・Canyoning Tour
Hi, my name is Hibiki and I’m doing an internship at Evergreen Outdoor Center in Hakuba. Today, I guided guests on our canyoning tour as an assistant guide. The temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius, so it was the perfect day for canyoning. In the groups of the guests, there was one family with two daughters.
After we arrived at the canyon, we explained how to walk in the canyon, how to do the slider position, and taught them hand signs. The slider position is what guests have do when they slide down waterfalls and flow down the river. The important points of the position are “bent knees slightly,” “toes are up,” and “cross the elbows and straighten them.” Hand signs are really useful because guests cannot hear what guides say because of noise from flow of water.
This is one of the signs what we explained, and it is OK sign. Guests have to do OK sign to a guide after they slide down a waterfall to make sure they are okay.
After we had explained all of these, we started canyoning. The half-day canyoning tour has three really exciting points. The first point is called “Twister,” and this is a slightly curved slider. As it is curved, the flow of the river is twisted in the waterfall so we call it the Twister. The younger daughter of the family was scared of this slider, but she slid down anyways.
After Twister, all of the members of the family jumped into the big pool after the twister from the jump point rock. Not only did the kids get excited but also their parents got really excited.
The second big waterfall is called “Weeping Wall.” Weeping Wall is 8m high waterfall. As the waterfall is high and nearly right-angled, guests often got scared of sliding this down, so this is why it is called Weeping Wall. The younger daughter of the family was really scared of sliding down the waterfall, so we used a rope to lower her down.
The third exciting point is called the Slack Line, and we used ropes to make a system which was like a short zip line.
The youngest kid also hesitated jumping from the rock when she looked down from the rock, but she did end up jumping from the rock after she got some courage. All the members of the family really enjoyed the slack line section. Even though the younger daughter was scared, she had a big smile after she had done it.
When they arrived at the goal point, they had big smiles which really showed how much they enjoyed the whole tour.
In my opinion, the younger daughter had the biggest smile in the family. I asked the kids that which one of the checkpoints they liked, and they answered “the third section at the slackline was the most exciting!”.
Through the today’s canyoning tour, I thought these kids learned “it is important to challenge something and experience it.” The younger daughter was scared of the first checkpoint and the third checkpoint, but once she had tried those she really enjoyed them. As they actually tried to do it, they got to know how fun it is and gain a sense of accomplishment. Their smiles at the goal point definitely were a true indication of the fun the family had. Joining in Evergreen canyoning tours, your kids will be able to get a sense of accomplishment and have great experience.
Evergreen offers Half-day Canyoning Tour and Full Day Canyoning Tour, and kids who are 8 years old and older can participate in the Half-day Tour, and kids who are 13 years old and older can participate in the Full Day Tour. If you are interested in any of these, please check the link below.
http://www.evergreen-hakuba.com/
We hope to see you on Evergreen’s canyoning tour and I know you will have an amazing time!
Hibiki