Ouray Via Ferrata - Everything You Need to Know!

We LOVE Via Ferrata, especially free ones. So when we found out that Colorado has two awesome Via Ferrata routes, Telluride and Ouray, we had to make a trip. Ouray Via Ferrata is considered a more challenging route than Telluride Via Ferrata. It also has unique obstacles such as a cable bridge, rope ladder, overhanging Helix Ladder, and a vertical Sky Climb. It sounds like a dream come true for adventure, adrenaline addicts like we are. In this blog, we will specifically go over the route for Downstream. For Upstream Route, click here.

Warning: Via Ferrata is a dangerous activity. It’s easy to slip and fall if you are not being careful. A slip or fall can cause serious injury or worse. Even though we tried to give you as much info as possible to help you make your decision wisely and keep you safe, we are not responsible for your safety. By getting on Via Ferrata, you are doing so at your own risk.

Stats

Where

Upper Parking Lot (Upper Hairpin Parking)
Camp Bird Rd, Ridgway, CO 81432
38.016298, -107.672124

Extra Parking Lot (at the Million Dollar Highway hairpin)
38.018004, -107.675106

Start of Ouray Via Ferrata
38.015536, -107.674972

Parking

You can either park on the side of the road at the Upper Hairpin Parking (closest) or at a bigger dirt lot at the bottom of the hill.

Restroom

We didn’t see any restrooms there.

Fee

Free if you have all your gear.

Distance

Down Stream Section: 0.78 miles

Level

Difficult. You’ll need technical gear.

Time:

2 to 3.5 hours

Pet-friendly

Not at all. Please DO NOT bring your pets.

Ideal Time

Ouray Via Ferrata only opens daily from May through October, 8 am to 4 pm. This means if you want to get both Upstream and Downstream Routes in, get there early!

Weather

Video

What Do I Need To Know Before Attempting Ouray Via Ferrata?

How Difficult is Ouray Via Ferrata?

The Downstream route for Ouray Via Ferrata is rated 4B while the Upstream Route is rated 4.5B. According to the Fletcher/Smith Italian Via Ferrata Rating Scale, the number rates the technical difficulty from 1 (easiest) to 5 (most difficult), while the letter indicates the overall commitment of the undertaking, ranging from A (least commitment), B to C (greatest commitment). Telluride Via Ferrata is a 2B just for comparison.

This means Ouray Via Ferrata is very technical. You’ll need to have good physical fitness, the ability to climb ladders, be okay with height and exposure as well as be able to reach 62” high from the ground.

Do I Need a Guide for Ouray Via Ferrata?

This really depends on your ability. If you have many rock climbing, canyoneering experiences or prior Via Ferrata experience, you can do this on your own. You’ll also need to be in good physical shape, and good at climbing up and down ladders. Since we are climbers and canyoneers, we prefer to do this on our own.

If you don’t have any rock climbing experience or are new to Via Ferrata, we highly recommend hiring a guide. This route is very technical so if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should hire a guide. Also, since May 6, 2023, the Ouray Via Ferrata will no longer allow participants outside of the manufactures weight requirements (90lbs-265lbs/40kg-120kg) to climb the Upstream or the Downstream Route without a professional guide using appropriate belay techniques in conjunction with a VF lanyard. This means that unguided participants who are outside of the manufactures weight requirements will need to hire a guide. They will be denied entry by the OVF rangers.

Some of the guides that are recommended by the Friends of Ouray Via Ferrata are Basecamp Ouray, Mountain Trip, San Juan Mountain Guides. We can’t speak for the other companies, but we ran a guided tour with Basecamp Ouray before, and they are amazing! So if you’re not sure which company to go with, we 100% recommend Basecamp Ouray.

Is Ouray Via Ferrata Free?

Access to Ouray Via Ferrata is completely free if you have all your gear and choose to do it on your own. Now, if you need to hire a guide or either rent or purchase your equipment, the cost will vary depending on what you need, and what tour company you go with. Of course, if you want, you can donate to Friends of Via Ferrata to help with the building and upkeep of the route to keep the area free.

When Is the Best Time to Go?

Ouray Via Ferrata opens daily from May through October. It opens from 8 am to 4 pm. If you want to do both routes, go early so you’ll have time to do both. Always make sure to check the weather before going. The staff there won’t let you get on route if it’s raining.

What Gear Do I Need?

