Adventure travel company Dolomite Mountains is offering travelers of all climbing-ability levels — even complete beginners — the experience of climbing high Italian mountains using different Via Ferratas.
A Via Ferrata (or iron road) is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, ladders, and bridges. These aids allows otherwise isolated routes to be joined to create longer routes which are accessible to people with a wide range of climbing abilities. According to the adventure company, climbing using a Via Ferrata is a different way of enjoying the magnificence of the awesome Dolomite environment and travelers will be amazed by the views and mountain situations.
Many Via Ferratas were built to aid movements of alpine military units during the First World War, and now (although they also exist in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland, as well as other parts of Europe and elsewhere in the world) they represent one of the major attractions in the Dolomites. They are, in effect, a range of protected routes, comprised of fixed cables, ladders and gorge-spanning bridges, which aid ascent to places normally reserved for expert rock climbers. Routes are graded according to difficulty.
Via Ferrata climbing is suitable for everyone not afraid of heights who want to experience the Dolomites in a different way, accoding to the Dolomite Mountains adventure company. Cables and ladders aid even non-expert climbers to negotiate beautiful Via Ferratas. There are many Via Ferratas of different levels of graded difficulty, so each tourist can accomplish the route that best suits him or her.
The first Via Ferratas were built in the Dolomite Mountains of Italy during the First World War, to aid the movement of mountain infantry. While in several other regions Via Ferratas were built for tourism, those in the Dolomites are mostly of historical origin.
In addition to winning denomination as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009 because of their unique geology, appearance and history, the Dolomites in northeastern Italy are known as a winter-sports paradise and as a mecca for climbers of all skill levels in the summer because of their many Via Ferratas. These are high-level routes that feature cables, ladders and even bridges to help hikers and climbers make their way from mountain to mountain without having to descend to the valleys
Probably the most unusual Via Ferrata in the eastern part of the Dolomites is VF Lagazuoi Tunnels, according to the adventure company. Fighting for control of Mount Lagazuoi in World War I, Austrian and Italian troops built a series of tunnels through the mountains. The aim of each side was to tunnel close to the enemy and detonate explosives to destroy their fortifications. Some of the tunnels have been restored, with a Via Ferrata following the route of one of these tunnels. It is now possible to descend into the mountain by following the VF Lagazuoi Tunnels route.
“It is a different way of enjoying the sheer magnificence of this awesome mountain environment in which you will be stopped in your tracks by amazing views and mountain situations. You can experience the Via Ferrata even if you are new to it,” says Agustina Lagos Marmol, founder of the Dolomite Mountains adventure company.
“To make this fascinating ‘game’ even safer, we supply simple mountaineering equipment such as a harness, helmet, some rope and a few karabiners. Your guide will teach you how to use the equipment and give you hints on climbing techniques in complete security,” says Marmol. “Trips are adapted to clients’ abilities and our local guides will show not only the beauty of the mountains but the history of the area though the Via Ferrata as they were built during WWI.”
Around 1850, English mountaineers began to appear in the Ladin valleys in Italy. Their journeys took them several days on foot and their destinations were the imposing rock faces and peaks of the Dolomites. From 1870 onwards, train connections and large hotels attracted the nobility who, without exerting themselves too much, could restore themselves with the pure mountain air and the alpenglow.
The inhabitants of the Dolomite valleys found themselves at the service of the guests in various ways: as hotel personnel, as mountain guides and in other roles. Some of them soon started their own businesses and, around 1900, began to teach new winter sports to their guests. After 1945, tourism became the most important business sector in the Dolomites.
A tourist mecca, the Dolomites are known for skiing in the winter months (Cortina d’Ampezzo is one of the most famous ski resorts in the world) and mountain climbing, daily excursions, climbing and Base Jumping, as well as paragliding and hang gliding in summer and late spring/early autumn, according to Wikipedia. Free climbing has been a tradition in the Dolomites since 1887, when 17-year-old Georg Winkler soloed the first ascent of the pinnacle Die Vajoletturme, Wikipedia notes.
To learn more about the Dolomite Mountains adventure company and the adventures it offers, visit www.dolomitemountains.com or call (347) 826-6271.
For more information on the four areas in northeastern Italy through which the Dolomites extend, as well as on accommodations in these areas, go to www.visitdolomites.com and www.dolomiti.org. The latter site is the official tourism-authority site of the Dolomites in the Veneto region, which include Mount Lagazuoi and its several World War 1 museums.
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