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This is a normal post Er, yes please.
Been to the Dolomites twice to do Via Ferratas, and it is just brilliant. Scenery is spectacular, food superb, the Italians are lovely, and the Via Ferratas are actually very safe because of the clipping. Having said that, the blokes in the vid have a crap, potentially dangerous clipping technique - only one end should be clipped with most mechanisms as this lets the rope slide through a brake. That it important because otherwise there is a large shock load put on the safety gear and it could break.

When my children are a couple of years older I'm taking them all to the Dolomites.
 (I helped save b3ta! Varmint, Sun 15 May 2016, 19:29, Reply)
This is a normal post Correct
Just stunningly beautiful mountains. Amazing rock and every metre has a legend behind it. Walter fucking Bonatti. Comici.
You know why the via ferrata are there? To get Italian troops up to fight the Austrian among the rocks inWW1. Pretty hellish by all accounts.
 (I helped save b3ta! The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Sun 15 May 2016, 19:59, Reply)
This is a normal post Indeed I do know the origins.
I highly recommend a trip through the tunnels of Lagazuoi:

thesevereclimber.com/2013/04/14/wire-and-war/#more-683

And here's a pic of me in one of the tunnels:


 (I helped save b3ta! Varmint, Sun 15 May 2016, 20:53, Reply)
This is a normal post
Not dangerous at all. If you've got something like this, which they have, you clip both ends. If you fall, the shock is taken up by the sewn strap (in the thing that looks like a block) unravelling. This is safer than a "one end" attach for two reasons. Firstly, it gets you into the habit of always having at least one clip attached, and secondly, there's no loose rope to tangle round you and trip you (or, worse, wrap itself around your arm / leg / neck as you fall).


(m.auron, Sun 15 May 2016, 20:06, Reply)
This is a normal post Ah, I see - different system to the one I'm used to.

(I helped save b3ta! Varmint, Sun 15 May 2016, 20:54, Reply)
This is a normal post ha! I was telling someone about via ferratas the other day but got the history slightly wrong (it transpires)
and said they were started by the Romans.
... i knew it was something to do with Italy.
 (dyllon nice beaver., Sun 15 May 2016, 20:17, Reply)
This is a normal post At least in the trenches
If a bullet missed you then it disappeared in the mud. Can you imagine a mortar airbursting 100ft above nice splintery rocks?
 (I helped save b3ta! The Ann Coulter Fan Club Babylon is burning at, Sun 15 May 2016, 21:17, Reply)