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A bone to pick: Quite Calling Via Ferratas “hikes”
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Enough said. We’ve all seen those videos on Instagram and tictok with captions like: “Doing the worlds most dangerous hike”, but it’s a via feratta somewhere in the alps. I get it, many via ferratas are more of a component to a hike than they are their own thing, but still they don’t really count as a hike do they? In my humble and inexperienced opinion the second you have to put a harness on makes the endeavor something more than “just a hike”. Thoughts? |
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Sounds like a hike to me. My full thought. It doesn’t matter. It’s semantics, and people who argue semantics have nothing better to do or are trying to protect their ego. My second thought: get to clock out soon whoop |
Devin Draxler wrote: Via Ferratas are aid climbing. |
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It's an interesting point Devin, if somewhat academic. If you think about hikes, they cross terrain, and established hikes become known because you follow a trail of some sort. The trail can just be foot wear in the terrain. But the steeper ones can have varied levels of man-made construction, like stone steps or railings. The Via Ferrata seems like an extension of this, it incorporates a stairway made of iron into the hike. Many of them are 5th class, meaning a fall without the safety cord would be fatal, but does that possibility of a fatality qualify it as a rock climb? Even 3rd and 4th class hikes can be fatal if you slip in the wrong place. The Mist Tail in Yosemite Valley is an example, and this trail is closed when it becomes dangerous to hike. I'm leaning towards putting it in the hiking category but I agree that it seems silly to call it a hike. |
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Isn’t Via Ferrata already considered a separate ‘category’ between a hike and a true rock climb? But, there are some ‘gray areas’ —there are ‘hikes’ in Acadia National Park—many of them established early in the 20th Century, that have sections of iron rungs—some short, some longer and quite exposed, but don’t involve the use of harnesses, lanyards, or other VF paraphernalia. On the other extreme, I recently saw photos of a new VF system ( actually 3 different VFs—of varying difficulties and exposure) on a mini-El Cap ( not that ‘mini’) over a fjord in Norway that look very much like true rock climbs—and guides are required. Then, what about the fixed ropes up Everest??? |
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Quit calling Hikes Approaches!!! |
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It's Andy Kirkpatrick rules right - if you died and the protection fails and your body falls freely, where does it land? Body lies on the ground where you died = hike (e.g. Everest standard routes) Body falls or rolls a long way down = climb I think some via ferratas count as climbs by this standard. |
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Quit misspelling while you're bitching. Quite? |
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I dunno man, they're called iron "paths" aren't they? |
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Cherokee Nunes wrote: Hmm. Via attraverso il pesce: 5.12c! |
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I'm torn by the oddity of via ferrata. Using fixed cables as pro would be pretty fun as an occasional convenience. Being able to cover thousands of feet of technical terrain without the hassle of climbing gear (or pitching things out) and without the risk of soloing sounds pretty nice. From a climbing perspective, the iron rung handholds/footholds are pretty lame, though. I've been thinking - it would be cool to have a 'via cordata' with 1000' of fixed lines to TR-solo up - just a few rope transfers here and there but no break in the action. I know of one in Bishop but don't know of any other spots like that. Like VF, definitely not something that you would want littering every mountain, but something that would be cool to have access to. |
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Ok, but what about calling hikes climbs?  |
Tradiban wrote: Via ferratas are Solo Daisy Aid, there's no rope. I figured you of anyone could get the terminology correct.. ;) |
Cron wrote: Yosemite Decimal System (YDS)
This is the most widely used rating in the U.S. and its equivalents can be seen below in the chart. Mountain Madness uses this system for defining the rock climbing difficulty of trips.
Class 1: Hiking. Example: Kilimanjaro
Class 2: Simple scrambling, with the possible occasional use of the hands. Example: Ruth Mountain
Class 3: Scrambling; a rope might be carried. Example: Sahale Peak
Class 4: Simple climbing, often with exposure. A rope is often used. A fall on Class 4 rock could be fatal. Typically, natural protection can be easily found. Example: Summit Pyramid on Mount Shuksan
Class 5: Where rock climbing begins in earnest. Climbing involves the use of a rope, belaying, and protection (natural or artificial) to protect the leader from a long fall. Fifth class is further defined by a decimal and letter system – in increasing and difficulty. The ratings from 5.10−5.15 are subdivided in a, b, c and d levels to more precisely define the difficulty (for example: 5.10a or 5.11d). Examples: The Tooth or Ingalls Peak |
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A bone to pick. QUIT spelling quit like this: "quite". |
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Hiking is just walking. You could argue that vías are actually just steep or exposed walks. |
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Hiking Via Ferreta Climbing Problem solved |
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Sensing an industry-wide conclusion on this topic within the next 3 posts. |
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This one seems like it has some climbing. Yikes |
