The Professionals

My passion for canyoning began over 20 years ago when I was a teenager! Mountain sports have always been a part of my life, with family and friends. Climbing and canyoning have been my main activities.

After having traveled numerous canyons in France and abroad, I began an international professional career in canyoning in 2013 which allowed me to work mainly in Bali, Quebec and New Zealand. This experience was very rich in lessons, sharing and encounters.
I've always been interested in sharing knowledge. After spending ten years teaching in the French National Education system, my career change to canyoning was accompanied by a canyoning instructor course so I could continue teaching, but this time, it was my passion!

A state-certified canyoning instructor in France since 2020, I joined the Speleo Canyon Ariege team, which also supported me during my international career, because I share values ​​that are essential to me: sharing knowledge, "we are stronger together", mutual aid and team spirit, and the desire to offer the best to our customers.

Since 2024 I have taken over the reins of the Speleo Canyon Ariege company that Rodolphe created in 2004. I am very motivated to write a new chapter with you but I am keen to keep the "SCA" spirit both in the quality of our welcome and our services and to offer you unique experiences that you will remember!

What makes me most happy is allowing you to surpass yourself and set yourself challenges whatever they may be and seeing your smiles shine at the end of the day! Good humor and smiles are simply contagious, so I look forward to seeing you for this unique experience!

Romain is joining our team this year in 2025!

After a first career as a building thermal engineer in Switzerland, I decided to follow my passion for outdoor activities. I first obtained the climbing instructor diploma, then, a few years later, that of canyoning instructor, in order to share this discipline ideal for enjoying beautiful summer days. I then obtained the caving instructor diploma, thus expanding my possibilities to introduce our clients to the underground environment.

After two years as a climbing instructor in the magnificent calanques of Marseille-Cassis, I felt the need to move to the countryside. Ariege area naturally came to me for its wild character and the incredible diversity of activities it offers. I joined the Speleo Canyon Ariege team because of their professionalism, their work ethic, and the importance they place on customer satisfaction.

Today, I am delighted to share with you my passion for climbing, canyoning and caving, guiding you through the natural wonders of Ariège.

Passionate about nature and wild spaces since childhood, I studied ecology. But I quickly realized that I wanted to explore nature rather than describe it behind a keyboard.

Continuing my studies, I obtained two state diplomas, one in caving and canyoning, and the other in mid-mountain guiding.
I have made several long-distance trips to explore wild areas of the globe: Patagonia, Amazonian Yungas, remote areas of the altiplano, New Zealand...

After many nomadic adventures and incredible love stories that took me across the planet, I decided to settle in Ariege. A mountainous region that made me dream with its wild expanses, its forests and its numerous caves and rivers.

Due to my sensitivity and my studies, I try to take environmental protection into account as much as possible during my outings. I do not use chemicals to clean my equipment. I use rechargeable batteries for caving. If the journey to get to an activity is long, I transport up to 8 people in my minibus to reduce the carbon footprint of the outings.

I lead canyoning courses to offer you an immersion in rivers and nature. I also lead caving courses to explore the 6^th continent the last place on earth that has not yet been fully explored.

During my outings I try to get off the beaten track and off the overcrowded aqua-land, and to encourage autonomy, learning and sharing.
This is why I joined the Speleo Canyon Ariege team which was sailing in the same waters with the same direction.

Passionate about adventure and exploration, I've been traveling vertically for over 30 years! I descended my first canyon in 1987 in the Pyrenees. A new passion was born!
These mountain activities became my reason for living, I obtained my first professional diplomas at the beginning of the 90s and then I built up solid experience in supervision to this day.

In 1999, I got involved in a new activity: caving.

During the period that followed, I regularly crossed our borders to join expeditions in Morocco, Vietnam, Laos, Kinnaur, Thailand, etc. With these new experiences, I in turn organized a series of Canyon expeditions in Nepal from 2004 to 2012 and founded the Himalayan Canyon Team (HCT) association.

Then in 2011, I organized the opening of the “Biggest canyon in the world” at the foot of the Annapurnas, “Chamjé Khola 2011” (V7.A7.Ex – 52 hours of canyoning).

In 2016, I left the International Professional Canyoning Organization (ICOpro) to found Universal Canyoning Academy (U.C.A) which is still a benchmark in international professional canyoning training.

Since then, this has allowed me to live my passion, travel to teach it, but also to develop and promote canyoning around the world.

In 30 years of experience, more than 20,000 people have descended gorges with me, I'm waiting for you!

“Sharing a passion cannot be improvised!”

Immersed in the mountain environment since I was very young (at the age of 12), I was lucky enough to be able to practice many outdoor activities, including climbing. I quickly enjoyed this practice and I decided to train regularly until I obtained my BEES Climbing and Canyon instructor diploma in 2006.

Often an excuse to go on weekends and travel, climbing is a sport that has allowed me to emancipate myself, to assert myself and to meet a large part of my friends. An individual sport in which I confront myself but where it is necessary to be in pairs (to be sure) and which is very friendly when I share it with a group of friends.

I quickly got into canyoning (in 2009) after meeting Rod and Yann, who trained me, and with whom I was able to share travel/expedition experiences, particularly in India and Thailand, and follow international canyoning training courses which taught me a lot.

Since 2008, I have been working on via ferrata, climbing sites and canyons in Ariege within the framework of various local structures until I joined forces with "SCA" several years ago thanks to a common sense partnership in which we share our knowledge/techniques/equipment and can respond ideally to our customers.

Today my main activity for Speleo Canyon Ariege is canyoning, for which I am available in August.