What is an iron way?

A Via “Ferrata” is Italian and translates to “iron way”. The term is commonly used in the European Alps for a rock climbing route with a series of iron steps and a fixed steel rope that climbers can attach themselves to for safety reasons. It allows anyone with a decent level of fitness to scale heights normally accessible only to experienced rock climbers.

Via ferrata Takaka Hill is NZ’s first free and public Via ferrata climbing park on a cliff at the top of Takaka Hill.

A spokesperson for the project said “We are proud to be opening up the newly built Via Ferrata climbing park on Takaka Hill to the public! This not-for-profit community project was over 3 years in the making and has just been officially opened on Saturday December 6th”. Over 200 people were logged doing the climb and Matt from our Nelson Branch went along to give it a go.

Get all the information you need from their website: www.viaferrata.org.nz

The Story

A charitable society was founded on 16.11.2022 by 32 founding members. The society has 46 members as of April 2024. The board and core team consists of chair Till Middelhauve, deputy chair Andrew Palmer and secretary and treasurer Silke Middelhauve.

A core team of willing club volunteers was formed to realise the build and was led by Till Middelhauve in the role of a project manager and Andrew Palmer contributing his professional capabilities as a Chartered Professional Geotechnical Engineer. The team includes other professionals that have important skills. 

Luis Middelhauve, son of Till, caught on to his dad’s project early on and over the course of three years literally spent hundreds of hours of his free time with Till clearing tracks and climbing the cliffs on ropes to mark the future route of the Via Ferrata.

"The Nelson Branch have been helping out by organising and facilitating the supply of the chemset adhesives, and Drilling consumables on this awesome project in Golden Bay. We wanted to give a big shout out to the team for all their dedicated and professional work."

Matt Oppenheim