[Closed] Via Ferrata climbing (Klettersteig) for beginners

Swiss mate of mine does quite a bit (inc around PdS). He says it's more dangerous than climbing without the right kit as he feels most people do it with a lower level of equipment and a line too long (so they would fall further before the "snap"). Must be proper courses you can do.

I did one in Switzerland a few years back. Properly scared the livin pants off me. I now have a permanent fear of heihts
(uess which key is no loner workin on my laptop)

How difficult is it for a guy who's never climbed in his life and is now probably not as slim as he should be?

There 2 varibles that are too big for me to allow for.

The sensible answer is pay to be taken the first time. Correctly used the equipment may well stop you dieing if you fall off. But on a vertical section the fall could still result in a massive impact.

So the problem is that if either you run out of strength or find you don't like the height then it could be your in difficuilty without help.

But if after one trip with help you are fine then the whole thing looks alot more manegeable

This based on doing Via Ferrata twice but quite alot of climbing

varying grades of via ferrata so very diff to say, but if you have never done any ropes/harnesses/risk assessment then get a guide.

Should be easy to find one in your part of the world ?

^ this really.

It's not hard per se, but if you aren't used to the equipment and basic safety at height type stuff then it could be very dangerous.

And don't skimp on kit, get the right stuff as there have been deaths when slings have been used instead of lanyards etc.

But give it a go, it's a great way of getting into situations normally reserved for 'proper' climbers.

I have done a lot of working at height in construction using harnesses.
I would buy the correct safety equipment and I just joined the Alpenverein which is the Alps club so would sign up for a beginners day with them.

I've done some, and yeah, like most things there's different levels/grades. Start low and work up.

You need harness, a (proper) via ferrata kit, helmet (you will need this) and gloves. Oh and decent footwear, duh.

There's bound to be a 'how to' book put there (or YouTube?).

Safest option is doing a course or a day or two guided.

But it's not really that complicated. I found the 'unprotected' bits unnerving for a start but by the end of the week I developed a 'head' for it. This was before I did any real sport/trad climbing....

I've always done it in a group, with a guide, who supplied the kit. Probably a good place to start 🙂

There's via ferrata and via ferrata....

The sport stuff is maintained in pristine condition, quite easy and straightforward with the standard kit (arrestor, harness, gloves, trainers and helmet). The original Italian stuff can be more challenging with big exposed sections where you may need a rope and you can never quite trust the metalwork as it's been rusting away for the best part of 100 years. You can also be high up in the mountains, so need more kit, navigation skills etc.

Might be worth learning how to self rescue from a deployed tear out pack (screamer) as if that does happen you'd be surprised how hard it can be.

I have done a lot of working at height in construction using harnesses.
I would buy the correct safety equipment and I just joined the Alpenverein which is the Alps club so would sign up for a beginners day with them.

Sounds like a perfect plan. You'll be fine

If you have no previous climbing or mountain experience, I'd join that club and go on days with them to get experience. Hopefully they'll also teach you more techniques, above and beyond just via ferrata, to stay safe. No harm in buying instruction books as well and doing some homework.

as others say, it's not difficult per se, until you get out of your depth or make a mistake, which only experience and knowledge might see you safely through (not just the via ferrata bit, but making decisions in turning weather or just knowing the local weather idiosyncrasies, route finding and navigation into and out off the route, all sorts of shizzle). I dare say there's some protocol to learn as well.

No idea if it's more dangerous than climbing, but I generally consider unroped grade 3 scrambling to be more dangerous than higher grade pitch roped climbing.

Life long Alpine climber who's done the odd via ferrata, but probably not conventionally.

I did this in Austria a few years back and really enjoyed it - would definitely go again. There were chicken runs on a couple of harder sections that involved climbing a slight overhang. Nothing like that pic up there though.

I would imagine it's something that is going to vary massively depending on terrain.

I'm in Austria.

Looks like Hohe Wand is a fair distance from where I was in the Otztal Valley.

iolo - there is lots of info out there especially if you speak German
E.g. http://www.bergsteigen.com/klettersteig

I've done a lot of VF in Italy, Austria, Germany etc. They can vary greatly in terms of difficulty, location etc.
Have a good read of a few route descriptions and see what you think. Fwiw, in general, the AUT/DEU routes "tend" to be sport routes so they can be very difficult but they are using the sane grading system nowadays.

Email in profile if you need it.

iolo - that photo was bugging me so I did a Google Image search. It seems that it is from the [b]Via Ferrata Cesare Piazzetta[/b] which is a very high grade VF route in the Dolomites, up the side of the Sella massif. [url= http://home.arcor.de/wokka/piaz.html ]Clicky[/url]

One thing to note is that a lot of the traditional VF routes (especially Dolomites) are intended as protected scrambles. The cable is there as a safety feature as you are supposed to climb the route using the natural features. What I've seen in Austria, and also a method used by many Europeans, is that they treat the cable as [u]the[/u] aid to climbing and tend to be pulling on it most of the time. This means that they can get up some pretty severe moves using brute force and ignoring technique. Consequently a lot of the newer sport routes tend to be harder as it uses this style of "assisted" climbing.

You'r right. I just did a google for Hohe Wand and just put that up. I should have probably checked it before posting.

Here's a vid I found of one of the routes.

Few points on Via Ferrata that isn't always clear to people who've not done it before - the cables serve two purposes - you can pull on them to get up something you can't climb and they will *stop you dying*. The latter purpose is just that, they'll stop you dying - there are many situations where you really really don't want to fall on the via cable, if you do you're likely to end up with serious injuries (at least a broken leg, but at least you won't break your leg and then plummet 1000ft off a cliff). People don't often get this and question why the via kits that you get are one time use (the resetable versions are of questionable safety), if you have a fall bad enough to cause them to deploy then you'll probably not be making it off the cliff without assistance anyway.

Don't be tempted to use two carbiners and two slings either - the fall factors involved can greatly exceed those involved in climbing (which normally can never exceed a factor 2 fall) and the sling will likely break and / or transfer so much energy to you that you'll suffer a serious injury.

All that being said, as long as you're being careful (e.g. no more than one person on each section of wire) and have the right equipment (def get a helmet as well, the routes often zig zag and you don't want someone above to drop something on you) it's great fun!

PS. One final point, if you get the type with two tails and a single shock absorber part, make sure you don't clip one of the tails to your harness whilst having the other one on the wire. This will bypass the shock abosorber and is very dangerous. It's easily done and i've had to correct people in some dodgy positions before!