Via ferrata climbing

He came to Zillertal 11 years ago, not without an ulterior motive at the back of his mind, as he freely admits. This valley, south of the River Inn in Tyrol, is proud to claim it is the world’s most active, and this native of Wernigerode definitely appears to have internalized the superlative. Aside from skiing, sledding and the fitness studio, he found his true love in the form of fixed-cable climbing. His “playground”: the via ferrata in Talbach, where the mountaineering stages quickly turn “red” and then “black”, rated difficult to very difficult. Where the rockface is virtually vertical and, deep below, the river thunders through the rocky canyon. Here, the 32-year-old is in his element, clambering up craggy cliffs like a gecko, sashaying along the ropes, pulling himself nimbly towards the top; everything as if in slow motion. Whereas your average Joe Blow could easily take one and a half hours for this balancing act, Maurice tames the climb in barely 20 minutes. A truly crazy dude, in the most positive sense, who has been known to jump over burning beams in the Spartan Race and crawl right through barbed wire. Believe it or not, times used to be different. Back then, Maurice, who was trained in hotel management, was lethargic, lived unhealthily, and let himself go. But then he resolved to follow his inner voice (»The mountain is calling and I must go«), eventually signing on with Bründl in Fügen.
Today, the Sales Department Manager says: »Sport makes me happier. I respond to customers in a whole different way.« And in the meantime, he has also conquered his fear of heights. The mountain is calling indeed …