Crossing the underground river of Vicdessos

Crossing the underground river of Vicdessos in Ariège is an incredible experience for caving enthusiasts, sportsmen, adventurers, families and groups of friends in search of thrills and discovery of nature. This activity, offered by Speleo Canyon Ariège, is ideal for discovering all the richness, beauty and variety of the underground environment in a friendly and fun atmosphere.

Le parcours débutant permet de s'initier aux techniques de progression souterraines telles que la descente en rappel, les resserrements, les laminoirs, les désescalades, les oppositions et les glissades aquatiques. L'équipe de moniteurs expérimentés vous accompagne tout au long de la traversée, vous dévoilant les méthodes d'exploration et d'orientation afin que vous puissiez prendre la tête de l'équipe pour terminer la traversée par vous-même.

We will welcome you in the garden of our center Speleo Canyon Ariege in front of a small coffee or fruit juice in order to present the activity and the topography of the cavity to make you feel super comfortable. To fully enjoy this experience, we will then provide you with suitable clothing (caving suit, river shoes, full harness and helmet with electric lighting)...

and the adventure begins!!

After a short approach walk in the forest, the cave finally opens up in the heart of the Ariège jungle. You will reach the 3 small easy abseil descents of 4, 10 and 3 meters, then engage in the passage of the "serpentine" to reach the large rooms of the cave.

The main underground river awaits you for a tonic descent through the large galleries. You will cross wet vaults and many water slides before ending in the mineral canyon, a unique experience that will remain etched in your memory.

Le canyon souterrain est une aventure originale, facile et accessible à tous, mais qui n'en reste pas moins riche en sensations. Vous pourrez admirer les merveilles de la nature sous un autre angle, découvrir les jeux de lumières et d'ombres, et peut-être même apercevoir quelques chauves-souris.

Crossing the underground river of Vicdessos in Ariège is an activity not to be missed if you are looking for adventure, discovery and thrills. With Speleo Canyon Ariège, you can live a unique experience, accompanied by a team of passionate and experienced professionals.

So don't hesitate any longer, book your adventure now and dive into the fascinating world of caving!

Experience a memorable bachelorette or bachelor party!

We make your bachelorette or bachelor party memorable!

This tradition has remained because it gives one more opportunity to experience special moments with friends.
Unique, surprising and always festive, this day remains engraved in the minds of the future bride and groom and his friends.

We organize this day with you in advance so that it resembles you as much as possible by choosing the canyon best suited to the group!

Nous vous proposons la formule spéciale EVG/ EVJF en canyoning :

"Le Marc Gourmand: pique nique brunch les pieds dans l'eau!"

Share a friendly adventure and an unforgettable event with the future bride/groom!

Your bachelorette or bachelor party with a unique service with us

From surprise to surprise, the descent of the canyon offers you frank laughs in an unusual and new place, surpassing yourself creating a strong cohesion in the group, adrenaline, challenge, fun…

We make sure to individualize our supervision as much as possible. Thus there will be one instructor for every eight participants and therefore more if necessary, to ensure a smooth and safe process throughout the descent, for maximum pleasure! Teaching quality is a major and essential asset for us.

Le canyoning : une activité qui réunit tout le monde!

C’est aussi l’occasion pour vous d’apprendre les bases du canyoning par un briefing complet de l’instructeur dès l’accueil ! Vous serez accueillis autour d'un café et d'un jus de fruits afin de vous expliquer le déroulement de la sortie, depuis l’équipement individuel complet jusqu’aux subtilités de la descente en rappel et du travail d’équipe !

Et pour que votre expérience soit la plus confortable, nos équipements sont neufs et de qualité ! Vous aurez des chaussures pro de canyoning pour encore plus de sécurité, et ça, ça fait toute la différence et c’est chez nous !

Et en bonus, des photos tout au long de la descente

Pour immortaliser cette journée unique, l'instructeur prendra des photos du groupe et de chaque membre grâce à son appareil photo étanche qui réalise de jolies photos! Elles vous seront envoyées par mail grâce à un lien.

Don't wait any longer to book YOUR day by challenging your friends to live a unique experience for a unique day, because you are the center of our attention!

Information and Reservation

Becoming a canyon crew member

With my friend Nico, we have gone on several mountain activities trips for our early summer holidays.

