CREDIT
DECEMBER-JANUARY 2012/13
WIZZ MAGAZINE
11
A
series of metal ladders and cables
banged into the mountainside, the
via ferrata
(
Italian for “iron road”) is
a centuries-old method of getting around
the Alps. Villagers used it as a way of
reaching higher pastures, and come World
War I, Austro-Hungarian troops in the
Dolomites used it to escape the Italians,
as well as the icy conditions. Today, more
happily, it is an assault course for climbers.
“
Six-year-old children do it!” laughs Régis
Burnel, our guide, with the confidence of a
man who broke his ankle a month ago, but
flew his microlight plane only this morning.
“
No one ever falls!”
Be that as it may, climbing conditions
in the ski resort of Val Cenis, situated in
the Haute-Maurienne region of the French
Alps near the Italian border, are several
degrees short of ideal: 26˚Celsius, to be
exact. That’s right, it’s minus 26˚C, and
along with the whipping cold, birds of prey
circle overhead as our group makes its way
across a snowy field towards the sheer,
100
m-high cliff face. Usually I’d place
myself somewhere between six-year-olds
and soldiers in the bravery stakes, but today
“
Fear Ferrata” is living up to its nickname.
The basics are easy to grasp, if less so to
implement. Climbers wear a harness round
the waist, which they clip – twice – onto
the course’s safety cable. We’re also tied to
Régis, notwithstanding his newly mended
ankle. The idea is to attach, then reattach,
both clips as we progress, so there’s only a
few feet to fall. However, as I inch along tiny,
slippery rock ledges and up cumbersome
ladders, the intricacies become apparent.
Unclipping the safety rope while hanging
off a cliff isn’t just counter-intuitive, it’s
completely insane, and every second spent
holding your own body weight makes
moving upwards even harder. That’s the
thing about six-year-olds: they’re light.
They’re also fearless, a quality sorely
missing from the next exhilarating hour, as
I try not to panic, fall or look down. The
latter proves impossible on the course’s
cruellest obstacle, a ladder leaning out into
the valley that must be climbed looking
outwards into vertiginous white.
Somehow I reach the top, but with my
upper body strength sapped I fall twice
on the route back down, dangling on
my safety ropes as everyone talks to me
calmly. Frankly, I’m so tired I’m tempted
to remain hanging here. That’s the thing
about escaping soldiers, I think: they’re
very motivated. “So no one ever falls, eh?”
I ask Régis. “Well,” he says, pulling me up
by hand with ease, “not very far.”
From £20 per person with Régis Burnel.
+33 (0)6 7147 0718, regis.burnel.free.fr
V I A FERRATA
Words by Matt Glasby
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ILLUSTRATION: VALERO DOVAL/YCN
