| Anything called "Stairway to Heaven" probably requires some preperation
And I hadn't planned on doing anything of the sort when I booked tickets to Vienna to see Taylor Swift with my family.
But, as it happens, Vienna is in Austria, and Austria has mountains (a small chain called The Alps.) So, I planned to spend a few days in the eastern half of the country doing mountain stuff when my family left.
I setttled on a route I'd seen before, one that's gone viral over the years. It's a multi-kilometer long via ferrata that takes around three hours and culminates in a includes a 40 meter sky ladder with about 2,000 meters of exposure below.
And it just so happened to be a bus ride away from where I was staying.
So, I did some research and decided to give it a try. The route was rated for professionals, and given a C/D on a difficulty scale that ranges from A to E with E being the hardest.
Heading into it I was terrified, as I got advice ranging from "you'll be fine" to "Oh yeah, the last guy that stayed here from Colorado almost died."
The crux of the route was actually not the ladder, but a vertical section of climbing just above it that, once you reached, you have to complete. A fall likely wouldn't have been fatal, but it would have been bad and there's been deaths up there before.
For the beauty and experience, it was totally worth it.
And, thanks to Ouray's many local via ferratas, I actually got totally prepared once I was on the mountain. In fact, I think the Gold Mountain route is technically more difficult, and prepared me for one of the most mentaly taxing (at least beforehand) trails I've ever done.
So, thanks Ouray!
Cheers,
Kylea Henseler  Made it to the top!
My climbing partner on the infamous ladder
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