Cayoning is a sport of exploration and progression in a wild and specific environment. The choice of itinerary in the canyon is important because the route can be made more or less difficult and/or technical, which could cause fatigue or incidents within the group.
Generally speaking, the « easiest » and most « obvious » sequences must be chosen. Routes with less exposure and devoid of superfluous efforts should prevail.

Progress as much as possible on dry riverbanks, avoid useless rock-climbing and down-climbing, if possible, try to progress high (within reason) into the rocky chaos in order to widen your visual field and to anticipate your route.
In steep-sided canyons, progress in the riverbed where the ground is « flat », the sides are often slippery.
A good physical state is the core basis for long-lasting endurance. The equipment must be adapted to the needs and correctly stored on the harness. Every ICOpro center will provide you specific Canyoning shoes and equipement.
Managing his/her exertion is also a skill that must be learnt, especially in an aquatic and potentially cold environment. It is gained through experience, by partaking in sustained courses.

Walking and progressing in a slippery and rugged terrain results in significant energy loss. Subsequently, we learn that fatigue is linked to incidents (fall, slip). A good choice of route in the canyon will highly decrease these losses; in addition, the progression must be efficient in terms of energy expended. We speak about “ease” of progression, and this skill requires a lot of experience in order to be optimized and monitored.
When you progress as a group in a canyon, you must respect the basic safety rules:

• Never leave a teammate alone or progress out of sight of the teammates who are ahead and behind you.
• Never hesitate to propose or accept support techniques
• Always take a look behind you to check whether the group is progressing in a homogeneous way.
• Do not hesitate to wait for a teammate to show them a tricky sequence
• In case of progression in big rocky chaos, make cairns

Never hesitate to surround an obstacle, whatever its configuration, or to use a rope if you have any doubt about your ability to pass it.

Several types of easy spotting and support techniques exist to pass an obstacle, you will learn some during your first trip with an ICOpro Instructor, and the other one during your ICOpro training course.

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