canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Torrente Colognati

In Calabria the mountains of Sila are different from the rest of Appennino. They have sweet shapes and forms covered by pine forests. The higher parts (1300 meters above sea level) are almost flat, and here pieces of the forest were cut to make space to farms an to artificial lakes made for hydroelectric purpose.
In Sila things are wide ... Granite that makes the heart of massif is degraded on its surface, covered by granite sand and ground. So in Sila flat you see no rock walls or peaks, only hills that are the perfect home for pine forests. Granite ground isn't permeable, so many streams and rivers are born in Sila flat, rich in water. When they reach flat's border they begin going down steep, and dig deep harsh valleys that isolate the villages and lengthen the distances.
At flat's edge varoius rocks appear aside granite: metamorphic ercynic rocks, limestone, sandstone, pudding, gypsum, draw a multiple surprising landscape.

On a red pudding mesa dominating the bay and the plain of Sibari rises the little city of Rossano. Founded by the Enotrians around 11th century BC, it has gone through all man's history in this land: the Greeks, Roman Empire ... Then Rossano became one of the main towns of Byzantines: that age is witnessed by monasteries, churches and the famous Codex Purpureus
Rossano, face to the sea and mountains, has forests and valleys at its back.

In a far, solitary valley amidst Sila forests flows Torrente Colognati. Its waterfalls and the numerous deep emerald pools give canyoneers a charming, beautiful, satisfying descent.

I remember ...

Rope got stuck on the highest waterfall. The anchor tree was in the wrong place, and we realized only when recovering double rope. We had to pull a lot, making waves on rope, making rope oscillating in resonance. We got it at last, but it was really hard, and we learned that sometimes is better to place a bolt even if there is a big tree near the edge of the waterfall.

Photographs in this website show ultralight ropes (6 mm ropes made of high tenacity fibers). Read multimedia book Ultralight ropes canyoning technique to learn how to use them.

Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved.