By Babs Harrison
It seemed impossible that I was actually up here, way up here, clinging to the rock face, my toes balanced on the edge of a horseshoe-shaped rebar, trying not to look down. It was a 500-foot drop to the canyon floor below. I am kind of afraid of heights. What in the world possessed me, a semi-retired woman with no climbing experience, to try this via ferrata.
Looking for a fun experience to fill my first morning at Castle Hot Springs Arizona, a guest services team member suggested I try via ferrata climbing. I felt intimidated by what looked like a challenging rock climb. I can hike for miles, but this looked to be a vertical climb. She explained the course in more detail, reassuring me that many guests, including a gentleman older than I, had completed it. I sheepishly agreed to give it a try.
That’s how I got to be way up here on a Monday morning, facing my fear and the granite mountain while clutching the steel cable that adorned it like a silver chain belt. I quiet the nervous thoughts in my head by focusing intently on what Jack, my guide, tells me to do. Find a handhold in the rock, step up to the next rung. Unclamp the carabiners one at a time and reclamp on the cable beyond the bolt. I stretch and grip like a nervous gecko, slowly working my way up the face of the mountain. Arriving at the aerial walkway and thinking we were done, I feel rather proud of myself.
That was the practice wall. We’ve only just begun.
Via Ferrata, Italian for “iron way,” is a climbing route on a mountain face outfitted with steel cables, rungs and ladders that are securely bolted into the rock. It’s the great equalizer that enables inexperienced climbers like myself to feel the thrill of scaling vertical walls, cliffs and peaks while attired in a lightweight, multi-layered safety system of a harness, carabiners, helmet and gloves.
Created by the Italians, via ferratas were widely used in the Dolomite Mountains in the northern Alps during World War I to move troops and equipment across steep and rough terrain. Many of those trails remain and can be climbed today. While via ferratas have long been popular in Europe, they are just beginning to catch on in North America. Arizona’s first via ferrata is the one at Castle Hot Springs.
The narrow aerial walkway before me stretches into infinity, but it’s really only 200 feet. Jack is already on it, walking backwards and beckoning me to follow, playing the white rabbit to my curiosity about what waits on the other side. “Don’t think, just go,” I tell myself. Stepping onto the bridge, I do look down and marvel at seeing saguaro cactus from above. The canyon is incredibly beautiful and quiet from this high vantage point. I was beginning to see why via ferrata climbing had become such a popular adventure activity.
On the other side, the via ferrata continues with fresh thrills. We scramble up, clamp on and begin. Soon I look up and see Jack perched on the rock where I don’t believe I can go. He waits. I bring my focus back to the mountain, find the toe holds in the rock, and shimmy through a crevice. Each time I think I can’t do it, impossibly, I do, and I’m on to the next bit.
While I had trusted the equipment would eliminate any chance of me falling off the mountain, it hadn’t eliminated my fear of being on the mountain. That was something my mind had manufactured. The acronym FEAR (False Expectations Appearing Real) echoed from distant workshops.
I had let fear dominate my reaction. Once I realized my fear was just a false expectation, things got easier and a whole lot more fun. I replaced fear with mindful action, finding a rhythm with the mountain and climbing. I started noticing variations in the rock, tiny green shoots sprouting in the crevices, the cool breeze, and how good it felt to be way up here, seemingly a million miles away.
Summiting Castle Peak to the site of 360-degree views of the Sonoran Desert, I felt elated and wanted to yell from the mountaintop, “I can’t believe I did it!”
The via ferrata Arizona was a physical and a psychological challenge, and it was my favorite experience of the entire trip. What other self-imposed boundaries had my mind assumed? It makes you question your limits.
If you’ve never done a via ferrata, Castle Hot Springs Arizona is the perfect place to try it. The guides are experts, the equipment is topnotch, and the mountain is all yours. Only two to four resort guests traverse with one guide, which is especially nice if it’s your first time.
I hope you try it. It is an awesome experience. And if you love it as much as I did and can’t wait to do it again, there’s a second, more advanced course at the resort, the West Wall Via Ferrata.
Go to the mountain, face your fear, reach for the awe. It will keep expanding the way you see the world, and your place in it.