Extreme hiking Switzerland!

Today we are going to climb this big rock right behind me. It's a little bit early in the morning here and I'm about to head up to Flims. But 1st I've got to go pick up some other guys. How's it going? This is a via ferrata this is how we're going to climb up this big rock. I'm going to tell you more about that in just a second but 1st we're gonna get somewhere where it is dry. The weather is kind of crapy. It's a pretty big drop. We are now partway up the via ferrata and the rain has cleared up a little bit. Were also under this little cave thing but check out how far down it is. But what exactly is a via Ferrata. Well, the best way to describe it is that it is kind of like a high angle ropes course. With these tiny little paths swinging bridges and all these letters and stuff. But strapped hundreds of feet up on these rock faces. But historically via ferrata wasn't always a sport. Originally these routes were made for a practical purpose. Most of them were made by militaries so that they could get their troops in hard to get to places. But not all of them were. Like this one here. This is via ferrata pinut. I don't really know how to say I'm sorry. This is the oldest via Ferrata in Switzerland in it was created somewhere around 1700. And believe it or not there was created by farmers. But why it did farmers create a via Ferrata. Well as it turns out halfway up this rock face there is a small Meadow called the pinut Meadow. And they would go up this cliff face to cut hay And then bring the hay back down to feed their cows. Apparently, they would cut down trees in strapped them on to the rocks somehow And then climb up the trees to get up here. They would climb up here through this cave and up into the Meadow. In the craziest thing about it is the hay from this Meadow is only enough to feed one cow for the Winter. Nobody really knows who originally climb this route or how they found a way up this rock face. It's just crazy to think that 300 years ago there was some farmer standing there with his wooden pitchfork thinking Yep I'm going to climate this 100 m rock face today and cut some hay. I've got some mad respect for whoever that was. We're now up in the Meadow and it's no longer used for Hey so the farmers no longer come up here. But the via Ferrata was turned into a tourist attraction Now he has these big metal staircases that you see And the safety cables. It's nothing like it originally was. And you to can Come to visit this you can rent the equipment you can hire a guide. And it's a lot of fun you should check it out. The views are amazing. And you didn't see any of those today. This sport of Via Ferrata has come a long way since the original routes were made. Now there are over 1000 routes in the Alps alone Many of which are made for sport and have no practical purpose at all. This route is really not typical via Ferrata. Normally they're a little bit more like climbing they don't have these big platforms that you see here. But almost every route has this steel safety cable. You attach yourself to this cable using a harness and a special tether designed specifically for via ferrata. From my understanding, the original route stopped at the Meadow. However, now the route goes all the way up to the top of the rock face. We have now made it to the top. The Sun is kind of barely peeking through. We were really hoping to get at least one decent view. But no. Thanks for watching our video I really appreciate it. What do you get there a giant stick you going to whack someone with that. This is not sponsored by those.