Armed with great directions to an “unsanctioned” Via Ferrata somewhere in Southwestern Colorado, Pete and I stopped in a nearby town for a great breakfast then found the unmarked parking area. A short ~1,000 feet hike up including a stream crossing got us to the start of a cairned trail.
The trail passed through some aspens then merged onto a ledge between different layers of rocks. A short little section of Via Ferrata cabling allowed us to practice with our gear and review the process of clipping the cables.
More exposed ledges with no cabling followed with just hiking.
The Via Ferrata started to get interesting as the ledge neatly divided the cliffs above and below.
Traversing around one gully led us through a slightly overhanging spot.
Another spot felt like the narrow boulder spot on the Broadway of Longs Peak.
Getting around a small tree proved to be one of the cruxes, who knew Via Ferratas included bushwhacking?
The exposure increased as we continued along, sidestepping on a narrow rock ledge.
Several hundred feet of air led down to the slopes below.
The most exposed portion of the traverse is the “Main Event” with lots of bolted hand and foot rungs on the nearly blank rock.
The falls at the head of the valley were amazing from this vantage.
Just past the “Main Event” we found a nice ledge to take a break that included a register. I hope the locals who created this route can get the Via Ferrata officially sanctioned. In fact, I’d love to see some of these “Iron Ways” put in other places around the state (they’d have to be in spots without a history of rock climbing and with land manager approval).
After the break we reversed our route to repeat all the fun parts. I’d heard the route continues and we could make a loop, but there’s less cabled sections going forward.
More comfortable with the exposure, we cruised right past all the earlier exposed sections.
Our out and back route took about 4 hours with a lot of time for photos and snack breaks.
That looks more gorgeous than the one near Red River Gorge!
Scenery at this via ferrata was probably better (but to be fair, I’d have to go back during the fall when all those aspens are turning!). But the one in Kentucky did have that suspension bridge!
Great pictures! I love that you included one of getting around the tree. I think we took pics of each one us fighting our way around, over, or through that thing. Great route.