Here at the Gearshack we are associated with The Trekking Company, and
have been teaching Via Ferrata on our Alps trips for the last 20 years.
History
Everyone says that via ferrata (correctly, via ferratae, but...) were
developed for moving troops, or guns, across the mountains in the First
World War. This may be partly true, but there is also much evidence that
mountaineers used cables to make things easier in Victorian times and
there were many sections around well before any troop movements.
Via Ferrata climb and traverse the easier sections of large faces in the
Alps and Dolomites, and are becoming popular in other areas. The cable
is bolted to the face at regular intervals, and you clip into the cable
using your via ferrata kit or 'lanyard'.
Routes
There are now hundreds of via ferrata, and it is important to stress
that they can be really easy but they can also be steep, scary and
difficult. Some require a lot of arm strength, and the exposure can be
really intimidating - so don't take beginners on hard routes, check out
your route in the guidebook, and start on easier via ferrata!
Why do I need a lanyard? Why not just use a sling?
Well here's the thing: British climbers always used to assume, 20 years
ago, that they could just use a sling or two for via ferrata. This is
dangerous for more than one reason, as slings are designed for general
climbing use whereas via ferrata can generate much more stressful falls
than climbing.
This is because of Fall Factors. The maximum fall factor in simple
theory during climbing is 2. (In fact this can be exceeded a bit, but
that's pedantic in this example). This is calculated by Length of Fall /
Length of Rope absorbing that fall = Fall Factor.
So in theory, you can fall from say 3 metres above your belay, fall
straight past your belayer and down another 3m = 6m, whereas the belayer
will only have paid out 3m of rope. 6m fall/3m rope paid out = FF of
2.0.
Here's a video explaining Fall Factors:
However, on a via ferrata you could be climbing a vertical section of
cable say 5m long. At the top you fall, and you have only 1 metre of
rope in your lanyard. You fall the 5m of the cable, plus the 1m of your
rope. Fall Factor? 6m/1m = 6.0! This is far greater than climbing falls,
and would simply break a straightforward 1m piece of rope.
So - Via Ferrata lanyards include a shock absorber to take up this
shock. The absorber should ensure that no more than 6kN of force reaches
your body, because that's the point at which you'd snap in half (or do
some serious internal damage).
Types of Lanyard
The first purpose built lanyards were
v-shaped - i.e. there was a
shock absorber in the middle, and you had a 1m rope coming our each
side. If one was pulled, the other half was slowed down as it was pulled
through the absorber. The problem with this was that if you clipped
both ropes, it didn't work - as nether half could be pulled through the
shock absorber. And the tendency was that people felt safer clipping two
halves (even though it was actually more dangerous).
So -
Y shaped lanyards. The shock absorber is above the harness,
and above that there are two lengths of rope - so you can clip one, or
both - it doesn't matter. See our
via ferrata lanyard page for current models.
Karabiners
You must use 'Klettersteig' karabiners with your lanyard. These have a
circle with a 'K' in like the K Mart symbol. These krabs have a larger
gate opening and a gate that automatically shuts. e careful with kids -
these krabs are big, and they can struggle to handle them. Typically
this could be the
Petzl Vertigo, for example.
More Information
There are various websites with more information about Via Ferrata - try:
The British Mountaineering Council's Info pages - Via Ferrata
The Petzl Sport Catalogue - This is a big document, but it has excellent diagrams every year - for Via Ferrata see pages 64-65