Maui

Maui

Canyoning and more in this famous island.

We did 4 canyons, some hiking on the top volcano, we had some stormy days and it was a problem for the canyons, quite dangerous to  go in the wrong place, no rescue is available here at the moment. Some limitations are due to the private properties and also local people don't allow access to many forests.

with: Jane, Megan, Nivalda, Jason, Sonny, Calius, Ira. 

Dave Black joined us in a couple of descents.

We are a big group, descending this nice canyon, Dave Black is coming with us.
We will need the same time for the descent and for the exit, using our lamps...

Wonderful fall

Easier one, water is often deep for some jumps...

Another nice fall, everything is quite big, i imagine when it's raining seriously...

We reach the shore at the end of this canyon

Some local spiders, very nice looking

Another canyon, just a part of it, the whole canyon is too long for our group

Everything is green around, not easy to organize an escape if necessary !

Water brown, we can't jump much, and the rock is very slippery, hard to stand up !

Same canyon 2 hours after we where inside, a flood came down...

We switched to the dry side of the island and did a dry canyon

All the bed is lava carved by some occasional water, the peak in the background is 3000 meters high !

She likes it big, heeeey, i meant the anchor !!!

Here you can see rainbows all time, and also doubles

The shore is so green here

Sacred pools canyon exit, too much water to swim in there !

Interesting fish...

Last canyon we did, water flowing, also ending on the shore.

Another special local spider !

Mystic view of some huge waterfalls, there is a lot to explore here !

Drying stuff before leaving the island

A baby geko, they are anywhere in the houses, catching flies.
I'm editing a video of this trip, when ready i will ink it.

Joshua Tree

Joshua Tree

Scrambling around in this National Park and in the Sierra Nevada

The 7 tea cups, is a short classic canyon in the Sierra Nevada, short but very good.

Sonny and Calius are taking me here, they have done it many times.

The granite is superb and we can do some nice and big jumps

It's a pleasure just take pictures

Well, it's really cold, the pools around are frozen and i can use this ice sword to cut Sonny's head

Near the end a very sensual narrow, very dangerous with a higher water level !

Now in Joshua tree, in the night i play with my camera and the headlamps

We hike for a long loop, meet a nice predator, these tarantulas are not dangerous unless you want to shake hands....

At the end of the hike we end in a canyon..

It looks really super so we decide to descend it,  the next day and come back with the right gear

With Luca and friends we organize the descent, using basic anchors

For somebody it's the first canyon and the first rappel !

Oh, a little snake is trapped there, or maybe enjoying the fresh water...

Happy faces, we try to avoid the fresh water as much as possible, great day again.

This is another story,we hiked up this dry valley...

...to reach the entrance of an old Gold mine

My turn, somebody is cutting my head !!!!

Humm, is it solid ?

The mine is huge with many levels and lots of galleries crossing around,
the stairs are vertical and scary, no kidding !

Try not to get lost and use the right bridges ! We did
not find any gold nuggets.. next time.

Fulbach

Fulbach

Descent of half of this huge and vertical canyon

We are deep in the Kandersteg valley (Gasteretal), we have on both sides of us huge limestone walls, each mountain is about 2300 meter higher than the valley floor, on one side the Doldenhorn (above), on the other the Balmhorn, we can't see the summits from here. The canyon is 1/3 on the left in picture, dropping down in these walls.

The Balmhorn side, no sun is coming down here in this season !

A sign is warning us where we want to park, it's not very safe !!!

Anyway we start scrambling our way up, there is a trail but it's not clear for which purpose it was made ! Maybe a hunter's trail, very little anyway.
We will start the descent at the base of an 80 m waterfall coming down from the upper canyon, see center of the picture, just after this tower.

We go in this couloir between this tower and the walls, there is a rope to help, some other guides put it.

We start rappelling, the good thing is that we have some sun at this altitude

The canyon is sometimes open sometimes deep and narrow

We are 4 of us: Stephanie, in the picture, Laurence above, Holzi and me.

No more sun for us now, i forgot my neoprene socks so i'm barefoot in my canyoneer and try to avoid the water contact....

A longer rappel, we can see the road down but the way is still very long

The beginning of a very nice slot section, there are some arches and other nice features, i did some pictures but
being an unlucky day i drown my camera during some action....

Well, the main difficulty of this canyon is that, for the complete descent, you need to walk up about 4 h on a hunters-goat trail very steep and sometimes exposed, then you have a very long descent that is not suitable for big group, and with a higher fall of 80 meters. Next, it is not possible in summer because the glacier above is south facing and the water flow is always too high. So at the end of the season you have the right water but very short days.