Fluaz

Fluaz

Descent of this huge canyon, finally we did it but in difficult conditions

This is the start place, in the upper valley there is the Gavirolas canyon we did the day before; today the other 4 teammates decided to go back because it was lightly raining during the walk in, they missed a great day

From the first meter the canyon is extraordinary, the carvings are crazy, smooth

We can climb a lot and rappel only short drops 

There are plenty of rock arches, it's really gorgeous

and here a siphon, too deep and cold to dive it ! Today i am with Manu and Vincent

WE are very excited and too quick

Here a little jump, it's all 4 stars level !

Water is quite high but not a problem here

Little nice drop

After this slot the canyons open for a very long section with plenty of complex waterfalls to rappel and climb, we are descending for many hours until we reach the last big waterfalls dropping into the artificial Lac da Pigniu

The water flow is high and we have some hard time

I'm down after the last big drop !

Vincent and Manu rappel the last 40-50 meter fall;
many hours of descent to get out, we had to place anchors and still many drops don't have a bolt. This canyon like others in this region and in the Oberland are possible only in this period of the year and you need to be lucky with meteo and snow. It took us many years to be able to do those canyons, the good period is really very short and some years  you can't go there ! Like the Segnas canyon i did after waiting 3-4 years, in 2013 i was the only one to do it with 3 friends ! And also in Fluaz we have been the only one this year !

Gavirolas

Gavirolas

Good canyon at high altitude

We are high in the Grisons mountains, above the Lac da Pignu, the start today is close to the snow line in the left of the picture, in the center is the main Fluaz canyon, the upper part of this gorge is not very interesting, the are few waterfalls and a couple of narrow sections with lots of rocks

Lots of gear to prepare, we are many people, it's good we can better share the gear, in those canyons you have to be ready to put anchors, this canyon has been done only a couple of times before

Good trails here, like in all the Swiss, this is more or less the altitude of the canyon start

After some more walk we reach the canyon start; we are immediately inside a little slot, nice rock, there is some ice we have to be careful.

Now a section with very narrow falls, american style slots, but here there is flowing water and it's cold !!! Some we can climb but not all of them

The rock changes and we go trough this excellent narrow, there is a nice arch just behind the corner

Class C canyon, people would say in the USA...

After we exit the narrow on a big 60 m waterfall

But a couple of falls are again very narrow, that's not very common in the Alps

So in a short time we reach the main Fluaz canyon, part of the team decide to stop, i continue with Manu and Vincent and we descend a part of Fluaz,  we do 5 more drops and we have to set anchors. We will continue the next day to finish this long trip. Here we have another kind of rock, layers are changing making the canyon shape often different.

USA - Glen canyon

USA - Glen canyon 

Another trip in this great playground, a world class place to do canyon descents, you cannot compare this land to others , special features, special gear and anchors, high quality canyons for hundreds of miles...

Our little camps is ready on the beach

On the approach, slick rock, easy walk

Higher in the walk, the view is always stunning

Make your way down with style !

An arch in a canyon

Another great panorama

Problem solving is the most interesting challenge in this slot canyons

Waiting for anchor setting

Some lights are possible only here in Utah

Another little drop to solve

Some more walking up, we did a few different canyons around

Don't miss your entrance

Nice swimmer

Narrower section

A bigger drop is round the corner

Coming out from a dark and deep section

In this part of the trip i visited a lower section of the colorado river, under Lake Mead, this is a hot spring in a side canyon

There are some thermal springs and hot water to enjoy !

Those dams where made from boaters to better enjoy the hot water

We climb up, there are 4 different canyons with thermal water flowing down, pretty special place

So hot here, you have to run out quickly !! Hot canyons! Everybody dream of this !

Sun set on the Colorado, end of this great trip !

Talbachfall

Talbachfall

Short canyon with an excellent final waterfall

It really look like a winter expedition ! We had a recent snowfall so we came here, it's a short canyon not too difficult

Good trail as usual here, this area is included in the Unesco world heritage

Peaks are smiling up

Suit up time, we are 7 with 2 ladies, it's pretty cold !!!!

All is slippery we have to be careful

First part is not very exciting, it's a good warm-up, i would say a cool-down !

Some technical rappels, some very showery ones... not very easy

A nice frozen smile, it's not possible to do those canyons in
summer, too much water.

Nice rappels

Same from the bottom

The final drop, we are going through this arch, it's very special.

From the bottom, the water here has a lot of power, if you get caught it's really hard !

One more coming down

I climb up on the arch and can do some more pics

Nice view from here !

On the way back home i get this typical Swiss panorama, Heidi cartoon land....

It was hard but not too long except for the walk in, walking is good to warm up and store some heat for the canyon descent.