canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Vallone della Pietra (Golf)

The name Vallone della Pietra means "deep valley of stone", and it's percect for a majestic dry canyon like this.
The canyon is also known as Golf, a name which appears on the signboards of the bridge of the road to Papasidero. "Golf" should be the name of the bridge, but on the maps the name appears as "Orfo". So "Golf" seems to be an error for "Orfo", but with the years the name "Golf" has entered in the habit.

I remember ...

In the first nineties Riccardo Hallgass used to tell a witty remark. While we were trudging up weak paths amidst blackberry bushes,cooked by hot and the sun, backpacks heavy like big stones, tired even before really to start, a restless night spent with anxiety for what we could find in canyon, absolutely alone in a hard and unknown place, in those moments Riccardo used to tell: why not changing our sport? let's choose golf! you don't even have to bring up and down your club, someone will do it for you! Smart guys choose golf!!
Dear Riccardo, this Golf is exactly as the ones in our past. It begins with a path no more covered, ruined by rains and full of blackberry bushes. Backpacks are heavy big stones, sun squeezes us like lemons making us understand that 1.5 liters of beverages are too few for this place ...
But today as once canyon is very beautiful, majestic, a hard piece of heaven, and as hours slowly pass we feel more tired, and on the top of the highest rappel we don't know if our ropes are long enough, and ...
... it's over, but this place is now in our hearts and our memory, and there will be forever.

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.

Copyright © 2002- Michele Angileri. All rights reserved.