Ouray Via Ferrata is very strict with their gear requirement, unlike Telluride Via Ferrata. Make sure you have the correct gear, otherwise, you won’t be admitted. There will be people checking before letting you proceed. If you don’t have your own and prefer to rent, you can do so at a couple of locations in Ouray: Basecamp Ouray and San Juan Mountain Guides. We rented at Basecamp Ouray and their daily gear packages start at $25 per day. You will need:

Climbing or mountaineering-specific helmet – we use Black Diamond Half Dome helmets. You can get them at either Amazon or REI.
Climbing or mountaineering-specific harness – You can get them at REI depending on your size and preference. Dustin has the Black Diamond’s Momentum Rock Harness. Vy uses Petzl Luna Harness.
Via Ferrata specific lanyard with Via Ferrata Energy Absorbing System (EAS) such as the CAMP Kinetic or Petzl Scorpio Vertigo Lanyard.

Other Gear

Approach shoes are highly recommended, especially if you want to do the Upstream Route. We love our La Sportiva TX3 approach shoes! Vy’s version. Dustin’s version.
Water and Snacks
First aid kit
Sunscreen, Hat, Sunglasses – it can get hot out there.
Gloves – Fingerless gloves are better but you can use garden or utility gloves for this.
Headlamp – Just in case you got caught in the dark
Rain Gear – The weather can change abruptly.
Small hiking bag – you’ll want something that can carry your gear, yet is small enough that it doesn’t become an obstacle when you’re climbing or maneuvering.

Best Practices and Safety Tips

Because of its difficulty, if climbers are outside of the manufactures weight requirements (90lbs-265lbs/40kg-120kg), they are not allowed to climb Ouray Via Ferrata without a professional guide, using the appropriate belay techniques in combination with a VF lanyard.
The route is one way, from South to North.
There are designated passing areas available on the route. If you’re slower, you need to let faster parties pass through when you’re at a safe spot, usually a flat section. When passing, DO NOT DISCONNECT COMPLETELY FROM CABLE TO PASS!
You MUST have at least one lanyard attached to the cable at all times, even when passing someone. NEVER unclip both lanyards at the same time. If you need to, you can use climbing rungs as intermediate lanyard connections for longer reaches between cable sections.
Make sure to maintain proper spacing between you and the climber in front of you. No more than two climbers should be on a single span of safety cable between the anchors.
There is one emergency bail-out point before the Sky Ladder. If you need to, you can take the emergency exit. This is a vertical climb up and out to the trail above the canyon.
You need to be okay with height and have a minimum reach of 62” from the ground.
When climbing up the vertical sections, it will help a ton if you loop your arm under the lanyards as you move up. This way, it will prevent the lanyard from sliding down below you and help keep them within your reach. This way, when you have to clip on to the next section, you don’t have to climb back down to retrieve the fallen lanyards.

The Routes

At this time, there are 2 routes that are available for you to have fun with. The original one is the Downstream Route. This route is rated 4B and traverses along the Uncompahgre Gorge. It has a 35ft long cable wire bridge, an ascending 75ft sky ladder, an optional “Sky Climb” rated VF 5 that is very steep, and other fun obstacles.
The Upstream Route opens in 2022. It begins at the same entrance as the Downstream Route. The new route is a lot more challenging than the original Downstream Route. It’s rated 4.5B. This means there are fewer rungs, more natural rock features, and a lot more climbing and traversing challenges. To complete this route, you will need previous Via Ferrata experience as well as other related climbing experience. Some of the fun features of the Upstream Route on Ouray Via Ferrata include a suspension bridge exit, steep climbs up, stemming downclimb sections, a three-wire cable bridge entrance, 60ft vertical Helix ladder, and a “leap of faith” across the narrowest section of the gorge.

Ouray Via Ferrata map for both routes

Ouray Via Ferrata map for Downstream Route

The Adventure

In this guide, we will feature the Downstream Route. For more info about the Upstream Route, check out our other blog.

Getting to the Parking Lot

The entrance for Ouray Via Ferrata is located at the Ice Park Loop Trail, just right outside the beautiful town of Ouray. To get there, take the Million Dollar Highway south out of town until you reach the first hairpin turn. There is a dirt parking area within the hairpin and a sign pointing to Box Canyon Falls. Now, you can either park here and walk up or try your luck at finding closer parking along Camp Bird Road (Road 361). From the Million Dollar Highway, turn right on the dirt Camp Bird road and follow the left fork. Once you pass a building, you’ll see a dirt pullout marked as a day-use area. If it is not full, you can park here as well. When we went, the closer parking area was full so we had to park at the further lot and walked up.

