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Gola del Caldanello - tratto superiore

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In the Upper Caldanello canyon we find exceptionally grand and beautiful sceneries. In wet seasons, when there is water flow through the canyon, we can admire them and be left speechless in front of what appears before our eyes and around us, thanks to the fact that the two wastewater treatment plants of Cerchiara di Calabria (which discharge into the gorge) work well.
Of course, if there were no wastewater at all it would be better!

After hours of pools, narrow passages in the shadows, waterfalls, Mediterranean environments surrounded by high and continuous walls, you reach the point from which you can exit the canyon. And here only tiredness and the late hour can push you to leave this incredible place and not continue, for more hours, through the amazing Lower Caldanello.

Name	Gola del Caldanello - tratto superiore
Area	Calabria, Pollino
Nearest village	Cerchiara di Calabria
Elevation loss	290 m
Length	2200 m
Highest cascade	25 m
Rock	Limestone
Rating	5
Shuttle	Possible
Explored by	Giuseppe Antonini, Tonino Bonanata, Domenico Bloise, Ilde Procopi, Giovanni Vancieri: May 10th 2010

I remember ...

For many years now, the use of membrane dry suits has become widespread in canyoning. Waterproof, light, it is worn over ordinary clothing and allows you to swim without getting wet, at least in theory ...
In practice, you get wet with sweat instead of stream water. And this is preferable in a stream with polluted water. Why you get wet with sweat? because in canyoning you are out of stream's water most of the time, walking, scrambling. Since a dry suit does not keep you warm, you must wear warm clothing under it or you will feel water temperature almost like you were swimming naked. But a dry suit retains very little water, so as soon as we get out of a pool we begin to warm up and, you know, the body tries to maintain a constant temperature through sweating. But sweat cannot evaporate because it is enclosed inside a waterproof shell, and this is true even if the suit is made of breathable material, because there is a film of humidity on the outside of the dry suit has, and this prevents perspiration. In general, transpiration through a fabric occurs only if the humidity outside is lower than that inside, vice versa it occurs the other way around, from outside to inside!
In some cases, sweating inside a dry suit can lead to significant electrolyte losses, and this is not good ...

In canyoning, membrane dry suit subjects the body to sudden changes in temperature when going in and out of a pool. Neoprene wetsuit is better, because staying wet for the whole descent means having little temperature variations around the body, like you never really exit the pool (unless there are long dry walk parts), so a correctly dimensioned wetsuit can give your body the right temperature for hours of descent.

In conclusion, there are canyons in which a dry suit is preferable to a wetsuit, others in which the opposite is true, and this even in winter, even where the water temperature is below 10 Celsius degrees.