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.

Segnas

Segnas

I DID IT  !!!!

Finally i was able to do it !! This is the most beautiful canyon on the planet.

It's very difficult to find the right conditions, the right day to do it, this year we have been the only team to attempt and succeed in this descent. Oops, i just discovered that a small team did it end of october, with more water.

There are hundreds of people in Europe ready to jump in a car, drive 10 hours, even leave their job or family, just to have the possibility to do this canyon, but it's really so hard to get it !

We start in the fog, in the clouds, in wet and humid conditions

Higher there is some more visibility, for a short time, the canyon is coming down on the right in this apparently little depression

Team ready at the canyon start: Pascal, Andreas, Christoph and XXX

It goes immediately narrow and very nice, here a little siphon, if you like cold water !

He has done this canyon 3 times, lucky guy !

A complex drop, the carving here are crazy, there are many arches, it's always narrow

An apparently quiet section

From this belay we go deep down again in the narrows

Some holes in the rock are really unique, to understand what it is you have to be inside and see it !

Some sections where too dark to make pictures but i did all i could, we used our headlamps for a short section

Some combination of holes and arches are so funny you have to create your own rappel line, for Andreas it's the 4th time in this canyon, luckiest man on canyoning planet !

The flow is high but not too dangerous today

So impossible to describe it !!

Another narrow caving sized section

We are at the end ! We couldn't see the bottom in the fog until the last rappel.

I did some good pictures but it's very difficult, there is water splashing everywhere, no much time because you don't want to be inside there if the water level increase. There is no easy escape here, except you can leave a rope halfway hanging in the canyon.

Vorab

Vorab

A quite special caving style canyon, super narrow and crazy carvings in the rock, a masterpiece of this region of Swiss !

I am again in the region Graubunden, near Flims, we check the canyon from the ridge, quite narrow !!

I am with Andreas, very strong canyoneer...

...and the frog !  It just stopped to rain.

This canyon is really narrow and complex, sometimes you have to climb without the bag

Or climb up to avoid the narrow, it's US style !

But in US you don't have water flowing !!!

Crazy rock shapes, i love that.

Fun ! It's not very deep, 10 to 25 meters, but gorgeous !

A kind of nice spire

The flow is high, just right to have some fun 

We reach a high waterfall, down the narrow keep going

The rock layers change color and texture

A very good canyon !

Not far from the end

Andreas on the last rappel