The Scottish Highlands are rugged wilderness at its best. Mountains and hills, gorges and canyons, lochs and waterfalls, rivers and white water all combine to make some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. They also provide excellent venues for the extreme sports enthusiast. Canyoning, most definitely an extreme sport, is gaining popularity rapidly here in the Highlands, and that’s because they are the perfect place for it. Imagine sliding through a waterfall, feeling the cold water on your face, jumping into a deep mountain rock pool, or thrilling to the sense of achievement as you climb a cliff face or escape from a keeper pothole. If you love the outdoors and enjoy a truly active, rigorous sport, then canyoning in the Scottish Highlands is the way to go.
Canyoning basically means traveling up and down through canyons using a variety of methods. You will scramble over rocks, slide down rock faces, jump into rock pools, and plummet down waterfalls—all by yourself with no safety harnesses! Canyoning is a combination of several outdoor activities, including walking, scrambling, climbing, jumping, abseiling, and swimming. Canyoning is a great way to experience the rougher side of the Scottish Highlands and to enjoy the scenery, fresh air, and some strenuous exercise. While canyoning can refer to simply hiking down a canyon, more likely it means this type of adventurous and strenuous activity, which is why it is one of the many types of extreme sports offered through outdoor and adventure centres. Canyoning originated in Europe where the mountains offer steep low-volume creeks, bedrock slides, deep mountain pools, and waterfalls. It is a way to access parts of the landscape that are unavailable to those less skilled.
Canyoning requires technique and problem-solving skills, and there are many levels of canyoning. Adventure centres which offer this sport will provide extensive training and experienced guides who travel with you every step of the way. Equipment is also provided, and is extremely necessary. Technical canyoning (that type of canyoning which involves more than hiking) requires a lot of gear, such as specially designed shoes, ropes, and packs, as well as wetsuits, climbing hardware, and helmets. This is a sport that is not for the faint-hearted! It’s important to note that canyoning inherently has many hazards and should only be attempted by those who are fit and active. It is also important that canyoners strictly follow the instructions of their guides. Canyoning in the Scottish Highlands is considered a water sport, so it is beneficial and sometimes required that participants know how to swim.
Outdoor and adventure centres in the Scottish Highlands which offer canyoning many times give the option of a shorter experience—just a couple of hours—for those who want to experience canyoning but aren’t so sure about a strenuous whole day affair. Canyoning is considered an excellent team building activity and is often popular as a corporate function, with school groups, and for hen and stag groups. You can expect to be cold and wet when you go canyoning in the Scottish Highlands, but those who do it insist this doesn’t dampen their spirits! This activity is excellent for building self-confidence and physical skills, and everyone who tries it feels a great sense of accomplishment when the adventure is done. Canyoning is something completely different and perfect for the adrenalin enthusiast. As well, there are some outdoor centres which will adapt their canyoning activities to the fitness level of the group, which means that canyoning can be available for almost everyone. Rothiemurchus Canyoning is one such centre, and they even recommend that participants walk along the side if they feel like they’ve had enough.
If you are looking for something exciting, something to take you out into the wilderness, something to get your adrenalin going, then sign up for a canyoning adventure today. You can enjoy a combination of water and land sports—hiking, swimming, abseiling, climbing, jumping—all in one, and experience some of the most magnificent natural scenery in the world when you go canyoning in the Scottish Highlands. Don the wetsuit provided for you, follow your guide, and have the adventure of a lifetime. Canyoning in the Highlands of Scotland—extreme sport at its best!
Within the Scottish Highlands of Scotland you can take part in the extreme sport of canyoning: running down wet slabs of rock, jumping and scrambling over rocks and abseiling down drops. Not for the faint hearted, you will get well protected with crash helmet, wetsuit etc from your activity service provider.
Canyoning is a fantastic way to experience the Scottish Highlands, the rugged scenery will have to walking, scrambling, climbing, abseiling and swimming over a variety of terrains. This highly technical activity is taught by a number of places in the Scottish Highlands and you will also need to have excellent navigation skills when canyoning to ensure you do not get lost.
Activity centres will be able to provide you with expert advice and tuition, along with full hire of all of the static lines, helmets, wetsuits and other assorted equipment you will need for your adventures.
