Viva La Ferrata! A Via Ferrata scoping review and research agenda

Via Ferrata is a hybrid outdoor sport, pursued by recreationists and tourists, consisting of attributes of hiking, mountaineering, and rock climbing and facilitated by specialized equipment like harnesses and carabiners that can be fitted into permanent routes outfitted with features such as iron cables, stairs, ladders, and bridges. The growing popularity of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism during and after the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an increased interest in Via Ferrata, especially in North America. This growth presents unique destination, route, and sport development and planning opportunities and challenges for service providers, land managers, and professional mountaineering associations. These challenges are compounded by co-occurring global crises, such as climate change impacts on seasonal access to mountainous and high-altitude terrain. Despite this, Via Ferrata remains an understudied phenomenon, especially in North America, and is often explored within the context of mountaineering and other more generalised outdoor sport research, or from interdisciplinary, engineering, and medical perspectives. Based on a scoping review of the extant English-language academic and industry literature on Via Ferratas, including North American industry web materials and popular media coverage of the growing popularity of the sport in that region, this study: 1) catalogues how and where Via Ferrata research has been conducted, including regions studied and main research themes, 2) articulates academic perspectives on the emergence and establishment of Via Ferratas in Europe and industry, management, and popular media perspectives on the expansion of Via Ferrata to and within North America not documented in the extant academic literature, and 3) defines future avenues for global Via Ferrata research. Thematic analysis revealed that a unique field of Via Ferrata scholarship is needed to inform the continued development and management of the sport. The establishment of a Via Ferrata research agenda is therefore proposed, and theoretical and management implications are explored. Like the development of organized hybridized recreational activities (e.g., hiking and climbing) on popular mountain summits, Via Ferratas are facilitating access to formerly relatively inaccessible and sometimes, highly ecologically sensitive areas (i.e., mountains, canyons). Since Via Ferrata activities and in some instances the scholarship of this type of recreational activity has historically been entangled with other mountain and high-altitude outdoor sports, a greater understanding of the growth and transformation of this hybrid recreational activity through a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and international scoping review of Via Ferrata is warranted. In-order to understand and better manage the anthropogenic impacts of this recreational activity, a Via Ferrata research agenda should explore among other themes, destination development and route planning, sport management, constraints to and outcomes of participation, and would benefit from industry-academy collaboration. • The unique equipment and route features of Via Ferrata make it distinct from hiking, mountaineering and rock climbing. • Via Ferrata scholarship is limited and has historically been entwined with other mountain and high-altitude outdoor sports. • To inform the continued development and management of the sport, a unique field of Via Ferrata scholarship is needed. • Research should explore destination development, route planning, sport and risk management, and constraints and outcomes.