Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems).
I was about 20 feet off the ground when I began to wonder if I had made a grave mistake.
I was starting the ascent up the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata in Ouray, a high-adrenaline excursion that had been on my bucket list for many years. But with each step up the iron ladder, reality was setting in. I realized the only things that would carry me through the impending 1,200 feet of elevation gain were my own strength and coordination.
Suddenly, I wasn’t feeling so confident.
But as I completed the first of 12 pitches, a sense of exhilaration took over. Standing shakily on the edge of a cliff, I felt as though I had already accomplished an incredible feat. Guide Cat Shirley of Basecamp Ouray assured me and my crew of first-timers as much. That inaugural pitch was the toughest, she said. Now it was time to have some fun.
After a couple of deep breaths to shake off the nerves, we continued on one of the most unforgettable adventures I’ve ever experienced – an intense, boundary-testing workout with incredible scenic payoff. I’d recommend it to anyone willing to put their upper body strength and mental determination to the test.
Translated from Italian, via ferrata means “iron way” or “iron path,” and it refers to a protected climbing route built into the side of a mountain. Climbers use iron rungs much like a ladder to scale rock faces while also staying attached to a steel cable for safety.
As far back as World War I, soldiers used via ferratas to traverse Europe’s Alpine terrain. Today, they offer a recreational opportunity for thrill seekers in Colorado, which is home to at least eight via ferratas from the Front Range to the Western Slope.
Gold Mountain is among the newer ones, having opened in 2022. The experience is a lot like rock climbing in that participants wear a harness to connect them to anchor points. In this case, the anchor is a steel cable that follows the route up the mountain.
It’s a great entry point to the sport since it requires less gear and just a 20-minute introduction before jumping on the course. Still, each individual is responsible for ensuring that they actually stay connected to the cable by continuously detaching and reattaching two stretchy lanyards on their harness. That’s trickier than it sounds, which is why hiring a guide is a must if you’re a novice.
In fact, those who want to conquer Gold Mountain will require a guide since the course is located on private land. (It was perhaps an added bonus that ours, Shirley, happened to be a world champion ice climber, though she offered plenty of emotional guidance as well.)
Ouray native Logan Tyler helped design and build the Gold Mountain Via Ferrata with fellow local Xander Bianchi. They drilled holes for more than 3,600 rungs and strung 2,000 feet of cable, most while belaying down the side of the cliffs.
Tyler and Bianchi, both avid rock and ice climbers, sought to develop a course that offers beginners the thrill of working their way up the mountain and problem-solving on the fly.
“What makes a good rock climb is that every move is intuitive, you flow into the next one, you’re dancing with the rock. There’s this intrinsic exchange through action,” said Tyler, also owner of Basecamp Ouray, which offers guiding services for Ouray’s two via ferratas and the one in Telluride. “We wanted to take the best parts of climbing – that dance on a stone – and give that to people through a via ferrata.”
That certainly comes through at Gold Mountain. As the course ascends, there are many points at which climbers need to grab or step on the rock face to adequately traverse it, and I used the steel cable as a tool to hoist myself up to the next rung.
There are even a few opportunities to test your grit. At pitch six, deemed the Don Wall, climbers can choose from three routes – from easy to extreme. There’s also a section of monkey bars for those who want to forgo support from their feet completely.
I opted for the medium route and found myself dangling from a rocky overhang on the border of a panic attack. If not for the calming presence of Shirley, I may have let go and relied on the cable to catch me. Instead, she talked me through connecting securely and leaning back into my harness so I could let my fatigued arms rest. Don’t forget to enjoy the view, she reminded me.
Oh, right, the views – I almost forgot. The course winds through old mining ruins, offering a chance to walk in the footsteps of those who lived here in the 1800s, and offers a bird’s-eye view of Ouray. The higher you go, the more you can see of the San Juan mountain peaks and the valley below.
That was especially true at pitch 11, otherwise known as The Bridge of Heaven. After being so tightly connected to the mountainside, walking across this 273-foot suspension bridge felt like freedom. It’s probably the closest I’ve come to flying since skydiving more than 15 years ago.
The bridge’s placement close to the end of the course is no accident, Tyler said. It’s physically the easiest pitch on Gold Mountain but mentally one of the most challenging – and the most gratifying once you reach the other side. In a way, it’s symbolic of all that you’ve overcome since stepping on that first rung at the base of the mountain. Perhaps even what you’ve overcome in life.
“It’s all action, no thought, simply moving through. The bridge is such a beautiful and amazing parallel in our lives. Sometimes we can see the other side and yet we’re so hesitant, but all we need to do is walk forward,” Tyler said, thinking back to his own highs and lows as an entrepreneur. “I was the first person to walk across that bridge and, you know, I almost cried.”
Cresting the mountaintop at the final pitch, my friends and I completed our journey by ceremoniously banging a gong and soaking in the 360-degree scenery.
After snapping a few photos, Basecamp Ouray shuttled our group, tired and sweaty, back down the mountain. Each person got to keep the fingerless climbing gloves provided as a souvenir, though I also took home some sizable bruises on my knees. (Pro tip: Wear pants to minimize the scrapes on your legs.) The excursion took roughly three hours, which Tyler said is about average.
The Gold Mountain Via Ferrata is by no means a cake walk – you have to earn every step you take to the top. But it was that roller coaster of emotions that made it feel so memorable.
“The course is just rungs and cable on a cliffside. It’s this inanimate thing,” Tyler said. “What brings the life to it is the internal and external experience you, as the climber, get to have.”