Iron climbing in the Rockies

“The path before me is narrowing—2 feet wide, 1 foot, 6 inches, and then nothing,” said John Briley in The Washington Post. It’s a cloudless July morning east of Telluride, Colo., and I’m about to step onto an iron rung bolted 300 feet up a cliff wall. Known as a via ferrata (Italian for “way of the irons”), the route is perfect for people like me, who love a good rush but aren’t cut out for technical rock climbing. Still, my heart is pounding, my mouth is dry, and my legs won’t stop shaking. I’m exhilarated once I make it across the 100-foot expanse, though, and grateful for the moral support of my Telluride Adventures guide. Iron climbing is now popular among pros and novices alike, and last year 6,000 people climbed the route I took. “The via ferrata allows people living ordinary lives to put themselves in a place that is wildly unnatural to humans,” one local guide tells me. “We coach people through it every day, and they emerge transformed.”