Klettersteig? Via Ferrata? Illegal.

Many days ago...
(sorry I'm late at writing this...)
These two wonderful people, Katie Scales and Alex Newcombe,
used their days off to take two bright eyed little vollies,
Me and Cate O'Donnell on this little adventure called Klettersteiging.

Klettersteig is the German word for it,
the rest of the world calls it Via Ferrata,
while America calls it... illegal.


A via ferrata (Italian for "iron road") or klettersteig (German for "climbing path") is a mountain route which is equipped with fixed cables, staples, ladders and bridges.
(and that kids was copied straight off Wikipedia!)
So basically, it's like hiking, 
but A MILLION TIMES COOLER!!!


You're strapped into harnesses, 
and you've got clips and hooks that keep you completely safe.
You also wear a helmet, just for those rouge rocks.
It's honestly the safest I've ever felt on a mountain.


And, even from someone who doesn't like hiking that much
(yes, I know I VOLUNTEERED to live in Switzerland and lead hikes...)
It's still a really fun activity, 
because it's pretty slow going.


So basically, to sum up Cate and I's Klettersteiging day,
We did the entire Klettersteig in about 3ish hours,
with Katie in front and Alex in back,
just to make sure we were safe.
It felt just like mummy and daddy were keeping us safe.
And I was pretty grateful to have experienced people along on the journey.


So once back at the Chalet,
and realizing how much I enjoyed this new activity,
I thought of how much I wanted to take my friends back at home,
maybe we could find some somewhere and take a long weekend road trip,
who knows?


Much to my dismay, 
as I googled them in the good ole US of A,
I found out...
THEY'RE ILLEGAL...
Permanent climbing wires,
such as the one's used on a Via Ferrata, or Klettersteig course,
are illegal in America.
There are only 4 Klettersteigs in the USA,
and they were built before the law was in place.


So basically this just means... I have four new places to visit.


Also, while Klettersteiging,
we saw the famous flower of Edelweiss,
I would like to take this time to publicly apologize to Katie Scales for calling her ALL TIME FAVORITE flower ugly...
it's not ugly, 
it's just different,
and beautiful in it's own way.

Katie and I on the Klettersteig

Bright-eyed and bushy tailed Vollies pretending to do the Lion King at the top of the Klettersteig.

Our fearless mum and daddy, Katie Scales and Alex Newcombe.
Love you guys!