We got up to another gorgeous day in our sleepy little valley. We tossed around a few ideas about what to do, finally deciding that today was the day that we would tackle the Murren Via Ferrata. When we were here last year we managed to do the one on the Rotstock, but we ran out of time and never got to do the Murren one. I'd read some reviews and seen a few pictures, so we knew that we wanted to give it a go.
After breakfast we loaded our packs with our gear and headed to the cable car station in Latuerbrunnen for the short trip up to Grutschalp. From there we hiked along the Mountain View trail to the town of Murren. It's a very easy hike, but the views are stunning.
After arriving in Murren we stopped for a few pics and then made our way quickly to the start of the Via Ferrata. We had checked out the starting point last year so, although it's a little hidden, we had no problems finding it. As we approached the start point we ran into a friend who was in the same spot last year...
The nice thing about Via Ferratas in Europe is that you don't normally have to pay unless you want to go with a guided group. They are quite common here, and as long as you have the right gear, you can do them free of charge. All I can say is that this particular Via Ferrata was AWESOME! I would have paid to do it, and would gladly do so again......Jo is still pondering, lol.
At the start point we geared up in our climbing harnesses, Via Ferrata slings and helmets, clipped in and started down the trail. I set up my GoPro camera on my helmet to take pics every 5 seconds....unfortunately something dripped onto the lens about 5 minutes in so a number of shots have a spot that appears to be out of focus on them, but there are enough good ones to give you a sense of what it was like.
The start of it was pretty easy, just a walk down a steep trail
But we could see the valley through the trees below, so we knew that the terrain was about to change. It wasn't long and we were going almost straight down a series of steps, basically pieces of re-bar that were drilled into the rock to act as steps.....here is a shot looking down past my feet
Here is Jo starting down a small vertical section......with the stupid drop of something on the lens
This was a neat little section where we descended a bit and then went past a cave in the rock face. If you look to the left you get a bit of a teaser of what is to come, that is the valley floor below.
We continued to descend, passing more caves in the rock face, but knowing that we were getting closer to the edge the whole time
At one point we came across a platform used by BASE jumpers....it was literally suspended out over the abyss. I stepped out on it for a look down.....WAY down. At this point we knew that we were close....
The next section was unfreakinbelieveable.....we had to traverse a series of iron rungs that were drilled into the shear face of the cliff. It was a straight drop to the valley floor.....600 meters below. For reference purposes, the very top of the CN tower is 553 meters, and the observation deck is only about two thirds of the way up.....so imagine this.......you're one and a half times as high as the CN tower, standing over open air on a one inch piece of re-bar, clipped into a half inch piece of steel wire rope, with nothing else to hold onto. Can you spell adrenaline! Here are a few of the many shots.....the drop on the lens is a real bummer, but you can still get a pretty good persepctive
We made it back from the abyss and then were treated to a nice trail walk before we encountered our next challenge. We had to cross a small gorge carved by one of the many waterfalls in the valley, the only way across was a wire tightrope, with two other wires to clip into/hang onto
The next challenge was a series of vertical ladders....again, into the abyss. We had to go down them
A few more technical sections, and a few nice easy ones, and then our last challenge......a Nepalese bridge that was suspended across a wide chasm, over 500 meters up from the valley floor. It had metal platforms to walk on, but only a single wire to clip into.
When we were part way across, one of the gondolas passed us....I waved, I think they thought we were mental
After crossing the bridge it was a short and easy walk up to the exit point. It took us about two and a half hours to complete, the sign said that the average time is about three hours, so we were pretty happy with that. For the record, Jo was a real tropper and didn't complain once, although she did admit to being a wee bit scared several times.
The rest of the day was pretty anticlimatic after that. We hiked back up to Murren and had a picnic lunch, returned to our town for a nap, and then had dinner before calling it a day. Then it was off to sleep to dream about hanging from high places......
