Читать книгу Canyoning in the Alps. Graded routes in Northern Italy and Ticino, Austria, Slovenia and the Valais Alps онлайн

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The 45m pitch of Lodrino Inferiore (Route 33 in the Ticino region)

Val d’Ossola

An area of wild alpine rivers carved into the gneiss and granite peaks west of Lake Maggiore, this region spans from the rugged terrain of Val Grande National Park to the towering giants along the Swiss border. Two canyons in the Swiss Valais region are also included.

Ticino

Switzerland’s sunniest canton is a canyoner’s paradise, famous for its lofty, theme-park-like canyons. The canyoning is only a stone’s throw east from Val d’Ossola, in two broad valleys snaking north from Lake Maggiore. With the canyons so closely huddled together, Ticino probably has the greatest concentration of superb descents anywhere in Europe.

High water levels in Grigno (Route 54) meant that it was several years before the first successful full descent was made

Lake Como

The area around Lake Como offers a mishmash of different mountain ranges and canyoning styles. It encompasses the mighty Bernina and Lepontine Alps on the Swiss border, along with the Orobie Alps and limestone pre-Alps further south. Their differing geology affords the canyons very different characters, ranging from beautiful gneiss playgrounds and sunlit granite cascades to cave-like limestone and serpentinite tombs almost totally devoid of light.