It is our special time away from our family duties to share adventure and freedom with each other.

After having tried out different nature sports, we became a little more interested in canyoning which combines a lot of techniques in an aquatic and vertical world.

This year, we are motivated to do more than just follow our instructor, we want to "get our hands dirty!"

I saw that there were courses to learn the first techniques in order to become a “canyon team member”.

A short training course to discover canyoning which takes place over two days. It also includes an E-learning course to prepare for the course.

Nico is excited by the idea, and we decide to register several months in advance to make sure there are still places available for both of us. We rush to study the online courses to prepare ourselves well.

What is a canyoning crew member?

The training program is intense and rich in learning! The mornings are devoted to theory, all aspects of canyoning are covered (general knowledge, organization of an outing) and in the afternoons we put into practice on cliffs and canyons.

A canyoning team member is a person who assists the leader of the outing to a certain extent (an instructor, a friend who is already independent, etc.).

This team member must therefore be able to descend, ascend a rope, hang on correctly, know the knots, understand the instructions given by his leader and many other things!

Nico points out to me that in addition to all the knowledge that we will acquire, the course is a good way to meet people. It is offered for small groups of 6 people who have done a few canyons in order to remain on a human scale.

Come on, be patient! Just a few more months of waiting and let's the adventure begin!

Bachelor and bachelorette party in the canyon!

This tradition has remained because it provides one more opportunity to experience special moments with friends. Unique, surprising and always festive, this day remains etched in the minds of the future bride and groom and his/her friends.

We organize this day in advance with you so that it resembles you as much as possible by choosing the canyon most suited to the group and it's free for the bride or groom! (Offer until June 26)

Your bachelorette or bachelor party with a unique service with us

And as a bonus, our professional photographer specializing in canyoning

And since we like to bring you the best, you have the possibility to book our professional photographer who will follow the group throughout the descent to immortalize the most beautiful, funniest, craziest moments. Arthur will make your experience even more memorable by capturing the most beautiful images of your day! And no need to wait to see them! The photos will be projected on a screen once you return to our center. So you can immerse yourself together in these highlights around the special bride and groom drink that will be offered to you to close this beautiful day!

Don't wait any longer to book YOUR day by challenging your friends to live a unique experience for a unique day, because you are the center of our attention!

Subra Canyon, a technical pleasure.

We organize this day in advance with you so that it resembles you as much as possible by choosing the canyon most suited to the group and it's free for the bride or groom! (Offer until June 26)

Your bachelorette or bachelor party with a unique service with us

Making canyoning an activity that brings everyone together

It is also an opportunity for you to learn the basics of canyoning with a full briefing from the instructor upon arrival! You will be welcomed with coffee, fruit juice, and cookies... to explain the course of the outing, from the complete individual equipment to the subtleties of abseiling and teamwork!

And to make your experience as comfortable as possible, our equipment is new and of high quality! You will have canyoning shoes for even more safety, and that is unique and it is with us!

And as a bonus, our professional photographer specializing in canyoning

Don't wait any longer to book YOUR day by challenging your friends to live a unique experience for a unique day, because you are the center of our attention!

Learn more

Chamjesk Adventure

The Chamjesk Adventure, a 3-day advanced canyoning course

A “Chamjesk Adventure”? Ok, but what does “Chamjesk” mean?

10 years ago, the Himalayan Canyon Team led by Rod Sturm, opened the way by descending for the first time "the biggest canyon in the world" at the foot of the Annapurnas (Nepal). The opening of this legendary canyon, named Chamje Khola (V7.A7.Ex), required the 11 participants more than 2 years of preparation, and the development of specific vertical progression techniques in "explo" mode, then 2 days of approach for 3 days of descent (2300m of vertical drop) to achieve this feat.

Today, the team of Speleo Canyon Ariege, led by Rod since 2004, after more than a year of reflection, prospecting and development of equipment is finally ready to welcome its trainees to give them a similar experience, adapted to their level.

Why such a professional approach? Why make the leap from an “associative and voluntary” adventure to the design of a commercial “product”?

