Trip Recommender
AVA Rafting & Zipline has two Via Ferrata courses in Colorado, one at the Idaho Springs outpost and a brand new one at the Buena Vista outpost. This thrilling adventure will test your limits and get your adrenaline pumping. At both locations, you will receive a full orientation from your guides prior to the adventure, so you’ll know exactly how to use the equipment. On AVA’s via ferrata courses you will travel across suspended bridges, cables, rungs, and trails as you traverse high above the ground with one of our experienced guides. To finish this trip up, you will get to zipline back down to the outpost. At both locations you can also package your via ferrata trip with a rafting trip to make an adventurous and fun filled day or weekend!
AVA’s Idaho Springs location is only 45 minutes from downtown Denver, so it is the perfect day trip out of the city. The Buena Vista outpost is just over a 2-hour drive from Denver. If that seems a bit far for a day-trip, worry not; there is plenty of lodging in this mountain town to make for a great weekend getaway.
So take on a new challenge and get your adrenaline pumping by trying one, or both, of AVA’s via ferratas, an adventure that everyone is guaranteed to love.
Via Ferrata is Italian for “iron path”, and is a protected climbing route that usually is a steel cable which runs along a route and is periodically fixed to the route. Using a via ferrata kit, those who take on the climb can secure themselves to the cable, limiting any fall. This kit will include a lanyard and two carabiners. The lanyard has an energy-absorbing system, two arms which connect to the cable with the carabiners, and a means of connecting to the harness. The carabiners are specially made for via ferratas, with a design typically featuring a larger than normal opening and a spring locking mechanism that can be opened with one hand. A normal rock climbing harness is used for these routes. Via Ferratas allow inexperienced climbers the opportunity to take on otherwise dangerous routes with limited risk.
There are short via ferrata routes that take less than hour and require no more skill than walking, and long demanding routes covering significant distance and altitude that require serious rock climbing techniques and take over 8 hours to complete. In some areas, multiple via ferratas can be linked together, making multi-day tours. Today there are over 1,000 via ferratas, with a majority found in the Alps, most notably in Italy and Austria.
Today there are a handful of via ferrata routes found in the United States, with the most notable being the route up Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. Others can be found in Utah, West Virginia, Arizona, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Colorado.