Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
Josh Nash
Social climber
riverbank ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - May 29, 2009 - 01:11pm PT
|
I was recently browsing through my bd catalog.(Rock and Ice....lots of catalogs still no stickers.)I came across this product:
Asking myself"WTF"?
Thinking it an abboration I received a petzl catalog with this:
Is there a demand for via feratta gear? Is it enough to go into a production line?
I know of only one route in America and that's Half Dome. Are they all over Europe or something?
|
|
Rhodo-Router
Gym climber
a greasy pinscar near you
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:19pm PT
|
"aberration"
My inner grammar/spelling Nazi just couldn't let this one go.
|
|
Josh Nash
Social climber
riverbank ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2009 - 01:22pm PT
|
holy cow.......I suck without spell check......someone should tell them to add that feature.
|
|
Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:24pm PT
|
"aberration" My inner grammar/spelling Nazi just couldn't let this one go
Yes, but what if it's an abhorrent aberration? Wouldn't "abboration" then be the perfect word?
Edit to add: I think there's a via feratta at Red River Gorge.
|
|
wildone
climber
GHOST TOWN
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:25pm PT
|
Not sure about demand specifically to via ferratas, but those "fall arrest" systems are used by hundreds of thousands of people a day in industry. I see about a thousand sets a day at the refinery I work at...
|
|
Josh Nash
Social climber
riverbank ca
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 29, 2009 - 01:32pm PT
|
I know about the industrial usage. The industrial versions include a chest and seat harness integrated. I was just wondering if there was a lot of routes somewhere to justify a product line? That picture of China made me laugh and shudder all at once.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:36pm PT
|
I'd pick one up for the next time I go to four stories, behind Reynold's hill.
|
|
Greg Barnes
climber
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:39pm PT
|
There are tons in Europe, particularly the Dolomites, where they were invented for warfare (WWI I think - don't know if there were earlier ones). All sorts of stories about tunneling under enemy positions to blow them up, etc. Newer ones are around in various places, there's one in Leysin, Switzerland. Supposedly a few on private land in the US?
|
|
blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:51pm PT
|
Was saying they are illegal in Europe some sort of weird joke (that I don't get), or has the law changed since 2007 when I was in Dolomites and saw hordes of Euros crawling over the Via Ferratas (iron roads)? They are sometimes used to access technical climbs. I just used slings and biners instead of the proper equipment, but as anyone who knows anything about it will tell you, that is likely a death set-up if you fall (I wasn't planning on falling). Like any climb, some VF are easier than others, and I was on a tame one (at least tame by the standards of a not-totally-incompetent rock climber).
|
|
klk
Trad climber
cali
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:52pm PT
|
one of the most popular mountain activities in the alps. even if you don't seek them out, they are frequently used as approaches to technical climbs.
greg is right about the origins: ww1 in the dolomites was wild, and the competing armies built elaborate fortifications, tunnels, paths, and climbing routes all over that end of the range.
they started to become a popular destination activity later, in the 1950s or so.
|
|
Karen
Trad climber
So Cal urban sprawl Hell
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 01:54pm PT
|
Wow, finally a traverse I wouldn't mind doing......!
|
|
noshoesnoshirt
climber
dangling off a wind turbine in a town near you
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 02:12pm PT
|
Looks a lot like my industrial gear.
100% lanyard, AKA Personal Arrest System, AKA lobster claws.
|
|
Erik Christensen
Boulder climber
Bozeman, MT
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 02:45pm PT
|
I think the BD version is mostly meant for the Euro market.
|
|
slobmonster
Trad climber
berkeley, ca
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 03:00pm PT
|
Fun as heck! Certainly not "climbing" in the (i.e. our) traditional sense, but just wicked fun. Great exposure, quick enough to be aerobic. Went up the VF on Tour de Ai in Leysin, it was a ball.
|
|
Riotch
Trad climber
Kayenta, Arizona
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 03:04pm PT
|
Oh god!
Can we PLEASE, keep this in Europe.
Please!
|
|
Argon
climber
North Bay, CA
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 03:07pm PT
|
I know that things like via ferratas, telepheriques, and huts (let alone bolts) are anti-American or at least against the wilderness ethic held by many here - but it sure would be cool if we had just a few via ferratas on some major faces. Why not let other segments of the population enjoy some thrills and exposure? The Half Dome cable route shows how popular this would be.
|
|
hagerty
Social climber
A Sandy Area South of a Salty Lake
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 03:08pm PT
|
There is a Via Ferrata in Ogden, UT.
http://www.ogdenhub.com/sections/climb/via-ferrata/
There are several sorta-VFs in Acadia NP in Maine and a pair in Zion NP. ("Sorta" in the sense that there are iron rungs, ladders, and chains in the rock, but fall-arrest systems like those from BD and Pretzl aren't required except, perhaps, for the grossly incompetent, who wouldn't do those routes in the first place.)
|
|
Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
|
|
|
May 29, 2009 - 03:50pm PT
|
I've only done the practise wall in Waterfalls Canyon, back of Ogden...
Seen the one at Torrent Falls at the Red. Also one in Nelson Rocks, near Seneca back in WV. Fatality there awhile back. That might limit their construction more'n anything in the US.
Rumor to be one in the works near Jackson Hole ski resort?
They are HUGELY popular in Europe. Even in places where they aren't historically based. In France, there's a bunch of "adventure" type parks with ropes courses and the like and seems like there's always a via ferrata component to them. Most tourist offices in the mountains in France have free literature on them. Apparently on the radar over there as contributing to the local economy (ie, very good for tourism). Not without controversy, I'd think.
I've only done a couple in Europe. Fun one that starts practically at ground level in Grenoble. Then a historical one on the Tofana outside Cortina. Nice rest day or rainy day diversions. The one at Grenoble is "set" quite well, and, the movement simulates rock climbing for sure (really well done, actually).
-Brian in SLC
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!