Today dawned sunny once more with temperatures up to 31 degrees forecast; however there was supposedly a possibility of thunderstorms late in the day so we headed for the gorge of the River Arc not long after Modane and close to the villages of Arvieux and Aussois in the Maurienne valley.? There’s a huge variety of via ferrata here for all levels; from a really gentle introduction, “Les Angelots” to the one we were about to embark on with “very athletic” marked in the guide book.
Arrving at the parking by the fort Marie-Therese we geared up in the car park.? A short walk past the deserted high ropes course led us down to the Pont de Diable (the bridge of the devil) and up to the fort of Victor-Emmanuel.? A walk down through the innards of the fort took us to one of the gun ports and the start of our routes “La Descente aux Enfers” and “La Montee au Purgatoire”.? A “relaxed” walk took us down to the edge of the gorge and clipping on to the cable we climbed down to the top of a steep section.? This steep down climb took us down to a bridge that crosses over the Arc river gorge – impressive.? A sway across the bridge and we were on the other side.? The via ferrata started off gently with a traverse along the cliff.? Soon we stepped round a corner and the waterfall that marks the right hand side of the via ferrata could be seen tumbling over the cliff above us.
The next section became increasingly steep in a fantastic position.? Soon we were feet from the tumbling water and a last steep climb took us to a bridge that crosses above the top of the fall.? A really great via ferrata!? Recommended.
