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

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All of a sudden a kind of wall came into view. Did this mean there was no way out, that the water exited through a siphon? I was seized by fear. It was absolutely impossible to fight back against the current. Should I have heeded the wise, reasonable counsel of my companions instead of throwing myself into such a risky adventure?

Very probably, but he was hauled to safety, lead weights and all, by his team mates as he eventually emerged on the far side.

A ground-breaking descent

In 1906 Martel made the first descent of the Daluis Gorge before making an aborted attempt on Clue d’Aiglun, an imposing and aquatic cleft in the Maritime Alps. In the following year he turned his attention to the Basque Pyrenees, focusing much of his efforts on the imposing Canyon d’Olhadubie. Even by modern standards the Olhadubie retains an air of seriousness, and despite a series of expeditions probing its upper and lower reaches nearly a mile remained unexplored by the time Martel departed from the scene in 1909. Interest in the gorge dwindled until nearly two decades later, when the rising popularity of caving and climbing produced a string of new challengers.