Both the Black Diamond and the Petzl setup have built-in absorption systems. Expandable webbing is packaged in a small pouch where you knot the lanyard to your harness. The energy-absorption systems limit load impact in case of a fall, a crucial safety feature for this sport.
Two additional key pieces of gear included the Petzl METEOR III helmet and the La Sportiva Ganda Guide shoes. The helmet, which costs about $100 and weighs a feathery 235 grams, is all but unnoticeable on the noggin. But it has the requisite certifications to make it safe for mountaineering.
At $235, the Ganda Guides are pricey shoes. But for multiuse scenarios in the mountains — including long approach hikes combined with vertical climbs — this type of do-all footwear lets you leave an extra pair of climbing shoes at home.
In Engelberg, my group spent a couple hours climbing the Furenwand face. In the distance, a cable car winched on a line. Paragliders launched off the cliff above, swooping and flying for a thousand feet below our toes.
I followed a Swiss guide and kept clipped to the cable. Halfway up, I leaned back on a ladder rung to look down, a huge gap of mountain air below. On the blank face of the Furenwand, I was happy to be climbing the “iron way.”
—Stephen Regenold is founder and editor of www.gearjunkie.com.
