Ticino, Switzerland. A granite playground.

I had heard fantastic things about European canyoning and decided to take a stab at it. I was fortunate to be connected (via mutual friends) with the RIGHT people in Ticino (Southern Switzerland). I owe these new friends a great deal of gratitude.

Here is some eye candy and musings from a couple of days of adventures:

Some thoughts about canyoning in Europe:

1) Popularity: Canyoning is really a thing here. It’s advertised, there are TONS of guiding services, equipment rental shops, and a WHOLE LOT of canyoneers. It’s shocking, even compared to prime-time Zion, how popular canyoning is here and how mainstream it is. (You dont have to explain to people what your sport is…over, and over, and over again),

2) Toboggans/Slides: OH MY WORD!!! I’ve done a few toboggans in British Columbia before but they really mean business here in Europe. I sat at the top of some of these asking this question: Seriously…is this really a toboggan? Some start as a slide and then turn into a free fall, some are disjointed (for a moment you go airborn and then return to the slide), Some are REALLY REALLY long!

3) Jumps: They jump A LOT here in Europe. Technical jumps (ones that require certain skills to come out alive), Matrix style runs that lead into a jump, BIG BIG drops. 30-40 ft drops are not uncommon and there was zero hesitation with the folks I went with.

4) Heli-canyoning: It’s a thing… In Ticino for about $40-50/person (with a full chopper) you can be airlifted to the start of your canyon. Between the heli-canyoning outfits and the rescue helicopters I’ve never seen air traffic like this in my life, little lone over a canyon. It should be noted that rescues are common and I was told that waiting >30 minutes to be airlifted out is extremely uncommon here. Anyone traveling to switzerland to canyon should look into obtaining REGA rescue insurance! It sounds like they’ve really got the rescue thing figured out here.

5) Anchors: BOLTS, BOLTS, BOLTS. Natural anchors aernt a thing here. The anchors are placed just in the perfect spot for correct rappel lines.

6) Control of access: Some of the canyons here in Ticino are dam controlled. The proper process is to call the water district and they either give or deny you access to the canyon based upon water release rates. You must check in at the start and check out when you are finished. Forgetting to checking out could potentially initiate a rescue. Information such as how many canyoneers are actively in the canyon at that moment are available.

Oh yeah…#7: The color schemes are a bit different….