Canyonism

The canyonism is an activity of nature connected with the Spéléologie, with the hiking, the Escalade and the Alpinisme on the one hand, and the sports of waters running on the other hand. It consists in progressing in the bed of river whose flow goes from weak (sometimes no one for the " canyons secs") with important, in portions where those walk on in narrow throats or ravines, with cascades varied heights (max 350 m in Metropolitan France).

One uses also the English term canyoning , but the sporting federations which manage this activity prefer the terms with French consonance like canyonism or descent of canyon .

Generally, the progression follows the bed of the brook. It is carried out mainly with foot, but also with the stroke or by using the techniques of progression on cord usually used in Spéléologie, in particular the Abseil.

The courses not presenting any difficulty neither with respect to running water nor with respect to verticality are called watery excursions . On the other hand, the progression by strong flow requires a good control of the Nage out of running water, and the progression in the barred ravines of many cascades requires good knowledge in the operations of cords. The canyonism is thus a specific discipline which requires a good experiment and various knowledge to be practiced in full safety.

The ludic, consistent canyonism in a succession of jumps and toboggans, such as it appears in many reports, represents only part of the activity. This practice can take a commercial aspect when professionals (monitors of climbing, of speleology or guides of high-mountain in general) frame occasional practitioners in canyons showing various characteristics: race of average length to short, easy access, little walk in the canyon, tallies esthetic. Regular and autonomous practitioners seek contrary to the more difficult and/or less traversed sites. Some, finally, seek the wild aspect particularly, and practice then the Wild-boaring , where the principal motivation is exploration and not the technical difficulty.

Attractions of the canyonism

The relief and the climatic conditions and geological local and regional determine a large variety in the courses allowing the practice of the canyonism. The throats notched in grounds limestones present the most vertical walls, offering to the practitioners the extraordinary occasion to go or swim in a corridor of which the width (or rather narrowness!) can be lower than one meter, for a height of several tens of meters. Under other conditions, the passage of the obstacles met pleasing to try out various aspects of the activity which make the happiness of the practitioners. Certain rock projections passed in de-escalation. Cascades are descended in recall, in the spray of water in the event of very low flow or in the fog which surrounds it. The clusters of blocks in which the risings released from the passages give sometimes the impression to walk on in a labyrinth whose water run-off to the low water level is the wire of ARIANE. With the precautions of use, certain projections and cascades can give place to spectacular jumps in often limpid water basins, but sometimes so stagnated. Lastly, certain passages constitute true natural watery toboggans in which it is possible to be let carry. These toboggans are rather rare in calcareous medium, which often remains, under erosion, rough and laminate. One finds the best toboggans in the granitic canyons (Corsica, the Pyrenees-Atlantic and the Eastern Pyrenees, Savoy), basaltic (Réunion), or on gneiss (the Eastern Pyrenees).

Equipment of the practitioners

The equipment of the practitioners includes/understands the individual equipment and the utility service.

The individual equipment at least includes a combination neoprene, a helmet, shoes not fearing water, and a Baudrier of canyonism (or a cross-belt of climbing with a protection against abrasion) equipped with two longes and a chute.

The utility service primarily consists of cords, of material of progression (snap hooks, declad, additional chutes), of material of safety and help (cord of help, material of increase on cord, first-aid kit, lamp, etc). It is divided in the group, and is transported in bags perforated to allow the fast evacuation of water. The material having to remain safe from water is placed either in tight bags (for the soft objects: clothing of replacement, sandwiches, etc), is in tight cans (for the hard or sharp objects: cellphone, cans, etc). These tight cans have also as a function to make float the bags (if there is not enough of it, one replaces them by more or less empty plastic bottles).

The most traversed sites of canyonism comprising of the passages in recall themselves are often equipped: permanent artificial anchorings are set up to mitigate the absence of adequate natural anchoring. They must make it possible to place the cord so that the descent can be carried out under good conditions, while making possible the recall of the cord since bottom, after the descent of the last team-member.

Dangers of the canyonism

If the canyonism combines many attractions of the activities which it approaches, it presents of them also the dangers, related on the vacuum, the ground and running water. The accidents must with several factors.

Engagement, first of all, because much of races do not present or few possibilities of leaving the course before its term (in the contrary case, one speaks about escape ) or of going up it in opposite direction. The rise of water and the extraordinary increase in the flow caused suddenly by a storm on the catchment area of the river, constitute the principal danger then and are the cause of the majority of the noted accidents fatal. It is thus vital to engage only with adequate weather conditions.

Then, the ignorance of the dangers of running water is source of many accidents. Many people are found indeed trapped by the water movements to the foot of the obstacles (toboggans or cascades) because they did not know to locate the risk.

Another factor, the unconsciousness of the dangers related to the ground. Thus one never should station in bottom of a recall because of the risk of stone falls. Lastly, the very ludic character that the canyonism presents under the optimum conditions for practice, can cause to reduce the taking into account of the objective risks, or can bring to this activity of the people insufficiently conscious of the incurred dangers. To plunge in a basin, to jump or slip in togoggan without checking as a preliminary the absence of obstacles in the basin and the depth of this one, can cause serious accidents.

Ecological impact

This activity is often suspectée to degrade the Biotope S private individuals which the rivers constitute. Certain associations ecologists ask for the stop of these practices or that certain rivers are sacrificed for the practice of this sport but that others are preserved by it. Considering these problems, the " commission canyon" French federation of Speleology made realize in 1995, by the laboratory of Biology of the Faculty of Science of Orsay, an impact study of the activity. It proved that the main issue which can be met is trampling in the zones with gravels and sands, leading to a reduction in the number of individuals by species during the season. The impact on the very rock canyons, like often are traversed by the professional guides and their customers (Llech, Maglia, Blache, etc) is thus reduced. In addition, when one or not sees the violence of the risings, natural, or of the periods of high waters, which have an impact even more important on the aspect of the river, the modifications caused by this sports activity can appear ridiculous.

The compliance with simple rules by the practitioners (if there is less than 40 cm basic, one cannot swim, therefore one walks on the side of the river) can strongly decrease the impact on the very traversed canyons. To note that in the very vertical canyons, where the practitioner meets only rock and not gravel, the ecological impact is by the clearly decreased fact, even non-existent (there still, the variations of flow represent impacts much more important than the passage of practitioners).

Official external bonds

French School of Descent of Canyon
Section canyon of the French federation of the Mountain and the Climbing

External bonds

Centre-formation-Canyon.com: Site dedicated to the mountain with the training of the practitioner of descent of canyon.
Descente-Canyon.com: the French-speaking gate of descent of canyon
France-Canyon.com: the site dedicated to the mountain, directed sports, photographs and vidéos, with a privileged discipline: descent of canyon.
iCan: International Canyoneering Association & Network
Italian Canyoning
German Canyoning
Cañones there barrancos
American Canyoneering Association

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