Nowadays, the time for environmental waste is over, we all know that. And making an audience dream of adventure when they will have less and less chance of experiencing their own seems illusory and unfair. For the leader of Himalayan Canyon Team, only "Grey & light" expeditions and projects are still viable...

Rod with the team of Speleo Canyon Ariege decided to limit long trips and distant expeditions to refocus on the natural potential near their canyoning training center in Niaux, Ariège.

Thus, a mini-expedition in “Chamjesk” mode for an audience close to the Pyrenees seems much more coherent in order to allow initiated canyoners to live their dream of adventure, to share an experience with one of the pillars of the development and opening of international canyoning.

How can we share these extraordinary adventures with mountain activity lovers without going to the ends of the earth?

Rod and his team have imagined and developed a 3-day "combo" in the heart of the Ariège Pyrenees based on the model of the opening of Chamje Khola, aimed at amateur canyoners of all levels, in order to introduce them to the confidential world of canyon exploration through a unique program in the world. A great sporting challenge, respecting the environment, including two bivouacs, and reinforced by a specific educational program. This canyon improvement course will allow participants to train, perfect their canyoning autonomy techniques, strengthen their safety in practice, and finally, learn more and more... And it is certain that Arthur's photos will be circulating on the web for a long time to make more than one dream!

So what is the goal of this “Chamjesk Adventure”?

Linking three of the most beautiful and largest canyons in Ariège (Subra + Estat intégrale + Artigue), totaling more than 1000 meters of descent, and requiring two bivouacs, trained and supervised by Rod himself assisted by his essential photographer, Arthur Serres..

In order to descend safely, Rod, who alone will be able to supervise this advanced canyoning course, will teach trainees new exclusive techniques for descending large canyons and numerous tips to help them improve their autonomy in the activity.

The internship program will therefore include the preparation of this mini-expedition and training in the basics of information collection allowing the smooth running of such a challenge. A private screening of the 52mn HD film by Chamje Khola for a better understanding of the issues and to sharpen everyone's motivation.

Thus, prepared and trained, the small team of 6 trainees maximum will be ready for theaventure et l’exploration.

The activity will begin on the first day with the descent of the Canyon de Subra (V3.A2.III), including training in autonomous and team progression techniques and training in de-equipment techniques. Participants will be introduced to the specificities of the expedition (safety, reading, communication, efficiency, speed, equipment, etc.). Then in the evening, a comfortable bivouac at the foot of the canyon will allow you to recharge your batteries.

The next day, after a long approach walk of almost 3 hours, the highlight of the show will take place. The descent of the Canyon d’Estat intégrale (V4.A3.IV) which has never been descended with “clients” because it is a long descent of more than 700m of elevation gain, requiring technique and endurance. Improvement in the techniques of progression in autonomy and in a team will therefore be essential in order to progress quickly and safely. All this is completed by training in the techniques of de-equipment and optimization of the “expedition mode” (safety and mutual assistance of pairs, efficiency and speed, “light technique” and equipment, etc.). In the evening, at the exit of the canyon, the 5-star Chamjesk bivouac will take place: unforgettable!!!

Then on the third day, after a short transition walk, the descent of the Canyon de l’Artigue (V3.A3.III), much more aquatic than the two previous canyons, will allow a complete wash of the whole team. The Artigue is a classic in Ariège, and in order to bring something new to the participants already familiar with this superb canyon, the objective will be to progress independently and as a team with the assistance of Rod. Training in aquatic progression techniques (reading and analyzing obstacles, helping pairs and making decisions, anticipation, jumps, fun and safety, etc.) will allow team members to descend this canyon almost alone – And for those who want more, the (optional) link-up with the little Marc canyon (V3.A3.II) will be the icing on the cake!

Why come canyoning with us this summer?

Why canyoning with us?

At Spéléo Canyon Ariège, you are welcomed in our canyoning center around a coffee to get to know each other. We take the time to introduce ourselves, get to know each other and explain the program for the day. We provide you with the equipment from A to Z, starting with canyoning shoes, the complete neoprene suit, the harness and the helmet. With us, you are above all a trainee, big or small, we train you in canyoning descent techniques. This is why you will have a complete briefing at the entrance to the canyon to be able to move safely along the course. We have been teaching each person according to their level and their desire to learn for several years now. You will benefit from the unique know-how of instructors who are also international canyoning trainers! With family, friends or for a bachelor party, we always adapt to our audience. After having enjoyed the outing, we meet at the center to have a drink and talk with you about the day.

