cookieless, no-ads, no threats canyon exploring with Michele Angileri Vurga Nera
We are in northeastern Sila, the so-called Sila Greca. Above the mountains are covered by the famous pine forests. Below the craggy mountainsides made of limestone and flysch flake and fill the valleys with huge amounts of debris which make one of the main features of Calabrian landscape: the fiumare, deserts of stones meandering at the bottom of valleys. In their upper parts, before reaching the fiumare, streams run through steep valleys that can hide gorges and waterfalls. The main valley forming the fiumara Coserie is called Vurga Nera because of its big pools ("vurga" is a Calabrian word for "pool"). In summer the Vurga Nera gorge can be traveled bottom-up for long, passing the pools by swimming or avoiding them (if possible). The upper part of Vurga Nera, however, have cascades requiring rope and harness.
  I remember ...The Vurga Nera gorge was traveled for the first times by hikers, bottom-up, and even by some canyoneer who, however, traveled the hiking part only.
In the following years I began to reflect on the possible existence of other canyoning routes in the numerous valleys that form the fiumara Coserie.
However, I did no reconnaissance or exploration, partly because it did not seem very probable, partly because I had other, more promising places to explore.
Photos 5, 13, 18 by Andrea Pucci Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved. |
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