Via Feratta

Everest no longer beckons quite so powerfully. I may even have reached a bit of a plateau in my mountaineering abilities. But if, in these recession-hit times, you are looking for a cheaper thrill than a trek to Nepal, look no further than the Honister Pass on the way to Buttermere in the English Lakes. There, at what is once again a working slate mine, is Britain‘s first Via Ferrata. After all, £35 for three hours of terror is very reasonable, isn‘t it? Don‘t be kidded, though, by the official claim that Via Ferrata ―is physically de-manding and challenging but does not require a high level of body strength.‖ I remembered reading that as I gasped and trembled my way up metal ladder-type rungs on an overhanging rock face with visions of said strength running out and being left to dangle there by my safety harness until the RAF winch man arrived. As a fairly experienced hill walker in these parts (Jacks Rake, Striding Edge, Sharp Edge) I was taken aback by just how demanding this tourist‘s experience was. Chance found me first in the group behind the fittest of young men who was our guide. That is, until we reached one moment of difficult descent when I confess I stood back and let my daughter show the way. The zip wire, despite my expression above, is, in fact the most straightforward of the hazards, mainly because you don‘t get a lot of choice once launched into the abyss. You end at the top of Fleetwith Pike, one more of Wainwright‘s fells conquered in a way he could never have imagined (and probably would have disapproved of.) But he would have approved of the renaissance of this slate mine which even got a mention from Worsdworth. Apparently, they do this kind of thing all over the Dolomites in Italy but that is in the Eurozone and, judging by the jams on the road back through Keswick, we weren‘t the only ones enjoying domestic pleasures this August.

My knuckles are raw and parts of my body still ache 24 hours after the experience but I have to say—modestly, of course, I think I‘m a bit of a hero on the quiet!

This entry was posted on 23/08/2009 at 10:07 pm and is filed under Outdoors. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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