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Comment by namdnay | Hacker News Reader

Good news, but if this is anything like other mountain activities in the USA, I bet it costs an arm and a leg

And... yep, I just opened a random one (Estes Park?) - prices starting at 199USD a head! About 4x the price of a french one (30-50e per adult depending on how big it is and how expensive the location is)

I imagine it's a combination of novelty + everything being managed privately (whereas in most of europe there are a lot of subsidies to keep mountain areas thriving)

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Interestingly, this is the first time I hear about any paid mountain track / climbing path.

As I understand it, you can access them for free with your own equipment, or rent the gear, or go with a guide. Most tourists are going to go with a guide at least the first time and probably rent gear afterwards. They might ask for donations for the maintenance, although generally I think that's paid from the equipment rental/tour income, subsidizing it for people going on their own.

$200 sounds about what you'd pay for a guided tour (gear included) in Switzerland.

Honestly, what real benefit does a guide bring to most reasonable people? I know, the stereotypical American will travel to Iceland with norhing but shorts, but those aside, most everything to learn/understand here can be explained in an 2-5 minute introduction of the equipment. I mean, both me and my brother managed without problems (under paternal guidance) starting around age 6 two decades ago. Nowadays, most seem to be super crowded in the high season (meaning well, you have to wait often on a route), but its always been a fun activity.

It's still unfamiliar terrain, and a guide will help you find the start of the route, will help you get through a difficult spot and can perform first aid if needed. So if you're not an experienced hiker and climber, going with a guide will make everything go smoother the first time.

30-50€ in France?? Try 5.50€ !! Or 25€ with gear rental. And this is for La Colmiane, one of the most beautiful, or Lantosque, where you are 10m above an epic bowel of water.

https://www.colmiane.com/activites-ete-sur-la-colmiane/via-f...

https://www.puremontagne.fr/fr/a-faire/nature/item/via-ferra...

And you can also enjoy some free ones, in the Vercors for instance.

The ones I've done in Europe were free, you could even access them and climb without any gear if you want

indeed a lot of them are "free" but they clearly state the correct equipment must be worn (which is of course available for rent at various approved outlets) , or else any accident will get you into a world of financial trouble

What do you mean by "financial trouble"? You certainly risk getting hurt or killed without the right equipment, but I don't see how this is related to "financial trouble".

I assume they mean that you will be billed for any rescue costs incurred.

I always assume that's the case when I'm in the Alps. That's why it's important to have proper insurance.

Most US medical insurances (definitely the one I have from work) will cover rescue (including helicopter) if it was medically necessary. There is nothing specific about via ferrata in Europe that changes financial situation compared to for example hiking and breaking the leg or something like that.

Yeah, that's true. But I always assumed you need to be really inconsiderate with your equipment to get fined. At least this is what the local stories about tourists getting fined told :)

Never heard about this being a tourist trap.

the big risk is third party risk - if you fall on someone else, or bring down a power line, or drop a rock on someone below you. not having paid for the session means you won't have paid the 2-3 euros for the third-party insurance

We must be talking about completely different things, because in no way shape or form is a "power line" associated with any via ferrata I've done in Italy or Austria.

Further, equipment depends on difficulty. Some via ferratas are really just some metal cables to help keep your balance over small crossings, while others are traversing sheer cliffs and peaks with obviously fatal safety implications. It would be silly to require safety equipment for the former, while it'd be silly not to for the latter.

Oh yes for sure, I just meant there is no one to physically stop you at any point (neither for money nor gear check). The equipment rental was very often in the closest city, a ~10 min drive away

I assume the US experience would be quite different

Yeah, we did caminito del rey near Malaga Spain back when it was closed to the public, people were still doing it but I think officially you weren’t supposed to, this was years before they recently fixed it up and officially reopened it to the public

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