Becoming independent in the Argensou canyon

The Argensou canyon and the journey towards autonomy

After a few outings in canyon, the idea came to follow a path in this field. To be able to progress, it was necessary to become autonomous. For this, Rodolphe offered training as an autonomous canyoner in June. Here I am embarking on the autonomous adventure.

I met my training colleagues, French. Together we followed the training course, between theory and technique and we had a good laugh, I must say. One fine day, we left with the equipment towards the Argensou canyon to put into practice what we had learned.

The weather wasn’t really with us, a little fine rain settled on our suits and it wasn’t that warm for a month of June. But we weren’t there to sunbathe, we wanted to become independent in canyoning. The Argensou canyon is a very easy canyon to begin canyoning when you are supervised, for us it was a challenge.

Everyone had a workshop to equip, we concentrated on knowing how to do it. The first time I found myself alone in front of the rope, it was something. What should I do again? And if I'm wrong... Concentrate, breathe, find the right solution.

Finally it worked, I set up a rope for the first time in rappel and I went down on it. I still had some doubts about the equipment. How could all this hold up? I was treated during a rope cutting exercise. I stayed a good twenty minutes above the void, a teammate had cut the rope following the procedure but something was wrong without putting me in danger. After that, I no longer doubted the equipment and for twenty minutes at the edge of the waterfall I had time to understand the fear of heights.

The training was very interesting, both in terms of canyoning and on a personal level, without forgetting the human side. We had spent a week together with colleagues, it was a good time for exchange and sharing. After this week we were autonomous in canyoning, we were certified by Universal Canyoning Academy and Rodolphe Sturm. It was the opportunity to move on to the next step.

If you are also tempted by the autonomous adventure, take a look at the training here: autonomous canyoner training