Vias Ferratas, Rock Climbing Routes for Everyone

I stood on a rock ledge, terra firma far below, and took in the panorama to my left. Against the horizon sat Fairchild Mountain — reaching just over 13,500 feet — and other peaks in the Mummy Range, a series of lofty summits in the northern part of Rocky Mountain National Park. In the foreground was a bright blue sliver of Mary’s Lake. In front of me, a sheer wall of stippled gneiss. It was the kind of vista that Tommy Caldwell, a renowned professional rock climber who lives in nearby Estes Park, Colorado, likely experiences on a regular basis.

But unlike Tommy Caldwell, or even experienced amateur climbers, I did not need to have precise technique or exceptional strength or a rack full of climbing gear to reach my elevated perch. That’s because I was on the Cloud Ladder via ferrata, which consists of permanent rebar rungs bolted into the rock, bordered by a continuous series of fixed aircraft-grade steel cables to which I remained attached. Those rungs made it relatively easy — though still thrilling — to scale the rock face.

Long popular in Europe, particularly in the Alps, via ferrata routes — “via ferrata” is Italian for “iron way” — are becoming more popular in the United States, with new routes being installed on peaks, in gorges, and even at high-end outdoors sports resorts. The system originated in Italy as a way to move soldiers through the mountains during World War I and was later adopted by intrepid hikers for ascending steeper terrain.

“I wanted people to experience a part of the mountains that you wouldn’t be able to access unless you were a climber,” said Harry Kent, founder and director of Kent Mountain Adventure Center in Estes Park, which operates the Cloud Ladder. This via ferrata, open since July 2021, is on private property a few miles south of town. (The site is open year round, weather permitting, to guests 12 and older; guided tours cost between $174 and $330 per person, depending on the number of climbers.) Through his other business, Via Ferrata Works, Kent and his team are also building the country’s first urban via ferrata, in an abandoned limestone quarry, at Quarry Trails Metro Park in Columbus, Ohio. The route, on a 150-foot-high cliff face, is expected to open this fall. Access will be free.

The high-alpine Cloud Ladder sets a different type of record: with about 600 feet of sustained upward climbing for most of its length, it’s billed as the steepest via ferrata in the United States. If I had been a first-timer, I would have opted for the adjacent and easier Peregrine Arete. But having previously ascended other via ferratas, I was up for a challenge — which I found on the second of two heart-pumping suspension bridges, where I hovered on a tightrope-style cable that spanned 45 feet across a 200-foot-deep chasm. I won’t pretend that I didn’t think twice before heading across it, even though I was secured to two other cables at shoulder height.

As on all via ferratas, in addition to a helmet, I wore a waist harness with a bungee-style lanyard holding two large carabiners (known as lobster claws) and a shock-absorbing device that would lessen the impact in the unlikely event that I fell. (I didn’t.) As for the carabiners, you clip them onto the cables and leave them attached, sliding them along as you climb, except when you arrive at one of the many anchor bolts along the route.

Though climbing a via ferrata may look like a daredevil feat, it’s more attainable than you might think. The challenges are more psychological than physical. “We regularly see people getting past self-imposed boundaries,” said Sean Kristl, the general manager of the guide service Alpenglow Expeditions, which provides via ferrata tours in Olympic Valley, California.

There are public via ferratas in at least 18 locations across the country. Here are five spots to explore.