  The paper is devoted to the study of lattice paths that consist of vertical
steps $(0,-1)$ and non-vertical steps $(1,k)$ for some $k\in \mathbb Z$. Two
special families of primary and free lattice paths with vertical steps are
considered. It is shown that for any family of primary paths there are
equinumerous families of proper weighted lattice paths that consist of only
non-vertical steps. The relation between primary and free paths is established
and some combinatorial and statistical properties are obtained. It is shown
that the expected number of vertical steps in a primary path running from
$(0,0)$ to $(n,-1)$ is equal to the number of free paths running from $(0,0)$
to $(n,0)$. Enumerative results with generating functions are given. Finally, a
few examples of families of paths with vertical steps are presented and related
to {\L}ukasiewicz, Motzkin, Dyck and Delannoy paths.
