Via ferrata

A via ferrata sits between hiking and climbing, and the kit reflects that: you need a harness and a helmet, but you’re moving on your own two feet most of the time, clipped to a cable rather than tied to a rope. The list above is my general-purpose setup — check the specific route’s length and grade and adjust.

A few principles:

• The lanyard is not optional, and neither is its expiry date. A via ferrata set with a proper shock absorber (EN 958) is what turns a fall onto the cable from a broken back into a hard yank. Sets are rated for a fixed number of years from manufacture — check yours, and never improvise one from slings and carabiners.
• Gloves save your hands, not your ego. Steel cable gets sharp with wear, hot in the sun, and rough on skin after a few hundred metres of holding on. A reinforced palm is worth more than looking sporty without them.
• The helmet is for other people’s mistakes. On a popular route, rockfall dislodged by the party above you is a bigger risk than a fall of your own. Wear it from the first rung to the last, even on routes rated easy.
• Stay clipped in, always. Move one carabiner past an anchor point at a time — never unclip both together to save a few seconds. It’s the one habit that turns a slip into a non-event.
• Match the grade to your ability, then check the weather too. The Hüsler (Schall) scale runs K1 to K6; know what you’re climbing into before you start. Steel cable on an exposed ridge is no place to be when a storm rolls in — start early, watch the clouds build through the day, and retreat if in doubt.
• Give the cable room. Keep a few metres between yourself and the next climber wherever the route allows it — a fall with slack in the system loads the anchor harder the closer together you are. Use resting ledges to let faster parties pass rather than racing them on the cable.