Australian seeking advice on European Canyons

Joe · Message par **Joe** » ven. 16 sept. 2005 07:37

Hello,
My name is Joe Bugden and I live in Sydney, Australia.

I am currently planning a two month trip to go Canyoning in various parts of Europe next Summer.

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advise on the following:
*When is the best time of year to come to Europe for Canyoning
*Where are the best places to go Canyoning in Europe
*Which are the best guide books available
*Where is the best place to buy those books
Basically any information you think might be help-full.

My friend and I have experience in high-flow canyons and have done canyons in various parts of America, Canada and Australia.

Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if anyone is interested I have videos and photos of Canyons I have done in the three countries listed above.
http://imageevent.com/bluecanyons/american
http://imageevent.com/bluecanyons/australia

The photos I've seen of European Canyons look awesome and I look forward to experiencing them in person.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon,
Joe Bugden

franck74 · Message par **franck74** » ven. 16 sept. 2005 09:21

Hello Joe,

I hope to come one day in Australia, since i have seen a nice web site about canyoning in blue mountains. Perhaps yours?

Well, now trying to answer:

When : depending of where ! Between april and october is a good choice. In april you can go to south Europe countries, like Greece/Crete/Spain.
If you plan to come in Summer during 2 months, i think you can go to North Spain/France (pyrennees, then Alpes)/Italia/Switzerland and Slovenia.
Best places are in the list i just gave. But you will find really a lot of interesting and beautiful canyons in Sierra de Guara (Spain), Alpes maritimes (France), Piemont & Lombardie (Italia) and Tessin (Switzerland).
Best guide books you can find on this web site under "bibliotheque". Most of them are in French (on this site, all), other in europe are mainly in Italian or spanish, few in German. Some of them you can buy directly, and this is again written in the "bibliotheque" web page i believe, or you can find the web site of "Expe", www.expe.net, which i think can sell some of the books and probably send them to Australia.

You say you have experience in high flow canyons, that's good. I have few experience in north american canyons, which are very beautiful but very few water compare to what you can find in Europe, even if in summer you will find low flow in most of them.

Have a nice trip, don't hesitate if another questions come to your mind.
You must ask precisons on this site to Caracal, who is a figure of canyoning in France, as he has almost done canyoning in all the regions of Europe.

Cristophe · Message par **Cristophe** » ven. 16 sept. 2005 16:01

Hi joe,
If you plan to come in the French riviera, drop me a line, and I will be happy to show to you some good one !
C U

Koen · Message par **Koen** » sam. 17 sept. 2005 03:06

Hi Joe,

Ask your fellow countryman Dave Noble for info on Euro canyons, he comes here every odd year for a month or so.
The period to choose depends on the region you want to visit: for some areas you'd want to go april/may (Guara for instance), for others it may be late august (the high Pyrenees or some parts of the Alps).

I'd say: start by picking the region(s) you absolutely want to visit and ask again which period is the best for those specific areas on this list - there's some "expert" on each region reading this.
If I were you I'd visit the central Spanish Pyrenees and the French Alps near the Meditarrenean. Those are the "classic" regions but you can find nice canyons anywhere in Europe where there are mountains.
You can find topos on the net and in every good outdoor shop in the mayor canyon regions. Not in English though...

Hint

the EFC/ACA International Canyoning Rendez-vous will be held next year on the isle of Crete the second week of april. Some of Europe's most impressive and little known canyons there.

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » dim. 18 sept. 2005 22:06

Euh, y a pas quelqu'un qui peut me traduire parce que je comprends pas un mot d'anglais. Et je suis trés frustré de ne pouvoir rien dire (d'intelligent

)

jc06 · Message par **jc06** » dim. 18 sept. 2005 22:21

A part que Christophe veut lui en montrer une bonne, et qu'il ya des canyons pas connus en Crete...

Hey Joe, if you plan to come in the south of France, you must join Caracal. he knows every canyons from this region. good ones... and worst ones

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » dim. 18 sept. 2005 23:26

Et en plus il en rajoute. Je comprends vraiment pas un mot de chez pas un mot ! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh !

JC tu as eu mon message ?

Cristophe · Message par **Cristophe** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 01:35

[quote="jc06"]A part que Christophe veut lui en montrer une bonne!/quote]
JC, faut qu'on arrete de parler de la garagiste

Koen · Message par **Koen** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 04:58

Et en plus il en rajoute. Je comprends vraiment pas un mot de chez pas un mot ! Arghhhhhhhhhhhh !

JC tu as eu mon message ?

Joe demande quelles sont les regions les plus sympa en Europe pour faire du canyon - il veut venir deux mois l'année prochaine.

Apres ta demande de traduction on lui a repondu qu'il faut surtout pas aller en canyon avec toi à cause de ton mauvais gout - en canyon et ailleurs. C'est pas moi qui a dit ça, moi je fait l'effort de traduire

'

Joe · Message par **Joe** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 05:23

Cristophe Posté- Hi joe, If you plan to come in the French riviera, drop me a line, and I will be happy to show to you some good one !

Thanks for the offer, if we make it over there i will get in contact for sure.

the EFC/ACA International Canyoning Rendez-vous will be held next year on the isle of Crete the second week of april. Some of Europe's most impressive and little known canyons there.

Nice one!

I'd be very interested in attending this. If we were to come to Europe for April /May / June what other areas would be 'in season' around this time..

Thanks everyone for the replies.. the trip is looking more and more like it WILL happen.

I realise the language barrier is a big problem, but appreciate all your efforts.
Maybe this page can help http://www.google.fr/language_tools?hl=fr

Ask your fellow countryman Dave Noble for info on Euro canyons, he comes here every odd year for a month or so.