What is canyoning?

First of all, canyoning is an outdoor activity in the mountains. Lovers of nature and wide open spaces will be able to enjoy themselves and take in the view. The idea is to descend into a gorge or canyon. To do this, you go up to the start of the canyon, this is the approach walk. The duration of a canyon varies depending on its size and its approach walk. It varies in the Vicdessos valley between fifteen minutes for the Marc canyon and two and a half hours for Estat canyon. Once you reach the beginning of the canyon, you will descend using several techniques. The first and essential one is to walk in the water, on the rocks. Then, depending on the obstacles you encounter, you will be able to jump into a "pot" of deep water. If jumping is not possible, you may be able to slide down a slide or descend on a rope by rappelling. Of course, no jump is mandatory for us. When you arrive in the water, you will swim to reach the next obstacle. The obstacles are often waterfalls of varying sizes.

Why is canyoning good for you?

Canyoning is a mix of several activities, between walking, swimming and rope, you use all your muscles without even realizing it. You spend yourself with a smile and that's good for hanging out at the beach afterwards. Your brain is busy analyzing an environment it doesn't know. Suddenly, it no longer thinks about the effort it is making or the work that remains to be done at home. Everyday worries fly away in a waterfall of fresh water. Faced with more or less difficult obstacles, everyone faces their fears and challenges. Surpassing oneself is at the heart of the activity. It's still super cool to turn around to see that you have gone down that rappel or jumped that waterfall, it's not every morning that you do that, it makes you smile and it works the zygomatic muscles, one more muscle that works!

To spend a unique moment in the heart of nature, in the heart of the Ariège Pyrenees Natural Park, where you can surpass yourself while being accompanied by professionals, it's happening with us!

So, what are you waiting for to go canyoning with us this summer?

Our first canyoning experience

Our discovery of canyoning

With a group of friends, we decided this year to get together to practice an outdoor activity in the heart of the Ariège mountains.

So much choice! That being said, we had heard about canyoning, a trendy, adventurous and very "natural" practice that we know absolutely nothing about.

Our curiosity and need to be together, in the middle of nature, pushed us to do some advanced research on the internet. We found a definition: "canyoning consists of progressing in the bed of a watercourse winding through gorges interspersed with waterfalls. The descent techniques practiced are walking, swimming, jumping and sliding and abseiling on ropes".

This activity seems to meet our expectations exactly, fun, sensations and discovering a new activity… but being a complete beginner, there is no way I am going to try this alone!

A few more searches easily lead us to find a list of professionals offering descents of different levels, difficult to choose... Finally we called on Spéléo Canyon Ariège, canyoning professionals who seem very serious, who detail the different routes very well on their website and who, moreover, offer a very reassuring personalized welcome. We chose with Rodolphe, the instructor, over the phone the course best suited to our level. Great, we're off on an adventure this weekend, and what's more, it'll just be the six of us, my friends and I, just between us!

It's time to leave Toulouse, excited but a little tense because it's a leap into the unknown for us. The short hour on the motorway relaxes us, we all reach the canyoning base in Niaux... we'll have a good look on site because we're already arriving...

After getting to know the instructor over a coffee, he presents us with the program and photos of the activity, Arthur his photographer, as well as the specific equipment for the descent. Une approche très rassurante autour d’un petit café, parfait.

Distribution du matériel spécifique, à savoir : un équipement pour se protéger du froid (combinaison néoprène intégrale et chaussettes, chaussures de canyoning, casque) et un équipement pour pouvoir franchir les cascades (harnais, cordes, mousquetons, descendeurs canyoning, longes etc...). Puis nous partons sur le site au village typique de Hourré, magnifique !

Après une très courte marche d’approche ombragée, nous nous équipons de tout cet attirail. Notre moniteur nous enseigne préalablement les techniques de progression : marcher dans l'eau sur des rochers plus ou moins glissants, nager, descendre en rappel des cascades, sauter dans des vasques, glisser sur des toboggans de roche et même communiquer entre nous par signes. Alors l'aventure commence ! Car il s'agit bien d'une aventure ! Le milieu naturel est inconnu, escarpé, surprenant… On pénètre alors dans une gorge taillée dans la roche et découvrons un monde minéral incroyablement coloré.

