Via Ferrata Guided Walk

The most epic adventure ever for us wanna be rock climbers! Our group ranged in age from 33 to 62. The Dolomites are spectacular, and clinging to the side of the mountains on the via ferrata in these mountains is a surreal experience. We loved the history in this region with the WW1 relics, the tunnels, barracks, and caves that we traveled through. The first day we were a bit in shock at what we had signed up for, but every day got better even as the via ferratas became slightly more difficult. Every vista was amazing. Our trip leader Hannes was patient, kind, knowledgable, had great humor, explained a lot of things, and seemed to know the trails intimately as he was always stayed at the tough spots (the scant D sections) to help us over them. The trip leaders confer every night as to the plan for the next day based on the weather conditions and the abilities of the groups. Hannes did escalate our trail difficulty to C++ (C is difficult, D is very difficult) for the last 2 climbs/hikes, but we managed to complete them and that is quite a feeling of accomplishment. We enjoyed our fellow hikers tremendously (group of 5 with Hannes), and the six of us (including Hannes) posted over 1000 pictures to the whatsapp chat! We were so fortunate to have almost perfect weather. The base hotel Kirchenwirt, near Dobbiaco/Toblach, is a delight . It is family owned and run, and provides half board as a large breakfast buffet from which we also took some light provisions for lunch, and multicourse dinners. You will not leave hungry. The servers were kind and funny. The food is Tyrolean so more Austrian than Italian. They provide transport to and from the train station, and have an indoor pool, sauna, steam room (much appreciated the last few days after the hikes) . Our room was in the newer section and it was roomy with a nice large bathroom. And a bonus resident friendly Bernese Mountain dog Sisi (maybe Cece?), only 8 months old but already large. Compared to the usual mountain huts with sparse amenities when hiking, this hotel felt quite luxurious. Hannes drove us to the hiking locations each day, 30-60 minutes away. This is reimbursed to him at a nominal cost of 30 euros pp for the week if you choose to use the guide transport. Those mountain roads are no joke to drive on so even those who had cars chose the guide transport. I saw in a previous review that someone recommended bringing your own harness. The harnesses and via ferrata carabiners that the outfitter provided were the latest safety configuration, probably purchased this year or last. So no need to bring your own if you book with Utracks since the package includes the equipment. The guides and trails also provided us a fun optional surprise or two along the way to add to the adventure. Thank you Hannes and Martin! You should have some reasonable upper body strength and grip to do well on the via ferratas if you are not a climber. We had hiked Half Dome in Yosemite, and Angel's Landing in Zion, and these via ferratas make those seem like child's play. You should also be reasonable sure footed since there is also at least 2-3 hours of hiking there and back in addition to the climbing , sometime on rocky terrain with scree. Highly recommend!

This was an excellent trip, made all the better by the unseasonably hot September weather! Our local guide Hannes put together an interesting and varied itinerary perfectly suited to our group, which was both enjoyable and challenging, allowing us to experience different styles of via ferrata while developing our own abilities. He was always careful to ensure that each participant was comfortable with the activities, and was very encouraging when sharing his own expertise and experience. I had some previous hiking experience, including on protected routes in the Dolomites, but had never attempted a via ferrata before; I did not feel that this held me back, although I would certainly endorse the statement that "you need to be sure footed and have a head for heights"! The hotel was easily accessed by train, and was comfortable with really good food. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my holiday.

At age 75, I wasn’t entirely sure that I would be able to manage a trip of this nature; however I agreed to accompany my friend who is somewhat younger than myself and I’m delighted to say that it all turned out well. This is not a trip for anyone who would find five consecutive days of walking up the equivalent of a fair sized peak in the UK a bit too heavy an ordeal, before of course starting the Via Ferrata climb of the day, rounded off (quite often) by a final modest climb up to the summit of the mountain. Although I knew I was more than capable of managing the Via Ferrata, the walk-ins came as a bit of a shock to the system. The Via Ferrata themselves were relatively easy and, as a climber, posed few challenges. I think I would have liked them to be a little harder but was nevertheless quite happy with what we did. We were fortunate in having absolutely perfect weather for the week; had it been otherwise, it would probably have made the whole thing a rather tougher ordeal. There were seven of us in the group, four being German speakers, three English. Our excellent guide, Martin, spoke both languages fine and he communicated everything we needed to know very adequately. After each day’s activities we always visited a Gasthof for a beer or coffee and a chat which was a nice way to end. We were accommodated in Dobbiacci / Toblach - places in this part nearly always having both a German and an Italian name, which can be mildly confusing until you learn this fact. The hotel was perfectly adequate and very much what one would expect. Nicely situated about 1km on the hillside above the town, there were lovely views but nothing to do outside of the hotel other than perhaps go for a walk. I did not visit the town but there wasn’t much there, judging from our daily drive through it to get to our day’s destination. The hotel itself boasted a good sized swimming pool whose water was heated to a delicious 31 degrees. There was also a sauna and small fitness suite, neither of which I used. The food was excellent and we were allowed to make up a packed lunch from the food laid out at breakfast. It came as a bit of a shock when our guide told us that we should be down for breakfast at 6.30am, ready for a 7.30 departure, and it was a bit of a panic organising our picnic lunch as well as eating breakfast, packing our rucksack etc in the hour we had, but after a day or two I was much better organised. Although the day started early, it also finished early and on most days we were back at the hotel by around 3pm. Dinner was at 7pm and we were ready for bed by nine or ten.