i’mamountaineer

For acclimatization before attempts on 4000m peaks in the Saastal, the group made the way up the Hohsaas lift to Kreuzboden at 2400m and then along a trail to the North East to the foot of the Jegihorn (3206m). By this time we’d already spotted the summit cross and the high wire that offered a means of getting from the face we’d climb, over to the highest point of the mountain.

Wire crossing from 3/4 way up the Jegihorn via ferrata

The route begins at around 2800m and starts steadily with little more than exposed walking, which helped get quickly used to the idea of using the lanyards. Lanyards for those who’ve never used or heard of them are basically two carabiners on cord that attach through your harness and clip onto to the cable. Using the system soon becomes second nature, with the cord moving up the route alongside you and then when you reach a bolt, unclipping the top carabiner and moving it beyond the bolt, then doing the same with the lower, meaning you’re always attached, simple/effective = good.

My first reaction to the route was to use rock and only use the cable for clipping in, but as the rock became more rotten and loose I switched to making use of the cable for the majority of the time, as dictated by our guide “stop messing about with the rock and use the cable” (it may have been more bluntly put than that). With other people on route it’s sensible when the rock is loose to make full use of the cable but some advice, consider how your hands will cope with pulling on a cable for a couple of hours, particularly in this case if the weather is very hot and you’re sweating. If in doubt take thin durable gloves!

My hands suffered through over use of the cable

The cable runs almost the entire route and for the majority you’d be wise to stay clipped in given the seriousness of a slip on the terrain. There’s variety thrown in when you reach points where ladders, metal rungs and other attachments provide means of ascending. The exposure didn’t really bother me but there was one particular section that is as close to “knife edge” as I’ve encountered that took me back a little, but it’s nothing overly tricky. Over half way through the route, our group not possessing much climbing experience avoided the rope wire crossing option as it leads to a section more akin to a rock climb, instead opting for a drop down to a continuation of the scrambling with a “fun” part of steep rock that you needed to make use of small footholds and lean back whilst holding the cable to shimmy across.

“Fun” on the Jegihorn

Being my first via ferrata and unsure what grade it is (and how the VF grading works), I can only really compare it to scrambling I’ve done previously. Having spent quite a lot of time scrambling recently (on almost exclusively UK grade 1 routes) and starting to wall climb, I found myself really comfortable for the majority of the route apart from when I opted for the wrong move and made it more tricky than it should’ve been. The exposure didn’t bother me but there were times when it was quite airy. We all wore our large insulated boots for the route which were fine. Having said that, in summer conditions it would’ve made more sense to wear a lighter and not quite so warm boot if the option was available.

In terms of acclimatising it would’ve been perfect, had I not tried to get away with 1 litre of water and ended up feeling horribly dehydrated, which made the descent unpleasant over loose rock.

Jegihorn summit looking out toward the Mischabel chain

Overall, I really enjoyed trying out via ferrata, but in a funny way I felt it was potentially more dangerous than normal scrambling, as the attachment to the cable gave a feeling of safety that’s a bit false, as you’re still falling over rock if you slip! Still once you’re into moving with the cable it can speed up the ascent and the attachments provide interest and variety in the route. Definitely something I’m keen to try out again and a good way of experiencing fantastic routes and even more exposure than you’d normally be comfortable with.