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canyon exploring with Michele Angileri

Canale Mancosa

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The Canyon of Raganello is among the greatest and more interesting natural phenomena featuring the Pollino National Park. The canyon is made of two separate parts. The first is called Gola di Barile, the second Gola del Raganello. Both have their way amidst giant rocky mountains called Timpe.
A few little streams get into the two canyons of Raganello coming from the walls. These tributaries have their own little vertical canyons, with uninterrupted sequences of waterfalls separated one another by potholes. The two longest and more interesting among these vertical canyons are called Grimavolo and Caccavo.

Canale Mancosa is a vertical tributary of Gola di Barile. It reaches the dark corridor of Barile with a 80 meters cascade, most of which is on a steep inclined plane. The great waterfall is preceded by a sequence of smaller waterfalls.
Upstream Canale Mancosa has another narrow part, less interesting, needing only one rappel. Record refers to second engaged part, till confluence with Raganello.

In front of Mancosa rises the majestic big wall of Timpa San Lorenzo.

Name	Canale Mancosa
Area	Calabria, Pollino
Nearest village	San Lorenzo Bellizzi, Civita
Entrance altitude (above sea level)	890 m
Exit altitude (above sea level)	660 m (arrivo nella gola di Barile, confluence with 1st canyon of Raganello)
Length	250 m
Longest rappel	80 m
Rock	Limestone
Rating	9 (summer)
Shuttle	Possible, though not indispensable.
Explored by	Michele Angileri, Lorenzo Vita; september 13th 1991

I remember ...

Redezvous was at 8 AM, but once in San Lorenzo Bellizzi my friend Lorenzo wasn't at the place. He was still sleeping! I went his home to wake him up, but thing wasn't quite easy ... Lorenzo used to sleep hard, even when awake ... He is sooo cool! Breakfast and backpack preparation take 3 full hours!!

It is 11,30, finally we start to go up the path of Scala di Barile. Lorenzo asks me if path would scare me because it has an exposed part ... When in exposed part I estabilish it doesn't scare me. It will some years after, maybe because I will be more aware of dangers, maybe less entrained and accustomed ...

I planned to descend the whole stream, even the first engaged part. We get the starting point at 2 PM. From that point we speed up, at last! We arrive soon to last rappels. We do 3 rappels to descend the great waterfall, because our rope is only 75 meters.

At 6 PM we are inside Barile Canyon. It will be dark in one hour or so, and we have no lamps. We had to run in Barile, as fast as possible, but we knew the place and all ended good.

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.