Le moniteur prend la tête de notre petit groupe, chacun avec un sac remplis de cordes… Puis après quelques minutes de marche, le bruit d'une première cascade se fait entendre...

The instructor approaches slowly, takes a small rope out of his bag and attaches it to anchors firmly sealed in the rock. He thus installs the access "handrail" which allows us to be at the edge of the waterfall in complete safety then the abseiling ropes. . Here we are at the top of a waterfall of about ten meters overlooking a large pot of clear and limpid water. The place is magnificent! Although this first waterfall is a little impressive, our preparation exercises at the beginning of the canyon help us to cope. Our instructor reassures us by reminding us that he is there to help us, to teach us how to do and secure our descent… We follow his instructions. He cheers us on happily, and we surprise ourselves by being able to rappel down for the first time by ourselves with such "ease", if you can say so! Hence the importance of going with an experienced person and being in a team so that we can help each other during the descent.

The photographer doesn’t miss a thing, he’s everywhere at once, once perched above us, another on his own rappel rope on the other side of the waterfall! Luckily he’s there to immortalize our exploits because we don’t have too many of our two hands!

Once at the bottom of the waterfall, freed from the rope, we emerge from this incredible shower created by the cascade of fresh water with a powerful feeling of success and surpassing ourselves! A first feat for all of us, who are all novices in rope techniques!

Rock and water, sun, freshness, and above all "fun"... Joy can be seen on our faces. Cliffs several meters high surround us and we are there, our feet in the water, contemplating this little paradise without any more pressure... A few trees at the top of the cliffs wave their shady branches, cutting off the light and contact with civilization. Our entire team is very excited to be able to discover this new wild playground which will still have many surprises in store for us. A succession of small waterfalls, slides and various progressions, up to this magnificent gigantic final "pot" where we will discover the pleasure of jumps from different heights... What a program!

Back to the Spéléo Canyon Ariège base where we proudly debrief with our instructor over a little fruit juice and some welcome snacks. And to finish in style, our photographer offers us a small private "showroom" to show us a selection of the most beautiful photos of our adventure!

Thank you to the whole team for sharing your passion, we will definitely be back.

Gaëtan et Marie 

New Zealand Canyoning Festival

A canyoning festival in New Zealand

In February, the NZ (New Zealand) Canyoning Festival took place in this beautiful country at the end of the world. The event was organized by the NZ Canyoning Association. Places are limited but not expensive, $80 to register online. It's best to book in advance. The concept is simple: get together to go canyoning together and talk about our shared passion. The festival took place over three days.

The day before the festival, rescue drills were held supervised by LandSAR NZ, the official search and rescue service in New Zealand, in partnership with the NZ Canyoning Association and the Christchurch Alpine Cliff Rescue team. On the first day, workshops were held. One of these was called; Walking Like a Ninja. The workshops perfected the skills of moving from rock to rock, adding a ninja touch to the move. Then everyone met at the canyon base, at the Oxford Cultural Centre, Canterbury, for a meal. It was an opportunity to meet up with people from the canyoning community who were in New Zealand, as well as others who had come specially from overseas. For me, it was an opportunity to meet up with familiar faces, some well-known at Spéléo Canyon Ariège (SCA), and to meet new ones.

carte nouvelle zelande dessin — L'île du Sud de la Nouvelle Zélande

The first night, over a buffet of build-your-own burgers, I met Adrien Paris, who now lives in New Zealand and with whom wehad been canyoning a while earlier, as well as Gus Schiavon. Both were canyoning photographers at SCA and they were the ones who trained me. It's been a while since we've been together and it was a pleasure to see them again! George Yates was also there, a former intern of Rodolphe at SCA. He now owns his company in Scotland, The Canyoning Company, with whom he offers sports trips in Ariège. I had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions. Other former trainees and acquaintances of Rod were there, I was able to meet Andrew Humphrey, Usa Colorado, Toine Hountenbos, Abel Tasman NZ and Mike Barnett,Hawaii, Usa.

