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

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Route 88 Rio Nero Inferiore

Route 89 Brussine

Route 90 Mlinarica

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Aquatic and encased, Bares (Route 43 in the Como region) is a long, committing alpine descent

PREFACE

Offering a stunning selection of routes in the best areas, this guide to canyons in the Alps of northern Italy or Ticino is not an exhaustive one.

Canyons of mediocre quality have been excluded, as have some better canyons in mediocre areas. The latter category includes Val Susa (west of Torino), Aosta and Lake Garda, all of which contain a number of fine canyons, but too few to justify a week away. If, having tried some of these routes, you find you wish to explore the Italian-speaking Alps in greater depth, there are a number of foreign-language guides available (listed in Appendix B).

Remarkably, despite a firm following on the continent, canyoning remains a relatively unknown sport in the British Isles, even among the outdoor communities. Few people really know what the sport entails, believing it to be something akin to gorge walking or white-water rafting. Ignorance stems from the lack of opportunity to practise the sport. In these islands there are no canyons of comparable quality to the continental ones, and with a lack of English-language guidebooks on the market, few people venture abroad to try it. Those that do will often give it a go on ‘rest days’, in areas celebrated more for climbing or caving than canyoning, while others visit the more publicised canyons of southern Europe. The canyons in these sunnier climes are better known for beauty than for sport, and their ease ensures that many are overrun with private and professional groups alike.