Canyoning: What is it?

My definition is as follows: Canyoning is when we descend through a valley (or along a rock face) using rope techniques (or without them). We mostly do this in water, wearing neoprene suits, sometimes with jumps, slides, and the help of ropes.

There are canyons where ropes are not necessary. Here, jumps and slides are the main attractions. However, a valley with a simple, standardized hiking trail is not considered as canyoning.

The most common misunderstanding is: “I don’t climb mountains.” Neither do we. We don’t even approach that topic. Rock climbing, via ferrata, caving, mountaineering, rafting, and canyoning are all different sports. In a canyon, we DESCEND, while a rock climber ASCENDS. In many cases, there’s a parking lot at the beginning of the canyon and another at the end, so sometimes we don’t have to make a single step UPWARDS. If I wanted to translate the word „canyoning” strictly into Hungarian, I would say “völgyezés,” (=valleying) but that sounds awkward in Hungarian, so let’s stick with canyoning for now.

You can find canyons closest to Hungary in Austria, just a two-hour drive from Vienna, for example. If we go further, Slovenia, Italy, and Switzerland are full of beautiful canyons. If we happen to land in Mallorca, Madeira, or Corsica, we can also find canyoning, as well as in Tenerife and many other distant locations around the world.

The difficulty of the canyons is classified according to an internationally accepted system as follows: based on rope techniques and height, it can range from v1 to v7 (v = verticality); based on water volume and water movements, it can be a1 to a7; and based on accessibility and escape routes, the difficulty can be indicated with Roman numbers like I-II-III-IV-V-VI.

Canyoning nehézségi szintek az "Eldorado Ticino" című könyvből
Canyoning nehézségi szintek az „Eldorado Ticino” című könyvből

In our case, the most famous wet canyon in Tenerife is Los Carrizales: v3a2II. The v3 means: it includes maximum descents of 20 meters, a2 indicates low water volume (a1 is a dry canyon), and II signifies that the approach is a short 10-15 minutes, but the return hike takes 1.5 to 2 hours.

This canyon can be descended year-round, as it receives water from a nearby spring. We descend among beautiful volcanic rocks, sliding and jumping from heights of up to 6 meters into deep, water-filled pools. (Jumps are not mandatory; those who prefer not to jump can always rappel using a rope.) A traveler who comes here would hardly believe how much water is hidden in the mountains of the Canary Islands, just 15 minutes from the Masca gorge in Tenerife.

The following are important questions for those who have already did canyoning in other countries: How long did the entire program take? Did you use a rope? Did you rappel with safety gear yourself, or were you just “lowered”? (You can read more about canyoning in our other blog post here: