" scale the Krogerata " sound like something that ends with abseil down the side of a Midwestern grocery storage . Which is enticing . But not intimately as enticing as its reality : namely , traversing the side of a 500 ft rock face in the Rocky Mountains , and getting one of the slap-up gut checks you ’ll ever have .
The dependable mass atMountain Tripwere decent enough to invite me to scale the via ferrata in Telluride , Colorado , with an excellent guidebook . Now , for an experient crampoon , it ’s just another Tuesday morning . experient climbing iron can descale this via ferrata with about the same relief that most citizenry use a swatter . But I ’m from Florida – you cognise , that state whose highest point is a freeway on - ramp – so going to the side of a drop-off and spend two minute on the ledge is n’t simply obtain out of my comfort zona . It ’s dumping all my piece of furniture onto the lawn and throwing my wearing apparel out the bedchamber window while the neighbors watch in repulsion .
What is a via ferrata anyway?
" Via ferrata " is Italian for " Fe route . " It ’s a system of metal rung , hook , and handholds bolted into the side of a mountain , ab initio build up to help move flock through the Alps during World War I. After the human beings wars , the iron persist , and it did n’t take long for adventurous Europeans to turn it into a unpaid activity . The tourists followed and rise these things has become more popular in Europe than uncomfortably tight pants and chain smoke .
The US had fall behind in the via ferrata craze , until a mountaineer and iron doer named Chuck Kroger settled in Telluride in the late seventies . A fan of the via ferratas he ’d experienced in the Alps , he set out to construct one near his hometown . He spent geezerhood fabricate the course by go up the mountain face with a rock ‘n’ roll practice and 5.5 in bolts . After he died of Cancer the Crab in 2007 , his friend complete the via ferrata as a tribute . Informally it has been knight the Krogerata .
The Krogerata is a poorly kept secret
The driving force to the trail is n’t just calming . It ’s a narrow road of switchbacks lead up to Bridal Veil Falls near Telluride . When another giant SUV comes speed around a corner , you ’re comparatively certain the laws of physics prescribe one of you is fall off a cliff . Reaching the " trail head " about halfway up the mountain is a kind of moderation on its own .
I say " trailhead " because it ’s totally unmarked , easy to leave out . Colorado does n’t exactly encourage Telluride ’s via ferrata : as with the state’spot touristry , your best resource is going to be word of mouthpiece . Judging by the number of mass jamming the lead on a Tuesday afternoon , the state is home to a spate of talkers .
" We ’re just gon na wind around this shelf , " said Dave , my template , as he pointed to a cliff grimace that seemed to stretch to Utah . I project no ledge , but I assumed Dave would n’t jolly me . That is , after all , how people get really nasty thing said about them on TripAdvisor .
Ryan Bonneau
Dave fit me in the requisite mounting gear : a harness , helmet , and carabiners with retractable cords . This adventure comes with lumbering safety caveat . Much of the trail includes a thick alloy cable television service to which you literally snip your life , one carabiner at a clip . If your foot slips , the cable keeps you from plummet into a heavily wooded abyss . Though they do n’t really explain how they yank you back up while you ’re dangling off the side of a mountain . I did n’t need to ask Dave about that either .
Walking next to catastrophe
The beginning of the trail was simple enough , resonant of a slew hike along a steep drop - off . Then we turn a corner . The route narrowed , and the exorbitant slope that was the lead ’s remaining ledge was now a gauze-like cliff . I was one kinked mortise joint away from being Wile E. Coyote .
" see your step , " Dave say . Probably because his lawyers told him he has to , the same mode McDonald ’s has to tell you " this coffee is hot . "
Another few hundred G of walking beside destruction and we strive the lead ’s first cable . Dave order me to cut short in one snap ring at a time ( " In case you slip while you ’re fix them , " he added ) . As I locked in , I noticed the trail seemed to disappear a few yards ahead . In its place : a giant boulder the electric cord stretched across .
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" So , we just vanish around that bowlder ? " I asked Dave .
" Sort of , " he said , smiling . Dave walked ahead , attached to the electric cord , and put his leg around the boulder , kind of hugging it with his lower body . " You just put your pes on this bridgehead on the other side , and slide yourself around . " He enounce it calmly , as if he were excuse how to operate a can opener . That ’s 500 ft of nothing under you there , Dave , and all that stands between you anditis a bowlder that ’s being unsuspectingly humped .
Then again , once you ’re on the via ferrata , your choice are to slide around a boulder jutting out over a ledge , or turn around and go home like a baby . Really , there is no selection . I step up to the bowlder , run my snap ring onto the hook , and make my leg around the fierce rock music until I matte the foothold .
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" See ? " Dave said . " Easy . "
Time for the main event
After about 45 minutes we reached a park bench at a flat overlook . There stomach a memorial tablet explaining Charles Kroger and his life ’s body of work .
" They put this up here so mass have it off who the human being was responsible for this , " Dave read . " And it also gives us a nice little relief right before the main event . "
Right past this little overlook , the lead really did disappear . The metal cord continued on , directly across a sheer drop face constellate with metal rung .
Courtesy of Mountain Trip
" You ready ? " Dave asked . I could n’t see the end of the drop-off face I was hypothesise to traverse , which meant I could be clinging to the side of this mountain for possibly the remainder of my aliveness . Or , maybe a mile . They might as well have been the same thing .
Again , Dave went first , and again , he made traversing metal round that stuck 6 in out from a drop look like walk to the icebox .
" Just put your feet on the spoke and ill-use your way along , " he read , sound a little like Bob Ross telling me to paint felicitous tree diagram . Everyone in Colorado seems to talk like this .
Courtesy of Mountain Trip
The first few were surprisingly simple . After about 50 curtilage , the two rows ' rungs – which are ostensibly put at hired man and foot height – suddenly squeezed in , just 2 ft apart .
" You ’re going to have to scrunch up a little bit , " Dave said as he folded himself in half and scurried across the stave like a spider monkey . I was not so elegant .
reckon doing a full squat , then having to halt that diddly and side - step your way about 5 or 6 ft to your left hand . But rather of a prissy gymnasium platform to support you there ’s only void . Yes , you ’re clipped into a cable length , but that makes the thought of slipping off these alloy rundle no less terrifying .
" Is this going to indorse all my exercising weight ? " I enquire , like somehow I was the first fop over 200lbs to ever cross the via ferrata . Dave nodded , and I put both my foot on one rung , with both my hand gripping the rung above it . My ass literally cling out over the side of the cliff . And as I hunker down there , thigh and forearms burning , I realized the key to getting through this , or anything , was just to relax .
So calmly , I move to the next rung , and then the next , and despite some difficulties with some of the foresightful stretches , I made it without slipping at all . Or soiling the abysm .
The rest of the hike continued in much the same style , as we clip in at hard spots and walked confidently along a deal ledge for the rest . The trail vex dicey at times : for a climb down between bowlder , at another rock typeface , and one reaching of climbing metal rungs at an acute slant to the soil . But once you ’ve dangled yourself over a mountainside with nothing but a metallic element cable keeping you safe , a lot of things in life seem pretty prosperous . Just slow down , secern off your fear , and keep move , one death - defying tone at a time .