Really? which Dave Noble?
Ranger Dave ( http://www.lisp.com.au/~daven/canyon.htm ),
-or-
School-Teacher Dave ( http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dnoble/canyoning.html )

I've spoken to Ranger Dave before, but only know Teacher Dave by name.

cheers
Joe Bugden

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 18:48

Arggggggggggggggggggh. Encccccccccccccc........ Le pire c que je ne peux même pas vérifier. Bon, je ne dis plus rien

assel · Message par **assel** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 18:59

tu as bien quelques notions non : software,hardware, parking, surfshop

etc

Marie · Message par **Marie** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 19:20

Arggggggggggggggggggh. Encccccccccccccc........

tu as bien quelques notions non : software,hardware, parking, surfshop

etc

F...ck ?

Désolée, c'était un effort de traduction des énervements caracaliens...

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 19:22

Parking, compris. A part ça, le topic étant sérieux on arrête dans parler ici. On fait un nouveau sujet. Je suis une brel et je ne parle pas anglais !

Cristophe · Message par **Cristophe** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 19:28

A, pour t'aider, rappel se traduit par "rappel" et cascade par "cascade" corde par "corde" et canyon par "canyon" te voila déja mieux...

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 19:36

Vous pouvez pas lui demander de rentrer les fiches canyons de l'australie dans la base.

Hi Joe, what renseigned the base of canyon the canyons australian. Thank you !

je fais des efforts !

Cristophe · Message par **Cristophe** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 19:51

Hi Joe, what renseigned the base of canyon the canyons australian. Thank you !

I can translate this by
Can you please, fill the memorandum slip with the Australien canyon you know!

assel · Message par **assel** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 20:00

So,
Bertrand has to change the European map to a huge earth-3D map to locate regions of the southern hemispher

Caracal · Message par **Caracal** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 20:33

Cascade est le mot que je traduis le plus en étranger :
Water fall, vodopad, slap, catharakis, cascata,...etc

Dialogue en Bulgarie

Vodopad diaprovo
né vodopad
Da vodopad (hurlement de joie)
Dobre

assel · Message par **assel** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 20:40

Cascade est le mot que je traduis le plus en étranger :
Water fall, vodopad, slap, catharakis, cascata,...etc

Dialogue en Bulgarie

Vodopad diaprovo
né vodopad
Da vodopad (hurlement de joie)
Dobre

excelle,t le bulgare tu peux falls simplement pour cascade ex niagara falls
et corde c'est rope et COCA_COLA c'est COKE

Cristophe · Message par **Cristophe** » lun. 19 sept. 2005 21:07

Et moi qui essayais de faire simple

Jujuvert · Message par **Jujuvert** » mar. 20 sept. 2005 09:20

Hi Joe ! My name's Julien. I'm from the south of France near Nice but currently I'm studying at Sydney University ! I've been doing a lot of canyons in southern alps and I can give you some information. So just send me an email. See you.

Julien
julien.vert@m4x.org

Laurinette · Message par **Laurinette** » mar. 20 sept. 2005 18:06

if you like high water, then in april to june, you can go all over France, excepting high mountains such as Oisans. Around Chamonix a few canyons should be in good conditions.
It's probably the time of the year when you will have the biggest choice.

Anyway, just have a look at the date base in descente-canyon, and you will see at which time of the year each canyon is most often done. That should give you a good indication.

There is a multilingal spanish site on which you can find a few informations in English:
http://www.barranquismo.sitio.net/
this site is a bit slow, though.

Good to know, some of the italian 'Gole & canyon' guides are writen in italian, french and, most important .. english!

franck74 · Message par **franck74** » mar. 20 sept. 2005 18:38

Well, if you come earlier to attend the Crete meeting (i don't know the canyons of this island, but some peoples say it's one of the best place in europe with some of the most beautiful canyons), then you can continue your trip in Grece. Then come to France (but forgot Oisan as already said, too much water!) and Spain, where you can go not only to sierra de Guara but also to Baleares and Andalousia where there is some chance that you get some water.

Just be carefull that both in Spain and France there are some laws regulating the canyons, and some of them are forbidden in april-may. The best is to send your plan before you come and people will say you what is allowed or not. For some of them, you also need special permission as they are located in "natural reserves".

You cannot go to Tessin (too early).
Bye.

Koen · Message par **Koen** » mar. 20 sept. 2005 20:55

the EFC/ACA International Canyoning Rendez-vous will be held next year on the isle of Crete the second week of april. Some of Europe's most impressive and little known canyons there.

Nice one! I'd be very interested in attending this. If we were to come to Europe for April /May / June what other areas would be 'in season' around this time..

Really? which Dave Noble?
Ranger Dave ( http://www.lisp.com.au/~daven/canyon.htm ),
-or-
School-Teacher Dave ( http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dnoble/canyoning.html )

April/may/june would be good for a whole lot of Euro canyons. The classics in the Pyrenees would be good, same for the Alps.

Talk to Ranger Dave and his wife Jules, they're the ones. Don't know the other Dave neither.

Watch out for the Crete details on the Aussie group, I'm still waiting for a few details before posting all info there. But it'll be the second week of april (the week that includes Easter), that's already sure.

And let me know if you want to hook up or get info on canyons in the Pyrenees or the Spanish countryside, that's my neck of the woods. But in may or later, I'll be most of april on Crete.

PS the first week of Crete we'll be organising an EFC course on the island. I can check to have you along as an "observer" if you're interested. That way you'll leave mighty impressed and invite us over to Australia to teach similar courses

Koen