Switzerland 4 - Via Ferrata

We woke up early (to screaming, but we had to be up anyways) and prepped for the day. Dani was going running, Mom was delighted to be "stuck" with baby duty, and Adam/Dad/Myself went down to the Via Ferrera - the Way of Iron. Adam's friend had planned to come with, but talked himself out of it watching youtube videos late last night...   Our first stop was the gear shop, were we rented harnesses/helmets/biners-on-leads, and had a very perfunctory tutorial. "Clip like this, that rock is the point of no return, have fun".  Aight, awesome.  

We headed across the street, down the alley, through a tunnel, and the route began.  The beginning of the trail was across the top of the hill, but it gave us a good area to practice clipping in, passing anchors (and each other) while making sure to only unclip one anchor at time. The trail then veered downhill, and while it was an intense downhill, it was nothing we haven't done a hundred times before, without ropes.  Then we got to the staples - bent rebar drilled into the cliff - and headed down using them like a ghetto ladder. It's a nice warm-up and training, and we slowly approached the edge of the cliff. Here we were 2000' feet over the valley, but still a dozen feet up-slope from the edge. This is where we passed the first base-jumping "exit", where they back down a hill holding an old rope before launching into the valley. Soon, we were on the cliff itself. Narrow trails with precipitous drops, the sort of stuff I love. This I would have done with the rope as a hand-hold, but wouldn't have risked without. I stayed clipped in anyways, of course. A few minutes later we passed a second base-jumping spot, this one a small platform immediately on the cliff. I couldn't resist, and clipped into the rope so I could stand on the edge and look far too far straight down.  The views are incredible, the whole valley spread out below you, and the enormous cliff faces opposite stretching into snow-capped peaks

And then, you climb down another staple-ladder, and it's go time. Standing on a bent piece of rebar, holding onto a wire rope, and nothing but air for hundreds of feet below you, if not more. What's worse, in a few steps, the wall leans out so you have to lean back over space.  I typically claim that I have zero fear of heights if I'm clipped in, but this proved me wrong. In the overhang I had to distract myself with the cadence of step-hand-step-hand-clip-clip, but once past the crux I kept myself intentionally hyper-aware of the enormous drop below me, the carefully managed but very high-stakes risk. I love this shit. I was first in our crew, so I made it to stabler-staples and snapped some pictures (with my phone carefully tethered to my harness, because if it goes, it's gone) and talked my father through the motions.... and then started talking to my father about anything else. I think we discussed the proper density of bagels at one point, because he badly needed a distraction. Don't look down, just do what you've been doing for the last 30 minutes, and contract your world to the 5 feet around you. He kept moving though, and soon we were through and glad for it. I have a very high tolerance for these sorts of games, and I was acutely uncomfortable. Which is right where I like to be.

A few more staple-ladders and cliff-walks and we were back into the woods, where we cut in to a waterfall with a rope-bridge. One cable for each arm, and one muddy slippery cable for feet. Probably 60 feet up with great views, but it felt pretty casual TBH. Once across, I ran forward several sections of staples (still clipped in) and leaned way out on my harness to snap pictures of the rest of us, and then the group following us, since I'd already gotten to the best angle.  Once they crossed, we traded contact info, and I started speed-running another trail section of via ferrata to catch up to Adam/Dad. Now that I was comfortable, I was pushing myself. We came back out to the cliff side to descend a set of actual ladders bolted into the wall, hanging just shy of (an one just past) vertical - while paragliders passed beneath us. Slippery, wet, but ladders are ladders. We could do these any day with or without clips. At the base of the ladders we had to ford a tiny stream. Which sounds chill, but this stream slid off the mountain a few feet past the ford, dissolving into a rain that landed hundreds of feet below. With how slippery those rocks were, there's no chance at a save if you slip.... so we were very grateful for the safety line.  Then came another, shorter, cable bridge, and a long section of woods (which was still a hardcore trail only 8 feet away from oblivion, but felt so much tamer now). At this point I switched from being double-hooked to single-hooked. 100% positive lock-in, but much faster.

This brought us to the suspension bridge, the final obstacle. We let the girls pass us and took a break to chill out, looking down on towns that were still 1000 feet below us despite how far we'd descended. And then, with the mountain to ourselves, we tackled the suspension bridge. Once he got the feel of it, Adam walked straight out to the middle and started hanging around. My father, on the other hand, was rediscovering his fear of heights. This was one of the best views of the trail, with the large gap carved by the stream offering a magnificent gap to cross and an expansive view of the mountains at the end of the valley. I clambered up to talk my dad through it if he needed, but once he made it to the point where the suspension cables become hand-rails, he regained some confidence.

Brice: "How high up do you think?"
Adam: "Oh, 10 seconds, what's that?"
Brice: "16 feet, add 48, then another 80?"
Dad: "High enough! Lets talk about breakfast foods."

<10 seconds is approx 1000', checking the maps it was actually ~400' straight down,  ~7 seconds. Also, casual physics is my favorite chat-gpt usecase>

To me, it felt like a painting beneath us, not a real distance. It's the sort of height airplanes have where falling doesn't occur to the mind, because it's not a height you can fall from in 99.99% of human experience. I walked a length with my hands behind my head, then I dangled my foot over the edge and the distance suddenly became very real in my mind. At the midpoint I shot a handful of pictures, but for one shot I had to unclip my phone from my harness. I fumbled it. I don't know how large of a fumble it was in actuality, but my finger missed the ring and for a moment I was convinced I had thrown my phone into the void. But it was all cool and the shots look great. I tried to finish the bridge without handholds, but the far end quickly humbled me with a bit of a twist to the deck, leaving me thankful for guide cable. And then more gracious for terra firma.

Then we had a short hike out (unfortunately very uphill) and we were suddenly back in civilization, standing on a road in front of the Grimmelwald cable-car. Ferrata completed, my personal rating is 12/10 - must do. The sketchy shit I love, with professional engineering, and literally world-class views. I would have loved a few more/longer intense portions, but very satisfied with the quantity and blown away by the quality. I also recommend getting out before the tour-groups (first group is 9:30, shop opens at 9, or you can pickup the night before) so you can have the mountain to yourself. 

Grimmelwald is a tiny and quaint town, and we wandered past cows, goats, cats, and horses (who I fed some grass before noticing the sign verbot'ing it), and met the rest of our crew. Everyone else hiked into town on trails much farther from the edge, timing it with our slower route. So we caught each other up on our days, showed off pictures, and grabbed lunch outdoors on a patio with an unreal view of <Breithorn>. On the Via it was particularly stunning, but this whole trip I am continually surprised by how amazing the views are, almost all the time.

A quick cable-car back to Mürren, which offered a cool view of the suspension bridge, and back here to blog and babysit while Adam/Dani go for a "short 4 mile hike".  

<Sage time, grocery store, dinner, and an early night.>

The cables look weird because Adam was jumping on the bridge mid panorama...