Canyoning

Canyoning is frequently done in remote and rugged settings and often requires navigational, route-finding, and other wilderness travel skills.

In Taiwan, canyoning is practiced alongside a sport called river tracing that typically involves travelling upstream.

The Philippines has a canyoneering run at Kawasan Falls, Badian, Cebu that is popular among foreign travellers.

In the UK, Wales, Scotland, Cumbria and Yorkshire and some areas of Cornwall are recognized as the prime locations for this activity.

[3] Ticino, Switzerland, is a popular canyoning destination because of its granite rock, crystal green pools and its pleasant Mediterranean climate.

Canyons with significant water flow may be treacherous and require special ropework techniques for safe travel.

A 1993 accident in Zion National Park, Utah, US, in which two leaders of a youth group drowned in powerful canyon hydraulics (and the lawsuit which followed) brought notoriety to the sport.

Fatalities have occurred as a result of flash floods; in one widely publicized 1999 incident, 21 tourists on a commercial canyoning adventure trip drowned in Saxetenbach Gorge, Switzerland.

A case study in Spain (Jerte basin) shows how after a wildfire, even during low precipitation events, a flash flood can be generated, increasing peak flow of hydrograph from 2 to 12 m3/s (71 to 420 cu ft/s) to with dramatic consequences affecting a guided group of canyoneers and resulting in four deaths.

In arid desert canyons, heat exhaustion can occur if proper hydration levels are not maintained and adequate steps are not taken to avoid the intense rays of the sun.

Hypothermia due to inadequate cold water protection is cited as a cause of a 2005 incident in which two college students drowned in a remote Utah canyon.

This tends to be strenuous and can require climbing high above the canyon floor, unprotected, for long periods of time.

Past rescues have required extensive rigging systems and dish soap to extract stuck canyoners.

The higher levels cover more complex situations such as anchor building and strategies on how to descend various types of canyons.

Other higher level and specialty classes typically cover rescue situations, wilderness first aid, and swift water canyons.

In Europe the CIC (Commission Internationale de Canyon) was one of the first organisations, (formerly CEC) for professionals to teach over multiple countries.