Canyoning with Poco Loco in Spain

Where : Lamiana/Spain
Program: Canyoning around Ordesa NP and Sierra de Guara
When : 27/07 - 03/08
With : Poco Loco



Sunday 27/07/08


Early day, rising at 3.30 in the morning and going to Ghent to meet my fellow drivers to go to Spain. Carpooling to Spain. I had four months to set it up, or better said : Joker had 4 months to set it up like they said they would. But nooooooo.... In the last few weeks I did it myself and lucky me. The last day before departure I found 2 people who joined the trip -last minute- style.

They arrived with a silver BMW and a club med dressed guy comes out, very excited and introduces himself as Toon. Slowly and relaxed the second man comes out. A rough and 'been there, done that' kind of guy, : Gino. At 150-170 Km/u Toon drove us to Spain, not resting but for one small power nap in his car on a parking lot and only slowing down for the speed cameras his GPS announced so lovely. Once in the mountains of Spain I thought the speed would go down. Silly me, the wet dream of any racer is driving at high speeds trough the mountains. Imagine small mountain roads, lots of turns and u-turns, up and down, chasms and rocks everywhere to crash into... and that at rally speeds with other drivers (mostly tourists) on the road. Yeah, that’s it...


Arriving around 6pm in Lamiana, a small ... nay, a tiny village made of a few houses we looked around for the bar. After a short introduction to four men we started chatting about what’s about to happen. The four men where police men (and a cousin), then there was a couple and lastly came Martine : darling, sweetie,... the mood was set.

Soon enough we got the introduction of our main guide and dinner!
Everyone very excited for the next day, for we where all new to the sport and we where about to be baptised. This with the fact that the wine was with a free refill policy made the evening pretty interesting.
And damn... my roommate snored.




Monday 28/07/08 - Escuain


Waking up and enjoying the view over the valley below I headed towards the breakfast table. At 10am we went to the storage room to go find ourselves a suit and equipment.
If you don't know it: neoprene suites are very difficult to get into, its a corset for the whole body. So we had a pretty funny sight with 20 people moaning and screaming to get into the suit. Out of breath we approved the size of our suites.
The full equipment : inside neoprene suite, outside neoprene suite, socks, special shoes, a little barrel, a belt with an eight and a piranha to secure ourselves, a sack to put everything in, a helmet and a pat on the shoulder with 'your looking good'.


With a old JEEP we went to our first canyon, or to the end of our first canyon. Yeah, we had to walk an hour with our equipment to the start at noon. We get to the canyon and put on our equipment. Splish splash we are moving !
Walking trough the cold water, feeling it creeping in higher and higher into the suite, making our way past rocks and more. Jumping down from a meter high and already we are having fun.

About 10 minutes later we have to secure ourselves to a lifeline , 2 people on the line max. In the eyes of the person before me I saw that there was something rather disturbing in store for us after the turn. When I turned I saw a 6m drop in-between the rocks. "Jump" said the guide with a grin on his face. And so I did and man it was revealing, exhilarating and it gave me 'joy of living'. There is a big difference jumping down a black, dark hole in the rocks to land in natural water and jumping of a board in the pool. Swimming out of the freezing water I join the others who made the jump with a big smile. The main guide said "I hope you all jump". So he was testing us, to see what he had with him, how far he could go.

Going on, enjoying the natural beauty and slipping and sliding downwards while laughing our heads of. Nice ! Soon enough we came at a small hole in the rocks. "Go in, push yourself further under the water for about 3 meters and you'll be out". I crawl into the dark hole feet first, take a good breath and I'm off: pushing myself against a rock above my head, hoping I get where I need to be. Seconds later I'm starting to see light trough my closed eyelids and soon after I can't push of the rock anymore. 'Time to get up and catch my breath' I thought and I lifted my head until I hit the rock that was still hanging above my head. Just a few cm further there was room enough and I got out. Strange feeling to 'swim' trough a opening in the rocks without access to air. But oh so sweet ^^


Lunch time ! We all eat our little Tupperware box with a mix of pasta and vegetables to fuel ourselves. We go on and soon we arrive at a spot with two following waterfalls. First we jump down 4 meters in a small pool where we click ourselves in to rappel down the second fall (8meters). Once we where all down our guide said : "Now all of you look at Hans (the second guide)". Hans was not going down but walked around the 2 waterfalls to a ledge over the huge pool of water below. He throws his bag down which falls into the water 12 meters down with a big bang. A few seconds after the owner follows his bag and plunges into the water with an even bigger bang.
"For those who want, you can go back later to do the same jump"

