Ferrata 360°
Immersive tours of the Swiss via ferratas
A route page gives a grade, a length, an elevation gain, technical figures. Ferrata 360° gives something else: the route itself, photographed from the cable, followed as though you were there.
What you see
A 360° panorama is not just one more photograph. A cover photo is chosen: it shows the most photogenic section, from its best angle, on a day when the light was good. A panoramic survey chooses nothing. It records whatever stood around the lens at that exact spot, including everything a photographer would have kept out of frame.
That is precisely what makes it useful. Looking up from a survey point, you see what is left to climb. Looking down, you measure what is already behind you. Turning on the spot, you find out whether the ladder is pressed against the rock or hanging over the void, whether the ledge is walked flat-footed or on tiptoe, whether the lifeline follows a sheltered gully or crosses a bare slab with nothing around it.
No grade tells you that. A grade summarises technical difficulty; it says nothing about the feeling of exposure, which is what actually makes people turn back halfway. Two via ferratas of the same grade can look alike on paper and have nothing in common once you are on them.
How a route is surveyed
The 360° panoramas are shot on the route itself, during the ascent. That is the condition for what you see on screen to match what you will see on site, at the same height and from the same angle.
Each shot is then placed at its true position along the line, its horizon is levelled, and its viewpoint is turned towards the continuation of the route, so that the tour always opens in the direction of travel. The 360° panoramas are finally linked to one another in both directions, which lets you move from one point to the next and retrace your steps. At junctions each branch is connected separately: a variant does not lead back onto the main line by accident.
Every via ferrata has to be climbed first, then each panorama is processed one by one, by hand, to reach the best possible quality. That is why coverage grows only gradually.
What it does not replace
A virtual tour shows a route as it was on the day of the survey. Rock moves, cables wear, operators close sections, snow lingers late at altitude and returns early. Nothing shown here removes the need to check the opening status, the weather and the conditions with the operator or the local tourist office before setting out.
Nor does it remove the need to judge your own ability. Having seen a section is not having done it, and a route that looks manageable from behind a screen can demand a physical commitment the image does not convey.