Hooked on the Via Ferrata in Vallcebre, Catalonia
As I mentioned earlier on our Facebook page, I’ve discovered a new sport… and I’m totally hooked (pun intended). While we were in Vallcebre, Catalonia Tourism introduced us to via ferratas on an outing with CercleAventura, a Catalonian adventure sports company.
A via ferrata, also known as a Klettersteig in German, is an established climbing route that follows a secured steel cable as well as carved footholds, iron stepping rungs, ladders and cable bridges. Climbers wear protective helmets and harnesses and secure themselves to the cable using absorbers with carabiners. You don’t have to be an experienced mountain climber to do a via ferrata, and there are often several routes targeting different grades of difficulty.
Oscar, our CercleAventura guide on the outing, was incredibly cool and extremely patient with our group (he’s the one in the video taking a picture of me while hanging off the side of a sheer cliff). I would HIGHLY recommend him and the company to anyone visiting the Pyrenees region. CercleAventure also offers a range of adventure sports including super attractive canyoning trips which really caught my eye. As Arnie said in Terminator, “I’ll be back!” (An Austrian accent is highly appropriate for a via ferrata/Klettersteig post.)
Tony, I think your Grandmother took some pictures of you very similar to these….didn’t she? This is very cool stuff…she would have been proud.
The hilarious thing is that I ended up becoming the defacto climbing photographer (and videographer) on this outing because I felt quite comfortable hanging out over the edge of a cliff while taking pictures. I even heard the guide cry out, “Oh, he’s taking a video of his feet!” while I was walking over the wire.
For others, my dad is making a joke about our edgy-travel story.
Loved doing this. So much fun even if it was harder than we anticipated.
Oh My Gosh,
I thought the same thing when I saw the photo of “Look Mom, No hands”
and yes it was Grandma Mary, that took the photos of Tony hanging at the edge of the cliff when he was quite small. She wanted to capture the background view of the deep valley beneath the high cliffs.
Must be some sort of genetic thing.
@Laurel,
We has a blast. I’m ready for the next level!!! 🙂
@Greeneyes,
I’m fully secured in that picture. Just having fun.
Everyone interested in via ferrata trips can also check out Laurel’s take on the trip at her blog.
[…] had done one via ferrata before in Catalonia, but this was Thomas’ first time (although he did just recently do the canopy […]