The hard way up

Now how long have I been thinking about doing the via ferrata in Funäsdalen? No more! I figured, how hard can it be, they send up tourists in wholesale without prior climbing experience and no rope teams and no guides… I’ve done a via ferrata in the Alps, this should be a piece a cake!

So I’m there in the first nearly vertical spot .. and I’m stuck. I got up a little bit but I can’t go back down, and I just can’t find a way up. And my boots are sliding on the cliff face. And there are people waiting below. Shit. Stop, think, grab, step, push and pull – and I got up!

There were a couple of other places where I needed to stop for a very long time to figure out how to do it. It doesn’t have to be a long vertical wall, just long enough so I can’t get my short inflexible legs up on the next good step, and I need to spend a while figuring it out. I had four people coming behind me at first but I had to let them pass me quite early, I just didn’t like to keep them waiting. And then I was all alone. If I got into trouble, I had to solve the problem myself. Because that’s what it really is – problem solving. I just need some time to find the solution and once I find it, stop thinking and just do it.

And I did it!

For every technical passage, there’s an easy option to go around so if you don’t like the look of the wall, you can chicken out (which I didn’t do!). But once you start to go up the passage, there’s no going back again, so you can’t change your mind half way. Only the very last bit on top is obligatory for all climbers but technically it’s no so hard, the issue could be the height instead. Until that spot, I don’t think the climbing was that challenging even if you have a fear of heights. But when you get to that last wall… it’s a long way down!

I’m extremely pleased with myself for having done it, especially when I solved the passages where I was close to getting stuck. And I did this all without help, nobody telling me where to step or grip and nobody to pull me up. The via ferrata in the Alps was truly a confidence booster, there’s no way I could have done this alone without that experience in the bag. In fact, I would never even have attempted this alone without that experience!

via ferrata
One of the technical passages. It’s a long way down to the village, but the passage itself wasn’t that high. Although it’s still steep where I sit – you can see the safeties hanging down.
Funäsdalsberget
There is of course an easier way up – the gondola! The people who passed me are now on the last wall just below the flags.
the last wall
And this is the last wall. What you can’t see here is the nothingness on the left.
straight drop
About halfway up on the last wall, that’s a straight drop to the grey rocks below. But I’m very close to the celebratory waffle now! 🙂

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