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Canyoning "Cormor" (Valmalenco, IT)


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 Amazing canyon mostly underground. Check out the video below to get an idea.

The canyon consists of 2 parts:

  1. The first segment is a bit easier and with fewer "fully blind" sections. It starts just under the dam and it ends with a nice, high waterfall and a little lake.
  2. The second segment starts immediately after the waterfall. Walk a few meters along the path (not more than 100m) but do not hesitate to go back into the rocks. Initially, it is difficult to understand where to walk, but the answer is usually "as close to the water as possible". There are a few narrow, dark passages that make this section really beautiful. After 10 minutes of uncertainties (stay close to the water!) you'll find the first rappelling point, and from that point, the canyon will be more intuitive (but still dark and narrow). The canyon ends in a forest of big stones and from there follow a path to the village (5 min or so).

Notes

  • Bring a headlight (don't go in without)
  • Equipment ok
  • Dark and maybe scary, but not difficult. Flow is usually low, take it easy.

Resources



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Canyoning: Chli Schliere (CH)


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Another great day of canyoning :)
Destination: "Chli Schliere", very famous in Switzerland, and very much exploited by guides and "adventures companies"!

Practical info:
  • Descente-Canyon page: here!
  • Parking: 46.941581, 8.242187
  • Super-mega well equipped. You'll find fixed ropes and a lot of bolts. I'm not even sure whether you actually need to bring your own rope or not (but take it, obviously!)
  • We probably did it with a low water level, and it was absolutely fine. As usual, with a lot of water everything is more difficult.
  • You'll find many nice (and long) tobogas, some nice jumps and several abseils. Check before jumping, on several occasions the water height in the pond was 1.5m or so... not that much!
  • Timing: 2h if you don't rush, we even skipped some jumps and tobogas because we were not sure about the water level, so we spent a bit of time handling the rope. But we were only 2..
  • Overall it's a very nice canyon, not special though. Good for a half-day activity, but plan something else for the afternoon - or do it twice :)

Access

From the parking: follow the road that ends after a few hundred meters, take the clear track on the left that begins with some steps. Follow the steep track for 30 mins or so, until it reaches a wider track, almost flat. Take the right and keep walking for a few more minutes, until the track descends rapidly to the water (see also the description on Descente-Canyon).
From the car to the water you'll need 45 mins (or even less).

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Canyoning - Cresciano (CH)


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Image result for canyoning cresciano
(Picture from Google!)

 Great day of canyoning last Saturday, in the Cresciano canyon (Ticino - CH).

 The canyon consists of an upper and a lower part. 
The upper part is long and requires (a lot) of rappelling. Not much water and many dry parts. Still beautiful (especially the very beginning), but probably not as amazing as descente-canyon makes it look like.
The lower part is very short, the atmosphere is a bit different and it's probably a bit more fun. Still, not exactly an "aquatic park" as one could expect after reading the descriptions.

 Here some useful info:
  • Parking (for the upper part): not-so-easy to find, so here to coordinate: 46.293433, 9.008019 Anyway follow the indications on descente-canyon. We met some french guys that were using the "Eldorado Ticino" guidebook and they ended up in the totally wrong place..
  • You will have to pay 10 CHF (or 10 EUR) in COINS to be able to drive on the road that goes to the parking. And when you drive up again to pick up the first car, you will have to pay again... no comment.
  • Call the hydroelectric company (you'll find the number online), they will tell you if you can go and they will not operate their plant as long as you are in (or at least I think so).
  • This is an amazing sketch of the canyon.
  • The rock here is granite, and this means problems. We destroyed one rope because we didn't do enough "débrayage" and in another waterfall we couldn't pull down the rope because of the friction with the rock (yes, we had to go back up..). So, be super careful with the rope, keep moving it up and down and always choose the right rappelling point (sometimes there are more than one a few meters apart).
  • Most of the anchors are on one single bolt.. that's pretty sad. Anyway, they all look decent.
In conclusion, it was a very nice day of canyoning. We started (in the water) at 12 because we had to drive a couple of hours in the morning (+ traffic jams), find the right parking spot (1 h or more), walk a bit to get to the river.. it was definitely too late, but obviously we had a different timing in mind. It took us 5 hours for the first part (including 1 h to release the rope that got stuck). The second part was much quicker, though you will still need to use the rope a bit.

As I said before, we had higher expectations considering the score on the guides (online and books). But it was still nice and propaedeutic :)


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Discesa del rio Caldone in Val Boazzo (LC)


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Una bella discesa nella provincia di Lecco, in val Boazzo. Lasciata la macchina poco prima della sbarra (come dicono le relazioni) si prende subito il sentiero che scende ripido nel bosco (l'attacco del sentiero è proprio nei pressi della sbarra). 10-20 minuti di discesa e si entra in acqua, pronti per i primi tuffi e qualche rapida calata. 


Il famoso "sifone" di cui parlano tante guide in pratica consiste in una calata sotto una cascata, che termina in una poccia da cui l'acqua esce abbastanza rapidamente attraverso due passaggi stretti tra le rocce. In sostanza bisogna stare un po' attenti al risucchio per evitare di esser colti impreparati, comunque nulla di troppo difficile.


Alcune belle calate e tanti salti in poccie generalmente abbastanza fonde; verso la fine abbiamo trovato perfino un paio di scivoli. Quando passate sotto il viadotto siete vicini alla fine (c'è ancora un pezzo piuttosto semplice ma con qualche piccola calata).


Thanks to Simo e Mauro (e tutti gli altri!).

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