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canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Varco delle Fauci

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On the mountain behind Muro Lucano you see the evident cutting of Varco delle Fauci. "Fauces" (mouth, jaws) is the name by which the Romans called a stream exiting a narrow stretch, such as the arrival in the sea. By extension, the term also indicated the narrows themselves, what we now call "canyon".
So the name of Varco delle Fauci (Jaws Passage) indicates the presence of narrow corridors in the rock. And that's it! the narrows are there and in the right season they are decorated with waterfalls and emerald pools.

Name	Varco delle Fauci
Area	Basilicata
Nearest village	Castelgrande
Entrance altitude (above sea level)	900 m
Exit altitude (above sea level)	800 m
Length	450 m
Longest rappel	13 m
Rock	Limestone
Rating	2
Shuttle	No
Explored by	Michele Angileri, Andrea Pucci; april 19 2013 Canyon had been previously traveled in climbing from the bottom, probably in dry conditions.

I remember ...

Once rappeled 4 waterfalls we noticed a pressure bolt in the rock, with hanger consisting of two chain rings. It is an anchor that needs a battery hammer drill to be placed ...
We were perplexed, not only for the presence of the anchor itself (some climber-caver-canyoneer had passed there!), but for the location in the middle of a 5 meters cascade on top of which there was no anchor (but it was not needed, given the presence of trees). Going forward I noticed other pressure bolts, often in positions incompatible with cascades abseiling: they was, in all probability, climbing protections. Moreover, some of them were on the flanks of pools, placed to avoid water, while other pools have no such protections. So I guess climbers placed the bolts with stream in dry conditions, having some pools empty and some permanently full.

Photos and video by Michele Angileri and Andrea Pucci

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.