More on Via Ferrata (an optional adventure)
What activity combines all the best parts of climbing, hiking, and scrambling? Plus allows you to ascend an 800-foot vertical cliff AND doesn’t require any specialized climbing skills? Enter Squaw Valley’s newest outdoor activity, the Tahoe Via Ferrata! Now, for the first time, participants can explore the previously inaccessible terrain of Tram Face, high above Olympic Valley’s floor.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Think of Tahoe Via Ferrata as an assisted climbing activity. It transforms once complex and impassible terrain into a fun and accessible course. We’ve equipped the rock with ladder rungs, steel steps, and suspension bridges to allow climbers to move through challenging terrain. Each route also has a steel cable anchored into the rock which runs up the entire route from start to finish. Each participant is issued a harness with a specialized lanyard that attaches to the cable. This system achieves two goals. First of all, it ensures that participants are connected to the rock 100% of the time. Secondly, it makes climbing a big cliff accessible to people with no prior climbing experience.
WHO CAN CLIMB THE TAHOE VIA?
The Tahoe Via Ferrata is appropriate for all skill levels from first-time climbers to experienced alpinists. We welcome families, groups, and individuals. Although the experience doesn’t require specialized mountaineering skills, it’s important to have general physical fitness before joining us for a climb. You should be able to hike continuously for one or more hours, depending on the length of your climbing session.
Please note, due to safety requirements, climbers must be at least 10 years old and 3’11” to climb. Our safety equipment is rated for climbers 88lbs to 264lbs.
A QUICK HISTORY OF VIA FERRATA
Via Ferrata may be new to Tahoe, but its origins are actually quite old! Via Ferrata, Italian for “iron way,” originated during the first and second World Wars. In order to aid troops in crossing the high peaks and passes of the Alps, the rock was retrofitted with steel ladder rungs and cables. The steel “aids” made the challenging terrain accessible to soldiers with no prior climbing experience. After the wars, nobody bothered to remove the leftover hardware from the rock and eventually recreationists began climbing the old routes for fun. Just like that, a new sport was born!