Via ferrata delle Trincee (Mesola-Padon)

The trenches in the name are real. Two sections of the route run inside tunnels cut into the Padon ridge during the First World War, and between them the climbing is on open rock along the crest, with Marmolada standing across the valley.

The start is the hard part: a wall that leans back at you, with very few places to put your hands, where the cable does the work. Above that first pitch the ferrata eases into ridge climbing, graded B/C overall and C at the beginning, exposed for most of its length. The descent gives no trouble.

• Gear: a via ferrata set with a shock absorber, and a helmet. The opening pitch overhangs with almost no holds, and the cable carries you through it.
• Route-finding: around the middle of the ferrata the markings thin out, and people lose the line there.
• Water: there is nothing to refill from near the route — carry the whole day's supply.
• Toilets: the nearest toilets are free and about 600 m from the route.

From Arabba the route is reached by cable car. From the Fedaia side the walking starts earlier: the nearest car parks and the bus stop by Lago di Fedaia lie around 1.4 km from the route, and the approach from there is on foot. Two information boards stand within a couple of hundred metres of the start, close enough to read before you clip in.

Better: an early start. The route takes half a day to a full day, and around seven hours is realistic once stops for food and photographs are counted in.

Avoid: making this your first ferrata. It opens at grade C on a wall that leans back, and the poorly marked middle section costs time you may not have.