Day 6: Annecy (Via Ferrata)

I woke up feeling better.  We didn't have to meet the bus until 10 am.  Then it was about a one hour ride out to another mountain.  Today is the Via Ferrata day!  

The Via Ferrata is a way to make mountain climbing safer and somewhat easier. You are strapped into a cable/rope system which is firmly attached to the side of the mountain, so you can't fall off. They have installed iron rails in places where there are no good footholds. But even with all that, you fundamentally have to move your body weight up a semi vertical space. 

If we didn't want to do the VF, we had an option of doing a hike instead, but I decided to at least go up the mountain and see what it looks like. 

It was a pretty long hike to the bottom of the VF.  I (along with several others) circumvented much of the hike by riding in the back of the pickup. Russell, Alex, and Adrian all hiked. The hikers showed up pretty hot and tired.  

The initial 20 feet of the VF was intimidating, so I opted out.  Steve stayed behind with me while everyone else clipped in and climbed up. After they were gone, he convinced me to give it a shot. We went up maybe 40-50 feet, [I have been reliably informed we went close to 100 ft, so, Yay me!] which included some horizontal (easy) bits as well. 

Then we turned around and hiked all the way down the mountain. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the group continued about 500 feet up to the top of the mountain and then down, using a different VF path 

On the way up the mountain, they had the option of doing a zipline or a monkey bridge, both of which are really hard for people who are afraid of heights. 

Of course Russell picked the more difficult option (the monkey bridge). This is a set of 3 parallel cables arranged in a triangle with a flat top. You put your feet on the lower cable and grasp the other two with your hands and you make your way across a chasm. Kind of like an assisted tight rope walkRead more