We get plenty of time a little bit further to practise our jumps on a 7 meter high ridge and then its J-hour. To jump or not to jump the 12meters ?
Yep: to jump. I knew I would regret not doing it for the rest of my life so I went... same as (almost) all the guys. (One of the four cops wanted to go and said that he would for ever laugh at his colleagues if they didn't jump... so that’s 4/8 guys... Gino, Toon and myself went too... 7/8). After a little walk trough the forest we arrive at the ledge where Hans stood a moment ago and damn that’s high when you're up there. Nasty little fact: there was a group of Spaniards rappelling down from that point so we had to wait a pretty long time. Then it was one by one going on... doubting so much you could feel the fear and doubt from meters away. Every single minute that passes by you look down and it becomes deeper and deeper.
The last ones are not so sure anymore. Gino said he wouldn't do it anymore and was going down after a quick last peek. He went to look just when our first man took a step back to reconsider and a second later Gino was gone. The bastard had jumped down, cutting the line and freaking out the first would be jumper. Everyone jumps and I'm last, doubting like hell because I've been looking down for more then an hour now. I take a good long look at the ground level behind me, turn around and take the jump. A long "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck" echoed in the canyon as I was hurling down.
*SPLASH*

That night we had loads of fun at the table, talking and laughing... and wine a vollonté.



Tuesday 29/07/08 - Transito Superior


Today the weather is not so good. Our guide decides to do a dryer canyon. So with only the inner neoprene suite we go to the second canyon. This time we had to rappel a lot. A lot of small ones and a few LARGE ones. First large one was 25 meters straight down. Going down a 25 meters drop is scary if you're not used to it. The whole group was a bit stressed and very excited. I was not, I did have a lot of experience because of my climbing. While most of them sat down and crawled towards the ledge to rappel I swung over and slid downwards like a pro. Oh happy and proud day.



We had our lunch and moved on to the end. 25 meters and 47 meters drop down right after each other, giving a +70m deep view to enjoy. Rappelling down, hanging in the air and enjoying the rich view over the valley was priceless.

Because of the time our guides decided we could go and climb. WOOOOT ! As a climber I had loads of fun. Almost new rocks to climb on, a nice sunny day and an other superb view. Three top-rope routes where set out so I did all three. Gino did not want to but I kind of pushed him. Turns out he's a natural (in fact, he started to climb regularly here in Belgium).
From that day on I was 'Little spider' and Gino was 'Spiderman'.

That night we drank until the bar closed. So yeah we had fun.



Wednesday 30/07/08 - via ferrata en Fucco


On this day we did a Via Ferrata... And Iron Road. We get a special via ferrata belt and we drove to a little town. After a small walk we came at a valley where we got our instructions: two lifelines, you keep at least one lifeline on the iron cables around the road at all times! Easy picking.

With iron cables, chains, bars, steps, ... we climb our way up enjoying the view of the waterfall that was getting bigger and bigger. Soon enough we knew we where heading towards it. The rocks where getting more slippery and the dirt was mud.
Heading towards a metal staircase. Rising higher and higher, stepping on little metal flaps sticking out of the rocks with nothing but air underneath we arrive at a small tunnel. Apparently it was a man made tunnel to channel a bit of the water for irrigation.




It was very small tough… and dark… and full of water. So it was either walking trough it and soaking everything beneath your knees or crawling trough with your hands and feet against the sides. After a few minutes we could finally see again , the end was near. We crawled our and admired the view. We arrived just at the side of the large waterfall.

We go on trough the canyon, this time following the steep sides, not walking/swimming trough it. Following the cables, water beneath and rock above we climb up to a pond, the resting spot. Half hour later we move on, reattaching our lifelines. It became steep again fast and the guide asked me to help his assistant to guide the last people. Being so at ease while climbing with those lifelines I was an obvious choice I guess. So from that part on I was no longer in front of the group, but at the end. Helping out a woman who did not like this part of the trip at all.

Helping her as much we could, cracking jokes every few minutes to keep her mind a bit off the heights we went on. Soon enough I was an expert in moving lifelines for myself and for her. Knowing me she offered me a whisky when we got back. Oh happy day. At last we got to the top where everyone was resting. I had so much energy left I went to check out the views.
When we went walking down a pathway I kept helping the women. But those who know me, know that slow isn’t my thing. After a while I asked to be excused and I ran down at high speeds.

We ate our lunch and after a vote we headed towards a canyon. Only the woman stayed back, exhausted from the via ferrata. The canyon started out with a rappel trough a small waterfall and a little drop. I can tell you this : never before have I heard so many orgasmic moans in such short time. After hours climbing in the sun the drop in the cold water was heaven. This canyon was super beautiful. To think that normal visitors do not get those views made me feel very lucky.





