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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!