Canyoning

Nepal has huge potential in adventure activities like mountaineering, trekking, canyoning, rafting, paragliding, mountain biking, honey hunting, etc. Canyoning is famous in Sundarijal (Kathmandu), Pokhara, Jalabire (Chitwan),etc. In Vietnam you can try in Dalat, its call "Dalat Canyoning Challenge", organized by Viet Challenge Tours. In Japan they have both "kyanioningu" and (sawanobori) the later being the sport of climbing up canyons and gorges. Taiwan has both canyoning and a sport called river tracing that typically involves traveling upstream.

Canyoning in the United Kingdom has gained in popularity over recent years. In the UK, Wales, Scotland, Cumbria and Yorkshire and some areas of Cornwall are recognized as the prime locations for this activity. In the Welsh language, canyoning is called "cerdded ceunant". It is also referred to as "gorge walking" or "ghyllscrambling" [1] which the UK Scout Association defines as "the activity of following a river bed through a gorge. This often includes climbing, swimming, abseiling and scrambling depending upon the environment".[2]

Ticino, Switzerland, is a popular canyoning destination because of its granite rock, crystal green pools and its pleasant Mediterranean climate. Some nice and popular canyoning spots can also be found in Slovenia, Italy and Austria. Spain has also emerged as a popular canyoning spot, owing to its warm climate and abundance of rock formations conducive to canyoning. Portugal also has canyoning in the Azores and Madeira.

In the United States, descending mountain canyons with flowing water is sometimes referred to as canyoning, although the term "canyoneering" is more common. Most canyoneering in the United States occurs in the many slot canyons carved in the sandstone found throughout the Colorado Plateau.[3] Outside of the Colorado Plateau, numerous canyoneering opportunities are found throughout Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and the Pacific Northwest. Canyons can be found in the San Gabriel, Sierra Nevada, Cascade, and Rocky Mountain ranges.[4]

In Arizona, there are hundreds of canyons found inside Grand Canyon. Several mountain ranges and wilderness areas such as the Sierra Anchas, Mazatzal Mountains, Santa Catalina, West Fork of Oak Creek, and West Clear Creek Wilderness also have many technical canyons.

Canyoning is common in Australia in the many sandstone slot canyons of the Blue Mountains National Park, known for their technical abseil starts and lack of fast flowing water.[5][6]

In South Africa, the term "Kloofing" is used, which is derived from the Afrikaans word 'kloof', meaning 'gorge' or 'ravine'. It has been adopted by English-speaking people (mostly in southern Africa), to mean the activity described above. The word is used in a similar sense to canyoning and canyoneering. The word (and activity) has been in use in South Africa since about the 1920s and probably earlier.[7]

Canyons with significant water flow may be treacherous and require special ropework techniques for safe travel. Hydraulics, undercurrents, and sieves (or strainers) occur in flowing canyons and can trap or pin and drown a canyoneer. A 1993 accident in Zion National Park, Utah, USA, in which two leaders of a youth group drowned in powerful canyon hydraulics (and the lawsuit which followed) brought notoriety to the sport.[8]

A potential danger of many canyoning trips is a flash flood. A canyon "flashes" when a large amount of precipitation falls in the drainage, and water levels in the canyon rise quickly as the runoff rushes down the canyon. In canyons that drain large areas, the rainfall could be many kilometers away from the canyoners, completely unbeknown to them. A calm or even dry canyon can quickly become a violent torrent due to a severe thunderstorm in the vicinity. Fatalities have occurred as a result of flash floods; in one widely publicized 1999 incident, 21 tourists on a commercial canyoning adventure trip drowned in Saxetenbach Gorge, Switzerland.[9] Authorities in Switzerland have set in the last few years high standards on safety, "Safety in adventures" label is becoming the standard for all companies to prove they are following the standard safety procedures.[10]

Mystery Canyon, Zion National Park

Temperature-related illnesses are also canyoning hazards. In arid desert canyons, heat exhaustion can occur if proper hydration levels are not maintained and adequate steps are not taken to avoid the intense rays of the sun. Hypothermia can be a serious danger in any canyon that contains water, during any time of the year. Wetsuits and drysuits can mitigate this danger to a large degree, but when people miscalculate the amount of water protection they will need, dangerous and sometimes fatal situations can occur. Hypothermia due to inadequate cold water protection is cited as a cause of a 2005 incident in which two college students drowned in a remote Utah canyon.[11]

Canyoning via packraft in the U.S. southwest deserts.

Some canyoneering, especially in sandstone slots, involves escaping from large potholes. Also called "keeper potholes," these features, carved out by falling water at the bottom of a drop in the watercourse, are circular pits that often contain water that is too deep to stand up in and whose walls are too smooth to easily climb out of. Canyoneers use several unique and creative devices to escape potholes, including hooks used for aid climbing attached to long poles and specialized weighted bags that are attached to ropes and tossed over the lip of a pothole.

Narrow slot canyons, especially those narrower than humans, present difficult obstacles for canyoners. At times a canyoner is forced to climb up (using chimneying or off-width climbing techniques) to a height where one can comfortably maneuver laterally with pressure on both walls of the canyon. This tends to be strenuous and can require climbing high above the canyon floor, unprotected, for long periods of time. Failure to complete the required moves could result in being trapped in a canyon where rescue is extremely difficult. Past rescues have required extensive rigging systems and dishsoap to extract stuck canyoners.[12]

Narrow sandstone slot canyons tend to have abrasive walls which rip clothing and gear, and can cause painful skin abrasion as a canyoner moves or slides along them.

Immersion in water may lead to exposure to diseases such as Weil's Disease (Leptospirosis), dermatitis and gastroenteritis. Ingestion of water should be avoided and taking a shower immediately after canyoning or gorge walking is recommended.[13]

Canyons are changing environments and falling rocks, including chockstones, are not uncommon. A moving chockstone caused Aron Ralston's 2003 accident where he was forced to amputate his forearm.[14]

Many canyons are located in remote areas with limited or sparse trails, and due to their harsh environments, straying from established areas can be dangerous.[15]