The canyoning world is not that big, the activity is still young, especially in New Zealand, we find each other easily and that was the goal of this first evening; to meet up for a beer with a burger while laughing hard. The next day, we went canyoning, we had to decide where. It was difficult but we managed to agree on Curtis Creek, in Arthur's Pass. On the V4A2III side, with an hour and twenty minutes of ascent for three hours and twenty minutes of descent, it seemed appropriate to us to do a pleasant and sporty canyoning outing together.

Arthur's Pass Nouvelle Zélande — Arthur's Pass

We met up in front of the famous Sheffield Pie early in the morning. Well, early in the morning, there were two who managed not to find the meeting place and who arrived like flowers half an hour late. Our team was composed of Adrien, Gus, George, Mike, Camille the only Kiwi of the expedition, Pitt an Australian who works in a canyon company in Queenstown, Laura the only French of the expedition and me. The road to reach Arthur's Pass is superb, it lasts almost two hours, especially with an old Toyota van. When we arrived there we dropped off the second car at the exit of the canyon and we started the approach walk under a beautiful sun in the Ottira valley. Grey clouds clung to the distant peaks of the valley.

ottira vallée nouvelle zélande canyoning — The Ottira Valley

We found ourselves in front of a large scree slope that was quite steep. During the climb, the gray clouds gathered and a light rain surprised us in our swimsuits. We arrived too high compared to the entrance of the canyon and we had to go back down a little.

pierrier canyoning nouvelle zélande — Climbing the scree slope

We got kitted out in the rain before starting the descent through the New Zealand bush, an experience in itself. We didn't really know where the entrance to the canyon was but we had to go down. We finally got there and the descent could begin, the rain had passed, we could enjoy the adventure.

bush bash down curtis creek nouvelle zélande canyoning — "Bush bash down" as the kiwis say

Rappel cascade canyoning nouvelle zélande curtis creek — The first waterfalls of Curtis Creek, in a plant-filled atmosphere at the end of the world

The beginning of the canyon consisted of some pretty wet waterfalls, George went ahead with Pitt like rockets, equipping the obstacles. I took pictures. We went down quite a few rappels, before finding ourselves facing the big sixty.

rappel canyoning nouvelle zélande cascade — Camille in the Curtis Creek rappels

Mike barnett canyoning nouvelle zélande cascade — Mike Barnett in a waterfall

adri Paris canyoning nouvelle zelande rappel — Adri Paris

In front of us the landscape opened up onto the large viaduct that crosses Arthur's Pass. The bottom of the river was sixty meters lower. The descent facing the majestic scenery is indescribable, we pass under a powerful waterfall, and we abseil down the large wall, telling ourselves that few people come this far. For a moment, nothing matters but this moment. The rest of the world has disappeared and we can be fully present in every gesture and every second. Everyone enjoyed this beautiful passage.

Cascade canyoneer nouvelle zélande canyoning — Pitt is first to set off down the sixty

george yates cascade soixante canyoning curtis creek nouvelle zélande — George Yates in the sixty meter with the viaduct in the background.

Soixante metre curtis creek canyoning nouvelle zélande — The sixty meter seen from below

We followed the river across to the viaduct. We walked along the road to the second car. The rain started again as we were changing. We headed towards Oxford, Gus was showing a film of an expedition he had been on, the screening was that evening. We shared a beer and laughed about our adventure in the rain in our swimsuits.

equipe canyoning festival new zealand — The team at the exit

It was a great adventure to find ourselves together on the other side of the world for this canyon. Between former SCA trainees, we were able to take full advantage of our skills acquired in France and discover some of the most beautiful canyons in the world! We were able to discuss the different projects that are being set up and we were able to meet around a common passion, for a moment of joy and sporting laughter. So if like us, you dream of getting off the beaten track, I invite you to contact Rodolphe and train with him.

For more New Zealand adventures, check out my personal blog!

