Summer on the A-Basin East Wall
Wondering what to do with yourself during Angry August? Well, skiers, we’ve got news for you: Ski areas can be fun during the sweaty months too.
Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin has been expanding its summer playground in recent years. We’re talking more mountain bike trails, a Class V disc golf course, and its crown jewel: North America’s highest-elevation via ferrata, located on the East Wall. (Editor’s Note: Yes, they still serve those bacon bloody marys during summer.)
Our friends at A-Basin invited our staff to come check out the via ferrata this summer. Maybe we’re just bored skiers, or maybe we’ve been itching to sample A-Basin’s latest project—but either way, the sign-up sheet filled instantly.
Here’s what we learned:
What is via ferrata?
Via ferrata—like skiing—originated in Europe as a practical means. Trace its roots to World War I, when it served as a way for soldiers in the Italian Dolomites to access strategic high-elevation positions. Following the second World War, the cables and rungs along a slew of routes began attracting climbers for recreation. By the 1990s, via ferrata had become a full-blown mountain activity in its own right.
Today, you can find recreational via ferrata throughout the Alps and Dolomites and other parts of Europe. Canada, too, where winter-first operations like CMH build via ferrata into summer programming. Here in Colorado, routes dot cliffsides in Ouray, Telluride, Manitou Springs, the Royal Gorge. And now it’s reached the Continental Divide.
The skinny: Via ferrata involves ascending a route on a fixed cable using ladders, rungs, steps, and bridges. It’s one-part high-ropes course, one-part climbing, and one-part adult jungle gym.
Not rock climbing
Good news for non-rock-climbers: Via ferrata is its own thing.
While it does involve scaling vertical faces (in fact, A-Basin’s route stands out for being more straight-up than many others), via ferrata feels different than rock climbing. The pre-placed rungs, steps, and the cable give you holds you can always count on, and there’s no need to carry a rack of bits and biners around your waist. A harness with a straightforward via ferrata device does the trick.
Most, if not all, North American via ferrata routes are guided. But the climber is responsible for moving along the cable and clipping/re-clipping the carabiners around bolts and onto new sections of cable. So while it’s not as, say, organic as top-roping, you’re still doing all the climbing yourself.
Re-live A-Basin’s most epic opening day yet.
The appeal
True to form for Arapahoe Basin, the route blasts pretty much straight up the East Wall. You won’t find the the bridges, catwalks, and two-by-four ladders present on lots of other routes. It’s just a raw mountain ascent of around 1,200 feet (800 of which is vertical climbing). You pass a mine, kiss the lichen, get chirped by marmots, and climb to near 13,000 feet. Quintessential Colorado!
Our crew of skiers (some with climbing experience, some without) loved the route for its universal appeal. As long as you don’t come with a fear of heights, via ferrata feels accessible enough for casual hiker types while still being plenty engaging for adrenaline junkies.
Learn more, and book your tour, here.
