I have had the opportunity to walk the hanging bridges on via ferratas already several times, but I definitely had the best time on Jägihorn! The bridge is really long, hangs high above the ground, the surrounding views are beautiful and its swinging while passing provides extra emotions :)
We started the trip with the cable car from Saas-Grund to Kreuzboden. A one-way ticket costs 26 CHF and a round-trip ticket 32, but we as guests of the Schönblick Camping had it for free, as well as a bus ride from the campsite to the station.
From Kreuzboden there is about one hour hike to the beginning of via ferrata.
On the way you will certainly see marmots. I have never had the opportunity to see this mammal before, and there I saw them over a dozen!
Via ferrata begins at an altitude of about 2800 m and runs to the top of Jägihorn (Jegihorn) located at 3206 m. I have seen different grades, in my opinion its difficulty is C/D.
It gave me a lot of pleasure, because the most I was able to climb without holding a steel cable and it was still a challenge for me.
Along the way, if I remember correctly, there were two ladders. Besides there is only a rope and in the most difficult places there are additional metal steps.
After about 1.5 hours we reached the top. You can see there a nice view of the Jegihorn peak and the best part – the bridge.
The trail now leads down and reaches the said bridge. Reportedly, it can be bypassed by going further down and then up, but I didn’t notice the indications of this variant.
The bridge is really impressive! I couldn’t find the information about its length, but to my eye it’s 150 – 200 m.
I think the rope that runs above is used to clip a carabiner, unfortunately it is hung at such a height that being 154 cm high I was unable to use it. That’s why I clipped to one of the side ropes. The ropes on which the wooden beams lie are connected to the upper ropes by chains, which are usually on both sides, but in several places are only on one side, which makes the bridge wobble ;)
Look at the movie. I don’t have a camera that I could attach to the helmet, anyway I don’t like the shots from the head, that’s why I just kept the camera in one hand. I didn’t record a lot, because I was afraid of losing it :)
On the internet I saw that a few years ago, just behind the bridge, there was a rope net, which was supposed to climb, but some time ago it was removed. This year we didn’t have this attraction. Maybe it’s good, because what I enjoy most is rock climbing and rope nets has their place in rope parks.
After passing the bridge, it took us about 45 minutes to get to the peak. Few fragments are quite difficult and steep and the views are amazing!
The end is an easy part, after which you can rest on the top and enjoy the views.
I don’t know how it have happened, but I don’t have any photos from the top. I think I was too hungry. I filled my time with eating and then we started to descend ;)
The descent itself is not very pleasant. It runs mainly on the rock-rubble and it takes about an hour.
The whole trail – from the cable car to the cable car took us about 6 hours. In addition, we were late for the last ride down at 4:30 pm, so we had to go down to Saas-Grund by foot.
See more photos of this great via ferrata:
Thank you :)
vassilis vakalo
Hello ! congrats for the beautifull photos and efort ! I have a simple question about this and of course many other via ferratas, … Is it compolsory the direction of the ascent as well of the descent , to be unique and always the same route to follow , so that the climbers-hikers not to oppose to each other , since in some places , that would be difficult even impossible to overcome ???
maja
Hi, many via ferratas, like Jegihorn for example go up, it means you ascent by via ferrata and then descent by normal path. If you do it opposite direction, you would ascent by normal trail and then descent by ferrata which would be more difficult. Also, like you said, if there are many people on the ferrata, it could be difficult and dangerous if some of them go one direction and others opposite so it’s good to do it always one way.