Via ferrata (Klettersteig) adventures

During the summer we had a few weekends "empty" without anything planned.

Obviously we couldn't leave it that way, so we had two unforgettable last-minute-planned via ferratas (if you don't know what that is you haven't really paid attention to our blog...)

Since we were already confident in our skills after a few climbs, we decided to climb a K4 difficulty, 700m high wall, the amazing Fürenwand:

From Engelberg, the eldorado of via ferrata

As the photos taken show, it was quite a challenging climb, most of it being one vertical wall:

From Engelberg, the eldorado of via ferrata

while just so that we don't get bored during an easy climb, mother nature decided to treat us with some water effects:



as we climbed higher and higher the view down below got scarier and scarier
and just before reaching the top, the route had another great surprise, a pretty high and pretty swinging ladder


However, the joy of the last steps to the top:


and the view made up for our efforts:


And finally, as a surprise present, we were rewarded with an amazing lake or rather pond (unfortunately it was too cold to take a plunge):


which offered us one of the best photo spots ever:



The next of those blank calendar weekends, we went for a climb of  only "K3 -K4" difficulty that was supposed to be "like a walk in the park" compared to the previous climb...well it wasn't a walk in the park (but more on that later).

So this climb was inbetween two "branches" of the Steingletscher (black rock in the middle):

From Steingletscher

The overall climb was again about 700m in altitude split into:

• an "easy" K3 section:

with views on the western "branch" of the Steingletscher:

• a middle section of a short walk towards the eastern branch of the Steingletscher, 

where Krisztina decided to take matters -sorry mountains - into her own hands - sorry between her legs:

• and a surprisingly technical K4 section:

But the big surprise awaited us on top of the climb: the Steingletscher in all its beauty:



Some lucky bastards were lucky enough to have a place to sleep overnight (on the left side of the photo):


but not us, we had a painful descent ahead of us...one of those spots down there being our car we had to get to:



and this was the part we underestimated a bit, as the descent was almost as difficult - at least for our knees - as the climb.
But overall it was just another wonderful day in the alps.... highly recommend to everyone.

The two albums:

Fürenwand:

Steingletscher: