Imperial College Caving Club [ICCC]

Canyoning in the Vercors

Fearless Leader	Colm
Gullible Pawn	Jan
Prole No. 1	James
Prole No. 2	Andy
Prole No. 3	Tom

I'd got myself hooked on canyoning on the club's previous trip to France in May 2003. The thrill of leaping into bottomless pools, abseiling through waterfalls and being swept down natural waterslides had stayed with me for over a year.

The Vercors is a spectacular limestone plateau just south of Grenoble. It harbours such famous caves as the Gouffre Berger and the Grotte du Gournier, and is also popular with cyclists, walkers, and, of course, canyoners. We arrived in Autrans by car via Geneva late on the Friday night, rapidly set up the tents, had a quick swig of vino and fell asleep.

The following morning we awoke in the splendid French countryside. As with all foreign IC³ trips, cuisine is of equal importance to the activiy, and in this spirit, we headed into town for a breakfast of coffee and croissants. I had been deliberatley vague over which canyons we were doing (mostly to discourage the reading of this sort of thing) so the others pored over the Vercors guidebook. Les Ecouges, with a vertical first section (for canyonuers experimentés) and a more gently bottom section (canyon d'initiation).