun for you/keep you safe but isn’t necessarily needed. A guidebook will help massively.

Not trying to put you off here! Via Ferrata are brilliant and one of the most entertaining ways of moving around mountains. I love them. Just use some common sense and, if you’re on anything you judge serious, the proper kit.

Not via ferrata, but similar.. [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjmiGsxlh7w&feature=related[/video]

I got dizzy watching it

Get some practice in at Go Ape?

I did a VF in Avoriaz about ten years ago. We had a guide, lids and harnesses. I had zero climbing experience, but had climbed a lot of masts on racing yachts wearing similar kit. The masts tended to wave about quite a lot more than mountains.

It was a complete hoot; there were plenty of drops, a couple of overhangs and lots of clinging on. Not very much of it was walkable – it was mostly traverses and a few chimneys (I think – not up on the lingo).

It might be worth trying it with a guide and hired kit early on in the holiday. If you don’t enjoy it, avoid VF routes. If you like it, get the kit – assuming the right stuff can be got locally, of course.

I am not an experienced climber, I’ve only done VF once, but I did enjoy it, and if you’ve got the fitness and common sense, I’d say it’s worth a go. I’ll defer to the more experienced on this thread, however.

Don’t do Via Ferrata in the mountains unless you are competent – they can peter out / be in very poor state of repair and relying on wires / ladders to be there when you need them is a bit naive.

Either be competent to climb / scramble the terrain or get some experience on Sport via ferrata – ie pristine condition stuff in the low valleys eg Valloire in France.

If you slip or fall on high mountain Via Ferrata – it’s not much different to being on a high mountain rock climb. You and your partner will have to self – rescue etc.

If you just use a sling around the waist and krab, you’ll most likely snap the Krab and sling, if not your pelvis / suffer fatal internal injuries in the event of a fall.

What Brown said +1
Get proper kit.
Know how to use it.
The VF route should be graded with description of the level of obstacles, exposure, skill & strength needed. There are plenty of guide books that cover this. (Well there are in the French Alps.)
Pick a route level within your comfort zone. Climbing back down from half way often isn’t an option (easier to keep on going).
Get it right and it’s great fun.

BTW, I did Thones via ferrata (google image it) with minimal climbing experience but with a local friend to do an equipment run through and guiding/coaching me up in places. Good fun in places but also scared the cr@p out of me in places.

Tip: if you’re likely to get sweaty palms while climbing, wear some tight fitting, fingerless mtb gloves.

Basic Via Ferrata kit:

Helmet & Gloves for each person (some ladders / wires are very rusty).
Decent boots

Harness and fall arrestor eg Petzl Zyper

Headtorch per person (some routes have tunnels in them)

25m rope + Krabs + slings (for self rescue / guiding nervous climbers over un-wired sections)

Plus standard mountain kits (survival kit, first aid, maps, waterproofs etc).

Cheers guys – I have some homework to do. I think the stuff I was looking at is purely as an ‘extra protection’ type stuff on a couple of exposed bits, rather than a specfic via ferrata route. My perference is to avoid it entirely until I’ve done a bit more climbing….

I will either post up some nice summit photos when i’m back, or get a relative to post up a picture of my bloodied corpse 😀

PS. Any reason not to get via ferrata gear from decathlon? £50 quid seems a bargain and my experience of their stuff is pretty good.

+1 what Brown said.

I’ve done VF in the Dolomites and absolutely loved it, I’ve done a lot of trad climbing but non climbers can enjoy it just as much so long as you’re careful on route choice. We were a mixed group and the hardest thing for the non climbers was the exposure shortly followed by having less stamina than the regular climbers but they all loved it.

Definitely get a guide book and a VF tail to go with climbing harness, helmet, boots, and gloves (and the usual gear you’d take into the mountains).

Wow, just looked and it was 2003 when we went, how time flies. Some photos – this was September so should be a good reminder to kit up at all times of the year!

http://tonydalton.smugmug.com/Vacation/Via-Ferrata-Sept-2003/5935503_RJAPZ

And, and one more thing – make sure you go outside of thunder storm season. The last thing you want to be attached to when a storm rolls in is a metal wire that goes to the top of the mountain! There was a lot of lightning strikes on the day of those snowy pics, we were off the wire by then but another group that we’d met didn’t get off so lightly on another route. Some nasty exit burns to show off in the pub!

I’ve done a few easier ones in Austria, Italy and Switzerland – they were great days out in the hills. They vary a lot in commitment, some with long sections of steep climbing moves (grade 4-5), while others are more protected walks (grade 1-2). Obviously take all the usual precautions when in a high mountain environment.

Ask around the locals about the condition and difficulty, because a couple I have been on were in quite sh1tty condition. Get proper via ferrata kit to attach to your harness, some good gloves to protect your fingers from all the clipping and wires, and a light helmet. Normal light hiking boots are ideal for easier grades. I’ve seen people using approach shoes too.

Report back, cos I’m interested in Slovenia!

Ok, massive gear freak geek out:

The Camp set up Decathlon sell looks pretty good to me – like a cheaper version of this black diamond set
.

I’d be happy with the camp set up. The black diamond one has elasticated webbing, meaning there’s less stuff flapping around, but lots of reach (can very occasionally be an issue switching between cables).

You can get cheaper ones, like the petzl zyper, and you can get bits to make your own, although I’m not sure this works out any cheaper especially if you don’t already have twist-lock krabs etc. They may be cheaper to buy over there, and you may be able to rent them.

More info here

EDIT: I’d love to be able to lend you one, but I can’t find mine. If you know anyone who climbs, maybe ask around? It’s the sort of thing people buy and then hardly ever use.