That night I got my whisky. And dear god, they did not know what a ‘normal’ glass of whisky was. So I got a large beer glass. Thank you VERY much.






Thursday 31/07/08 – Day off


A day off with loads of possibilities. Naturally I chose for climbing. But that didn’t start until 2pm so I started with a walk together with Gino. And we are a nice team. Sure about the fact that we where not on the right road that they had explained we decided to take a shortcut in the right way. “Lets go extreme” and we went down a very steep hill, trough bushes with thorns. The whole morning we walked around following GR routes and making up our own.
Finally we arrive at the ending of our first canyon. And we had one hour left to get to the meet up to go climbing. We knew it took an hour to the parking and then 10 minutes by car. Damnit. So, crazy as hell we start walking/running high speed and arrive at 2pm sharp at the bar. “Oh yeah, your fellow climbers are late; they had flat tires”.
Tired as hell Gino and myself went to bed to rest.
Hours later we could finally go. Dead tired we went and we climbed. The routes where not top-roped yet and they didn’t even have a rating yet. On our last energy reserves we climbed (or rather tried to climb) the two routes. Our fellow and obviously more experienced climbers thought it where 6-7 routes. Proud of my achievements (I got a lot further then most of the climbers, even the guide) I walked back to the car.
That night we drank a lot of wine… and I drank a large whisky again to start off.





Friday 01/08/08 - Barosia + For dela canal


Well, a nice canyon today. Don't remember much of it, so let me stick with the most exciting bit. A ‘slide’ waterfall that just shot people away with a enormous force. It was like a water canon. Fun fun fun ! During the whole canyon we felt the strong currents.





Saturday 02/08/08 - Aiguita de Eriste


Friday night our guides made us all excited and nervous. We would do a large canyon they normally don’t do with groups. It’s a high levelled canyon and can not be done unless there is a specific amount of water. Only one guide did the canyon before.

So today we left early with 15 people. Nine guests and six guides. Yeah, thanks: that helps.
After a long drive on the highway and a small drive on a small rough road going upwards to the mountains we arrive at the start. This time it was VERY cold, it was fresh melting water.
Starting off with a slide and a tip “protect your head with your left arm, your going to need it”. Sliding down and disappearing under the dark cold water I pushed myself away against the rock on the left to resurface. Shortly after we have to rappel down a small gap.



20 meters below we had to push ourselves away from the edge towards a guide who would grab us so we could put our feet down on a solid surface instead of a hurling river. I went down pretty fast and instead of waiting for any help I pushed myself away from the edge with my legs and let slide more rope so I could land on the edge myself. The guide smiled and said “Nice work”. Figures, he didn’t have to drag my ass away from the edge like he had to do with the others. A bit further we had to rappel down a very broad and large waterfall. Fun but very, very slippery. Sadly enough they had to film me there, where I went down slowly and not at all gracefully. Next up was a slippery rock and a small opening where we had to jump. “Jump into the white part”. We where always told we had to jump in the dark parts because there we wouldn’t go down as deep as the parts where the bubbles of air made your decent into the water pretty easy. “Yeah, but here there is a rock right beneath the surface. So jump in the white part and push yourself away from the rock on your left so that you won’t get sucked in deeper with the current”… ‘OK, you got it !’ was my obvious answer.

Slowly the canyon began to open up. Sun came trough the top to warm our cold bodies. We crawl, jump and swim further and further. A slide welcomed us soon enough. Six meters down and pretty fast. Jump in and shoot downwards in a whirl of water. With high speeds Gino, Toon, Hans and myself jumped further, from rock to rock. About twenty minutes later we arrived at a large waterfall. Twelve meters deep, thousands of liters of water pounding down on your head and pretty wide. “Enjoy the slide”. Oh swell! I sit down and push me down. *bump-bump-buuumppe-bump-BUMP-bwof* Oh did I hurt my back on that part.

A little bit later we had to rappel down a waterfall again. This time we have to walk about three meters towards the fall, on the side and then rappel down with your back against the rocks, under the fall itself. The last few meters you just had to let go and drop down. Very fun as the guide said “Watch this” with a big smile, throwing his bag into the fall. It got shot away with a very loud bang and with enormous speeds. “Don’t stick your head into the fall please”.




No kidding ? Going down I admired the force of the water that was attacking the rocks above my head. The light going trough it, the colours mixing… simply beautiful, I wanted to stay there forever.

After walking down the canyon it was about time for a group picture and the walk towards the cars. The guide thanks and complimented the group for its courage and its spirit.
That night we where the only group left at the hotel and we celebrated the great trip with all the guides.