The stairway cuts the hiker’s time to reach the summit of Donnerkogel.
If you are not a fan of heights, you might want to skip this hike in the Austrian Alps. An old video gaining traction on social media shows the ‘Stairway to Heaven’, as it is popularly known locally. According to the website Scenestr, the 43-metre-long ladder hangs 700-metres off the ground. It is made of steel cables and is the highlight of a climbing tour of the Donnerkogel, one of many summits of Gosaukamm Range, in Austria’s Salzkammergut resort area.
The 43-meter sky-high ladder known as the ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in Austria hangs 700-meters off the ground. It’s made of steel cables and it is the highlight of a climbing tour in Austria’s Salzkammergut resort area
[📹 Alexander Ladanivskyy]pic.twitter.com/tQsoHKMlDF
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) July 30, 2023
The video first appeared in 2020 and showed hikers and adventure enthusiasts climbing the stairs at the dizzying height with ease.
As per National Geographic, this vertiginous ladder makes up a section of the Grosser Donnerkogel via ferrata (an italina word that means “iron way”).
It is built into a mountain’s rock face with fixtures, such as metal rungs, that follow a secured cable. A path like this allow climbers without advanced technical skills to access exceptional vistas and summits.
But it does offer experience of a lifetime. “The whole experience was terrifying in the best possible way,” National Geographic quoted photographer Quin Schrock as saying.
Some climbers say it is a very difficult path to cross from one side to another.
“I find it easier to trust rock than man-made structures,” a traveller Jess Dales told the website.
However, there are other ways to climb the summit. Like a cable car, which carries visitors up the slope (till a point) and trails lead hikers from base to summit.
National Geographic said the first “via ferrata” was installed in 1843 on Austria’s Hoher Dachstein mountain.
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