Regular readers of our blog may remember our first encounter with the via ferrata during our trip to Peru. Here follows the death-defying North American sequel…

Our morning started early with a waffle and fruit breakfast at our B&B, followed by a taxi ride to the Mont Tremblant National Park. The activities in this area are spaced quite far apart so we are at a bit of a disadvantage having only bicycles. Fortunately, the local taxi service is only a (French) phone call away. Our destination was the Diable Registration Center where we met up with the guide for our via ferrata adventure. We were signed up for the intermediate length trip, which includes 800m of climbing (green and orange on the map below).

The upward climb took about 3 hours. Each person has two lines attached to their harness so that they’re always connected even when shifting anchor points; all that clipping and unclipping of the carabiners takes a long time!

The course includes a variety of different features: bridges, beams, traverses, ladders, and general rock scrambles. Some who will not be named especially enjoyed jumping up and down on the bridges to make them shake. 🙂

From the top, we could see the muddy meanderings of the Diable River and many peaks of the Laurentian mountains around us. The clouds rolled in and out all day, and we experienced many brief showers interspersed with blue sky and sun.

Aside from a few granola bars and protein sticks we hadn’t brought much food on the climb, so we were truly famished by the time we reached the valley floor again. Fortunately our friends at the Tremblant taxi service were happy to drop us at the local microbrewery for a hearty meal and other refreshments (beer or brownie sundaes, as appropriate). The Saint Arnould label even has a beer named after the P’Tit Train du Nord!

That was enough excitement for one day so we headed back to our B&B for a quiet evening in. Need to rest up before saddling up on the bicycles again tomorrow.