Ouray Via Ferrata - Everything You Need to Know! - Ouray, Colorado

We love Via Ferrata, especially the free routes. So when we found out that Colorado has two awesome places to do Via Ferrata, being Telluride and Ouray, we had to make the trip. Ouray's Via Ferrata's are considered to be more physically challenging than Telluride, and they also have some unique obstacles like cable bridges, rope ladders, an overhanging helix ladder, and a vertical sky climb. Even though this Via Ferrata is free to do, you are required to have the proper gear. There are a lot of vertical sections here, so the climbing rope lanyards that we had brought for Telluride weren't going to cut it. Luckily Base Camp Ouray has some Camp Kinetic lanyards to rent, and they even gave us some tips for success. With that, we headed out to begin our adventure. If this video inspires you to head up to Colorado and do this for yourself, just know that this Via Ferrata is open from May to October, and runs daily from 8 a.m to 4 p.m. We ended up parking at the bottom of the hill to begin our approach. There is much closer parking, but it was pretty packed by the time we got there. They did a really great job with all the signage, and you should start to see some yellow signs telling you where to go to get to the beginning of the Via Ferrata. And as we crossed the bridge, we got our first look at the course and the infamous sky climb, which you'll see in a little bit. Almost immediately after crossing the bridge, you should spot another yellow sign, and this is where you will begin the hike in. The whole Uncompahgre Gorge area is absolutely beautiful. Be sure to take the time to soak in the peace and serenity, because you're about to do something pretty intense. The hike in is fairly simple, and along the way you'll find one last sign to remind you of all the things that you need to have for this adventure. And it's not just suggested, there are actually rangers at the beginning of the Via Ferrata to make sure that you have everything. The downstream route that we will be doing in this video is rated a 4B on the Fletcher Smith Italian Via Ferrata rating scale. So this is quite a bit more challenging than Telluride, which is only rated a 2B. After crossing over a small bridge, we headed down a path to a spot where we were greeted by two rangers that could not have been nicer. They checked our gear to make sure that we had everything covered and gave us a small overview of the course, and then it was time to get started. Just a small heads up, we actually ended up running the downstream route twice this day, so you're going to see a mix of clips from both runs. Right out of the gate, you're going to be dropping down a somewhat technical rocky face. There are no rungs here, so some rock climbing experience will definitely come in handy. This is a great way to kick things off, and it also leads us into one of our favorite parts of the Via Ferrata, which is this rope bridge that crosses over the waterfall. The designers of this course really did a fantastic job, and they made this equal parts fun and challenging. This rope bridge is right around 35 feet long, and if you're looking for a solid photo op, this place is full of them, but this is definitely one of the good ones. After leaving the rope bridge, you will be dropped right into the Mars Wall. It gets its name from the fact that its rocks are all bumpy and red, kind of like the surface of Mars. This is one of the first traverses that you'll encounter on the route. This section is pretty long, and it's going to take a decent amount of strength and endurance to get through it. If this is your first time experiencing a Via Ferrata, here are a couple of tips that will help you come out on top. Always make sure that at least one of your carabiners is attached to the cable whenever there is one available. Never unclip both carabiners at the same time, because that's how accidents happen. Whenever possible, it is a good idea to put the carabiners facing in opposite directions, so you'll have one facing forward and one facing back. That way, if you somehow bump one and knock it off, the other one should still be attached. And the last carabiner tip is to keep track of where they are on the cable. Sometimes it gets real easy to be distracted with what you're doing on the rungs, and you won't realize that you've passed a hanger and your carabiners are stuck a couple feet behind you. This just means that you're gonna have to climb back and then move them over, and that's going to be wasting precious energy. We have now made it past the Mars wall, and we are on our way towards the next obstacle, which is called the Stairway to Heaven. As the sign says, you only want to have one climber per cable section here, and it might not even be a bad idea to give them more space. That way, if someone falls, they're not gonna land on the person below them. The name Stairway to Heaven is quite fitting for this obstacle. This is a very long sustained vertical climb. As I mentioned before, it's really important to keep track of your lanyards and carabiners, and that goes double for vertical climbs. One of the tips that we got from the rangers was to drape the lanyards over one arm, like you can see on doing right here. That will ensure that the carabiners slide up the cable with you, and you hopefully don't leave them down below any of the hangers. You really don't want to have to climb back down to get them on the vertical sections. And it's always a great idea to clip into the next cable section as soon as possible. That way, if you slip, you'll be minimizing the distance of your fall. If you find yourself in a pinch and you desperately need to take a break, you can also use the ladder rungs as a temporary clipping point. Once you finish the Stairway to Heaven, you're going to get a nice little break, which is much needed because your arms are going to be toast. Fun fact, they used over 4,000 feet of steel cable to create the downstream route of the Via Ferrata. That couldn't have been cheap, and with that in mind, it's amazing that this is free to do. If you want to help make sure that it stays free, you can always make a donation to the Jura Via Ferrata. We'll have a link to their donation page in the description below. There are so many picturesque views along the route, and it made me really wish that I would have brought my Sony cameras. These aren't really expensive camera-friendly types of conditions, but man, I bet we could have taken some really cool pictures. I might just have to chance it on one of our next runs in the hopefully not too distant future. If you are not having an absolute blast by this point, which we totally were, there are two bailout points along the route, and the first one is right here. You are going to have to climb some rungs to get out, and there is no shame in taking this. There's no way that you could have talked any of us into quitting early, but it's nice to know that the option exists. Immediately after passing the first bailout point, you will be at a feature known as The Arrowhead. This is another steep, near vertical climb, and once you get up towards the top, you're going to be wrapping around to the other side of it. Once you round the corner, you