Our mountaineering at Via Ferrata was amazing!  We arrived by 8:45am to meet Kevin, our personal guide for the trek.  He was super nice & loaned us some additional rain gear & things that we would need so we could enjoy the hike.  I joked that the ad online shows a man in shorts on a sunny day, I wanted that tour.  Today we were looking at snow.  Burr!!!

Kevin helped us gear up & we tried out the practice climbing section.  After that we were ready for the chair lift to the mountaineering segment where the hike begins.

Mountaineering is basically a cross between rock climbing & hiking where there are already cables, steps and hand holds installed in the rocks to facilitate the climb.  We climbed up steep rock faces that were a bit scary & I am not usually bothered by heights!  All the climbing & scary moments were worth it though, it was a beautiful view & what a great experience!

A couple of times we saw a glimpse of sunlight.  I was hopeful that we were about ready to see a change in the weather, but Kevin assured us that it was a “sucker hole” and soon it would be snowing again.  LOL!

What an awesome day!  After the big climb, we headed out of Banff to meet up with Matt and Colleen for dinner at Priest Lake, ID.  We rolled in about 7pm.

Having dinner & hanging out with some of our best friends was a great way to spend the evening!  Ty and Ashly were there & we got to meet Taylor, Ashly’s hubby.  They cooked a spectacular steak dinner for us.  It was sooo good to have real food after days of eating out!  We had salad, broccoli, beans, pasta salad,fresh strawberries from their garden, grilled steaks and lots of laughs & love!  They were so sweet to have drinks & food ready for us when we arrived!

The cabin we stayed at was a beautiful 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with a washer & dryer!  We were able to clean up, get a good night’s sleep & refresh for the rest of our journey.