To the Start of Ouray Via Ferrata

After parking, we headed up the road and followed the yellow sign with the “VF” logo on it. As we crossed over the bridge, we could see the Via Ferrata routes along the canyon wall. It was pretty exciting. After the bridge, we found a small trail on the left with the “VF” yellow sign at the start of it. From here, it is a short walk until we reached the entrance to start Ouray Via Ferrata. Whether you’re doing the Downstream or Upstream Route, they both begin here. Once we reached the Ranger Area, the rangers went over the protocols and made sure everyone have the right and approved gear. They also gave us a general idea of what we should be expecting, directions for the route as well as rules and best practices. Once they were done, they led us toward the metal gate to begin our adventure.

Since this is our first time at Ouray Via Ferrata, we opted to do the Downstream Route first. The ranger opened the gate and let our group enter one by one. She watched to make sure that we knew what we were doing before sending the next person.

Entrance Cable Bridge

Things got real as soon as we passed that metal gate. After a very short downclimb, we reached the first exciting obstacle of the day, a 35ft long cable bridge crossing over the Uncompahgre River. Walking across this cable bridge feels like you’re walking on a tightrope, especially when your friend decided to join you on the same rope. Make sure you clip in on both sides of the cable. It also helps if you walk with your feet at a slight angle to maximize your grip on the cable.

Mars Wall Traverse

Following the cable bridge, we got to the Mars Wall Traverse section. This section hoovers just a few feet above the river. After a short traverse, we reached solid ground. From here, it was more walking along the cabled path.

Stairway to Heaven Climb

After the Mars Wall Traverse, we reached the next big technical section, the Stairway to Heaven. Stairway to Heaven is a long and steep climb on a sheer rock face high above the river. The views are beautiful, but the exposure can be intimidating. Remember to give the climber above you some room before taking your turn. Just in case they slipped and fall, they won’t take you down with them. Also, don’t forget to loop your arm under your lanyard to keep them within your reach for easy access.

Once you got on top of the Stairway to Heaven, it’s more walking along the narrow trail. Even though it doesn’t seem technical, please make sure to keep yourself tethered to the cable system. If you need to bail out from this route of Ouray Via Ferrata for any reason, there is an emergency exit here.

Arrowhead

Soon enough, we reached another fun climb section. This time, we had to work our way up a rock formation shaped like an arrowhead. It’s a lot of vertical climbing here. You’ll be climbing up, over and up again. Then, it will be traversing across until you reached a blind corner. From here, we descended back to a rocky trail.

Eventually, we reached a fork in the route. At this point, you can either climb up and finish the route via the advance, thrilling Sky Climb or work your way down to the Sky Ladder. The Sky Ladder route is a lot easier. Most of us did the Sky Climb on our first run and the Sky Ladder on our second run. Frank opted for the Sky Ladder instead.

The Exciting Sky Climb

The Sky Climb is a lot more technical than the Sky Ladder. The Sky Climb section is about 120ft. It is a very steep and long climb with some overhung work-around areas. It definitely felt a bit like rock climbing and required a lot more upper-body strength. I’m not gonna lie, fatigue got me a little bit during this climb. That 120ft felt like forever!

Once we summited, there were some more challenging downclimb before we rejoined the main route after the Sky Ladder. From here, it’s a few easy sections that go under the bridge that lead to the finish right by the Upper Hairpin parking area.

The Sky Ladder Finish

On our second run-through, we decided to do the Sky Ladder route. At the junction, we worked our way down to the 70ft sky ladder that climbs at a 30-degree angle. This sky ladder is the only cabled ladder of its kind in North America.

The Sky Ladder is really fun. It can be a bit intimidating if you’re not a big fan of height. When we walked across, it felt like we were walking on a very flexible suspension bridge. It was very bouncy. This route shares the same exit with the Sky Climb route.

After finishing up the Downstream Route, we wanted to do the Upstream Route. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating with us. With the short amount of time before Ouray Via Ferrata closes and the threat of thunderstorms, we decided to do another run for the Downstream Route and save the more technical Upstream for a future visit.

Ouray Via Ferrata was awesome! It was thrilling, technical, and exciting. It was very different from Telluride Via Ferrata. If you’re in the area, we definitely recommend doing both! We can’t way to come back and do both of them again, this time, add on the Upstream Route.

Recommended Gear

These are the gear that we personally use and find them helpful for this particular adventure. Don’t forget to check out our Recommended Gear section as well.

Adventure Gear

All
Biking Gear
Camping Gear
Canyoneering Gear
Favorite Biking Gear
Favorite Canyoneering Gear
Favorite Hiking Gear
Favorite Road trips Gear
Favorite Water Gear
Hiking Gear
Main Favorite
Photography
Road Trips Gear
Travel Essentials
Water Gear

Thrive Mini First Aid Kit

A must-have for all the adventure!

Adventure is not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle!