Honister Slate Mine Via Ferrata

Honister Slate Mine, at the summit of Honister Pass between Buttermere and Borrowdale, is still a working slate mine, and the same company runs two via ferrata routes up the old quarry workings on Fleetwith Pike using fixed cables, rungs and ladders bolted into the rock. The Via Ferrata Classic is the original, intro-level route, taking around one and a half to three hours; the Via Ferrata Xtreme, listed at two and a half to three hours, adds overhanging rock, a wire span over a void, the Burma Bridge and a sky ladder to the top of Honister Crag.

Both routes use a harness clipped to a steel safety cable, and the operator asks only for a head for heights and the ability to follow instruction on exposed ground. The minimum age is 10 and the minimum height 1.3 metres, and ages 10 to 15 must be accompanied by an adult. Honister’s own pages give the adult’s minimum age as 16 in one place and 18 in another, and two different weight limits, so confirm both with the mine before booking. Honister sells both routes as all-weather activities, run rain or shine, with waterproofs and gloves essential, and booking is online. Honister says the route can only be done in a supervised group with one of its guides, and that it is strictly forbidden to access any part of it without one.

The setting is the difference from other via ferrata sites: this is an industrial quarry face, not a purpose-built adventure park, with slate spoil heaps, mine buildings and cable ways still visible below as you climb.

This suits anyone staying in Buttermere or Borrowdale wanting one adrenaline-heavy activity to break up a week of walking. The activity is not for anyone below the minimum age, or anyone with a fear of heights severe enough that a harness and safety cable will not settle it, since long sections are exposed; the Buttermere Lake Circuit, below the pass, is the level alternative.