An Indian expedition to Slovenia

Slovenia before the expedition to India

We left with Rod from Tarascon-sur-Ariège early in the morning for Slovenia. That was where the preparatory meeting for the 2020 expedition to India was taking place. We were going to meet canyoners from all over the world. Adrien Paris is a renowned French videographer, who you may know, since he learned his trade at Spéléo Canyon Ariège. He was coming from Montenegro with Julien Fichot, a French canyon photographer, and Louis Rogissart, a Belgian instructor. All three had spent the summer season at Adriatrek Canyon and were driving back from the Balkans. Olda Stos, a leading canyoneer in Eastern Europe, originally from the Czech Republic, was joining us for the weekend from Brno. His partner Katka Hebka was supposed to be there but due to a medical problem she was unable to join us. One of Olda's teammates in the 2018 expedition to Chamjé Khola, the Italian Jari Triboldi, would also be there with his girlfriend Lia. They were coming from the Aosta Valley. A Slovenian canyon photographer would also come from the capital Ljubljana, it was Ziga Humar.

Yann Ouzoux, who participated in the Chamjé Khola 2011 expedition alongside Lionel and Rod, who worked in Ariège for a long time and is now president of the association Himalayan Canyon Team, will be live from Reunion, the island this time, to participate. But I admit that the one who interested us the most in the truck while crossing France in its length before attacking Italy, was Lionel Rias. Lionel, besides being an excellent caver, had worked for years with Rod in the Chassezac canyon and both had participated in the 2011 Chamjé Khola expedition, but above all, above all, Lionel had an apartment for the night in Kobarid, Slovenia, and that was worth all the gold in the world.

After 14 hours on the motorway, we met up with Lionel to spend the night. The next day, the three of us went for a tour of the Slovenian Alps around Bovec before meeting up with Adrien, Julien and Louis in Ljubljana. It was on Friday that we met the entire team, in a lodge near Bovec, for the first meeting concerning the 2020 expedition. The idea was to open the Khoksar canyon in India, in Himachal Pradesh, at the start of the Himalayas, after the famous Rohtang Pass, in the Spiti Valley. Opening a canyon is no small feat. You need information about the canyon itself, of course, its height difference, its configuration, but also about the surroundings, the weather conditions, everything. The meetings were a way to take stock of the information already collected, and about the team. Because going down a canyon where no one has been before is also a team effort. Everyone in the team has specific tasks, everyone has their role, and everyone is linked. Behind these names that have already done great things in the world of canyoning is a human being. Everyone is alone facing themselves in these extreme conditions and well, it's good when you face your fears to be well surrounded.

Various meetings took place during the stay. The team was formed; Rod, Olda, Jari, Lionel and Yann will ensure the technical aspect in the canyon, Adrien will be with them to film the adventure. On site, an external team will be present in case of need for intervention, with Julien and Katka. Locals like Monish Dave and Titli will help with the preparations. A helicopter was made available to the team. The roles of each person were distributed to prepare the expedition, the technical aspects were discussed, the planning and the organization on site, the logistics and the communication. Adrien and Julien presented their film project for the expedition. Adrien will be at the heart of the action to cover the event but his project is larger and more human than making a simple action film. A crowd founding will soon be opened by the way if you want to participate in the adventure!

To bond the team and to get to know each other in canyoning, it was a question of going to practice all together. The second day, we went to the Kozjak canyon. You should know that the Julian Alps, in Slovenia, are a magnificent place. The setting is superb, beautiful massifs stand imposingly around the Soca river, it is a superb playground for canyoning. Kozjak, not far from Kobarid, is a fairly short canyon, very steep, cut into the rock, rated V4A5II. The team met at the entrance to the canyon and everyone launched into this large fault. We only put a rope at the end, facing a waterfall about twenty meters high. Faced with each obstacle in the canyon, everyone jumped hop hop hop, it was not easy to follow! A waterfall? We jump. Another one? Same. As we left the canyon, we were asked to practice rope cutting near the river with its turquoise blue waters.

The next day, we went for a walk in the Predelica canyon, a little longer and more technical. It was a good opportunity to put into practice the techniques developed by Himalayan Canyon Team in their previous expeditions. The beginning of the canyon is superb, open to the peaks opposite, very mineral. We alternate between slides and abseils, then a long horizontal progression, and the last part ends with a beautiful 45m waterfall. It was interesting to see the techniques put in place by the team, to test the theory on the ground, to see what worked and what didn't.

After these few days spent in good company, we parted ways. Everyone went back to their own business, while waiting for the next meeting to finalize the preparations for this promising expedition! To be continued...