will start descending again, but before you do, be sure to check out the cool little man-made waterfall on the other side of the gorge first. Over the course of the descent, you will be climbing almost all the way back down to the river. The good thing is that it seemed like all of the rungs were really well placed here, and it didn't seem too reachy, even for the shorter members in our group. Almost as soon as you reach the bottom of the descent, you're going to get right back into climbing up again. One thing is for sure, this is one heck of a workout, and it's hard to believe that all of this occurs over the course of just three quarters of a mile. Compared to some of the other climbs you've already done at this point, this one isn't that bad. There are a couple of ledges that you can stand on if you need a break, and it's nowhere near as tall as the stairway to heaven. After finishing the climb, you're going to be shimmying your way down this narrow railing before you reach the bottom, where you'll be back on wider trails. There aren't really any named features on this part of the route. Things kind of mellow out for just a second. You're just going to be going up and down small climbs and descents. And of course, by calm, I just mean in relation to some of the other moments that you'll experience along this Via Ferrata. Even though the Via Ferrata here is only open in the summertime, did you know that this gorge is used for recreation year-round? In the wintertime, they do ice climbing here, which sounds incredible and we might have to make a run out to try that sometime. If all the climbing has worn you out at this point, you are in luck because you have reached the second early bailout point. Continuing on from here means you will have to see it through all the way to the end, and you will either have to climb the sky ladder or do the infamous sky climb. The good thing is that if you plan on taking on the sky climb, you are done with all of the large vertical climbs until you get there, so you're going to get a little bit of a break. One thing that you definitely need to keep in mind if you plan on doing this is the weather. Conditions can change really fast here. In fact, it rained a little bit in the morning on the day we went, and then it rained again between the two runs. The rangers actually had us wait at the gate for the weather to clear up before we went out on our second run because they didn't want us out on the course if there was a chance of lightning. This route should take you somewhere between two to three and a half hours to complete, and as you round one more corner, you should get a look at the bridge that you came in on, which is pretty much the finish line. Not only that, but you'll get your first look at the sky climb, which is pretty Since we did this route twice, we got to do both exits. That was pretty cool because not only did we get to experience them, but we got to get some video of them as well. One thing that I didn't get a chance to mention earlier is that if your group is trying to pass another group, or if you're trying to let someone by, please only do it in areas marked by a sign like this one. Since a lot of people will probably be taking the sky ladder option for the exit, I figure I will show that one first. After that, we'll come back for that nasty little sky climb. I will say that I kind of underestimated the sky ladder. I was kind of expecting it to be a little bit more rigid, but there was a little bit of bounce to it. When you mix that with trying to accurately place your feet on the narrow ladder rungs, it made for a pretty fun and exciting experience. You will also get to enjoy the view here a little bit more because you're not putting all of your effort into climbing the wall. Speaking of climbing the wall, it is time to talk about that sky climb. This is the biggest Via Ferrata challenge that V and I have experienced to date. Coming in at a towering 120 feet tall with some overhang sections, this is a beast. This will put you to the test not only physically, but mentally as well. We would probably not even recommend trying this unless you're either a rock climber or have some serious upper body strength. Even if you have the strength, you need technique here as well. There are only two points in the climb where you can get any sort of break at all, and one of them is right here. The platform isn't very wide at all, but it's just enough to stand on and shake your hands out for a second. After that, it's right back to work because you still have quite a ways to go. After climbing for another what feels like a small eternity, you will be reaching the second rest point. The good thing is that the rock is a little bit more curved on this one, so you can lean on it and give yourself a really nice break before finishing this climb. You will swear that you have climbed Mount Everest by the time you get to the top of the sky climb, and man what a rush it was. We were so excited to see that we had made it, and after a small break, we had to climb all the way back down. This down climb is a little bit challenging just because it's probably about 120 feet tall as well, but it is much easier going down than up. After a nice long down climb, you'll come to a narrow path where the sky climb and the sky ladder meet back up. If you did the ladder, you'd be climbing up to the pathway like the girls are here. The hardest parts of this route are now officially over, but you cannot consider it done just yet. You still have two more traverses and one tiny climb before you can head into town and grab a victory beverage. The grand finale on this one is pretty cool because you'll be making your way underneath the bridge. There's a good chance you might even have some spectators. I can't tell if they're admiring us or thinking that we're crazy. And here we are at that last traverse. It's not technical or difficult, but by the end of our second run fatigue had definitely set in. With all of the fun that we had on the downstream route, we can only imagine the action that they have packed into the upstream route. We were so ready to give it a go, but with the crazy weather, we just unfortunately ran out of time. Well, it looks like it gives us a good excuse to go back. There was one funny moment at the end of our first run. V and I both saw the cable go up and over the gate, so we figured, well, after everything they've put us through so far, I guess we just have to climb over. It wasn't until An pointed it out that we realized that we could have just opened the door. But hey, I'd rather make a silly mistake on the gate rather than the sky climb. One last nice thing about this Via Ferrata is that if you parked in the lower lot like we did, after you finish up, it is a nice and easy downhill walk all the way back to the car. And you can tell that An was happy about that. We'd like to send a huge thank you out to everyone that built and maintains the Eurave Via Ferrata. Thank you for such an awesome experience. If you enjoyed this video, be sure to like it and subscribe so you don't miss out on any upcoming adventures. And for all the information about the Eurave Via Ferrata, as well as other awesome adventures, head on over to thatadventurelife.com