Explore the via ferrata at your leisure

It is easy to walk a via ferrata in the Alps. You just need to know the basics of this discipline, rent the necessary equipment and the route is free, with no access fees. If you don’t have the necessary knowledge, you can hire a guide. In Quebec, on the other hand, independent practice is impossible.

Mary Tison
The Press

You absolutely have to be part of a guided tour and pay a large sum for the privilege. Why this difference?

“Basically, it’s a story of insurance,” says Rock Charron, director of training at the Quebec Federation of Mountains and Climbing (FQME).

In Quebec, the owner of land can be held liable if someone is injured in their home, even if it is an intruder who ventured onto the premises without permission.

“In the province, via ferrata are installed in parks or on private land,” notes Mr. Charron. Owners are responsible for what happens on their land and must therefore have liability insurance, which obliges them to manage the via ferrata as a risky sport. »

Obviously, such an assurance is not given.

In addition, parks and private contractors must make significant investments to install and maintain a via ferrata (also known as a safe climbing route).

“You want to make it profitable,” says Rock Charron. You don’t want everyone to go for a free ride on the via ferrata you built. »

History and culture

There are other factors that explain why independent practice is permitted in Europe and impossible in Quebec, starting with history and culture. Mr. Charron reminds us that via ferrata is a sport similar to rock climbing. However, climbing is a bit like the national sport of the alpine communities.

He adds that in Quebec, it is not in the culture of people to embark on the practice of a sport at risk without having knowledge, or training, or a certain security.

The Society of Outdoor Establishments of Quebec (SEPAQ) believes that the presence of a qualified and competent guide is essential. The organization’s spokesperson, Simon Boivin, explains that a guide will analyze the participant’s abilities, ensure the proper use of the equipment, supervise the progress of the activity and allow a safe evacuation in an environment hardly accessible.

There is relatively little data on via ferrata-related accidents. The main study on this subject concerns incidents that occurred in Austria between 2008 and 2018. More than half of the cases identified are in fact blockages: participants are unable to go further because they are exhausted or misjudged their skills.

A minority of incidents, 3.7%, end in death. The main reason is a fall while the person is not attached to the lifeline, especially on easy routes. Some would therefore tend to let their guard down in the easy sections.

Possible change

It is not impossible to see a certain autonomous practice appear in Quebec. The FQME is examining the possibility of offering training that would provide an independent participant certificate.

These time slots could be inserted between guided tours because insurers require that any participant can have access to help within 15 minutes of the accident. Thus, the guide of the previous group or that of the next group could intervene in the required time.

Valérie Bélanger, communications manager at Aventure Écotourisme Québec, evokes the possibility of an autonomous practice for routes that are not too dizzying, equipped with continuous lifelines “so that we don’t need to clip and unclip”. “There could be a certain framework: safety instructions, a check of the equipment before leaving”, she evokes.

However, don’t hold your breath too much.

“For the establishment of an autonomous practice to be worthwhile, more than 60% of the managers would have to embark on the project, estimates Rock Charron. There are probably some who would not see the point of opening free practice slots at $25 or $30, when they can charge $80 for a guided outing…”