Via ferrata routes are generally long, easy rock scrambles or climbs, protected by steel cables secured to the rock. You wear a harness, clip yourself onto a cable, and away you go. You don’t even need climbing shoes. There’s a variety of difficulties, naturally, and some lines have, for example, steel pegs or rungs to aid ascent. It’s quite common in Europe, though basically unheard of in Australia.  I’d completed a handful of via ferrata routes in Europe in 2019 and come the 2022 reopening of international borders, I planned a trip that included some time exploring the Italian Dolomites, famous for their via ferrata – which translates as ‘iron road’ or ‘iron way’.In France, via ferrata des Evettes (near Chamonix) was designed and put together almost like a high ropes course – a well-protected traverse with obstacles and challenges like cable bridges above chasms. In 2019, I did it as an easy morning adventure.In Germany, I climbed a route that was rated as one of the most difficult in the region. Again, it was well-protected and straightforward. It took a lot of upper body strength on some steep sections on blank rock, but as a rock climber, hauling myself up a taut steel cable, even when vertical or slightly overhung, isn’t a problem.  On my 2022 trip, my plan was to do the Alta Via 1, a 10ish-day hut-to-hut hike through the Italian Dolomites, but allowing a few extra days to fit in a bunch of ferrata side trips along the way.Accompanying me was my partner Peter and our friend Phil. Phil is the fittest person I know. He’s in his early 60s and is famous for organising epic canyoning adventures that leave people half his age dizzy with exhaustion while he skips back to the campsite asking if anyone feels like doing a night canyon.  In the Dolomites, the routes are based on lines put in during the first World War. Parts of the Dolomites formed a front between Italy and Austria, with fierce fighting in terrifyingly inhospitable conditions. Troops chiselled caves and tunnels through the rocky Dolomite Mountains and hammered in steel lines to aid their movement through the jagged peaks. The majority of deaths were caused not in combat, but by rockfall, avalanche, and extreme cold.  Via ferrata in the Dolomites, I quickly realised, had less of a fun park vibe and more of a ‘get to the top at all costs in a hostile environment’ vibe.