Outdoors and wildfire - Mountains
The Telluride Via Ferrata, a free cabled route across the box canyon
A free, locally maintained cliff route below Ajax Peak that asks for real respect and offers a long traverse high above the box canyon floor.
Published June 10, 2026 - Last verified June 15, 2026
At the east end of the box canyon, on the south-facing wall below Ajax Peak, a line of steel cable and iron rungs runs across the cliff. Climbers call it the “Krogerata,” after Chuck Kroger, the welder and mountaineer who built the route with friends in the mid-2000s. After he died of pancreatic cancer, a few of his companions picked the work back up, partly to honor him.
The route traces a ledge-and-cable system high on the rock, with sections left un-cabled on purpose so you have to read the natural holds the way Kroger liked. It is free and open to the public, now looked after by the Telluride Mountain Club, which keeps a sustainability fund going on small donations.
This is not a walkway with a view. The exposure is serious, and the club is plain about it: an accident here could have fatal consequences. You need a harness, helmet, a via ferrata lanyard with shock-absorbing arms, and locking carabiners, plus the skill to use them. The club strongly recommends hiring a local guide.
If the south wall has been calling to you, read the route details and current conditions straight from the people who maintain it at telluridemountainclub.org/via-ferrata.