Via Ferrata de Curalla, Passy

A mixed day of activity today - we started on the via ferrata and finished back on the steeper rock climbs.
For those of you who don't know - Via Ferrata (literally iron way) were originally put up in the Dolomites in WWI as armies fought in the mountains - but nowadays they've become an exciting way for non climbers to get high into the mountains - in France they are currently being put up faster than guidebooks can keep up with - they offer ski resorts and climbing areas a way to extend their season and range of appeal.
The one at Passy is a fine modern example - it traverses this otherwise blank cliff from right to left, mostly trending ever upwards - with an exciting range of ladders and stemples (visible in shot - quite literally staples) - and a series of progressively more challenging bridges - this is the first, relatively easy Pont de Veran - next came a two wire bridge - then a series of walk the plank type affairs. It was a lot of fun - especially as we caught up the family from Manchester in this pic and listened to the banter of their three teenage son's - all of whom were being left well behind by their little sister.