World Canyoning Tournament

[Iceaxe]

June 7-12, 2012

Our Vision
The idea of a World Canyoning Tournament originated from our firm belief that this sport offers many thrills to extreme sports lovers both on a National and an International level. Our goal is to create an exciting Tournament full of challenging and spectacular rappels, jumps and slides that promise to provide strong adrenaline doses for all competing athletes. Having this in mind we have formed a team of leading Canyoning Professionals, Television Professionals, Sports Event Professionals, Photographers and Advertisers to cover this impressive event and provide a memorably lavish spectacle for the fans of the sport!

Adventure X Crossroads and our colleagues aspire to the success of this year

[peakbaggers]

While this is the inexorable progression of the sport, I regret seeing it and some of the discussion on this site regarding competitive canyoneering & seeing how fast we can "race" through particular canyons & I have very mixed emotions & thoughts about it. The ultimate outcome in this country will be greater antagonism between federal land managers & canyoneers, the closing of many canyons as they get overrun caused by the increasing popularity & visibility of the sport & the complete trampling of the ones that don't get closed. SO many of these canyons are in "wilderness" settings and that is a large part of their appeal in addition to the sport aspect. I am certainly not a tree-hugging environmentalist and at times despise the federal intervention in the use of our publically owned lands, but do we as a community that enjoys not only the sport aspect of canyoneering, but the aesthetic value as well really want to progress in this direction? Hope this post at least prompts a little discussion and thought about the whole issue and personally, I hope they keep this in Europe. So let the debate begin and I'll sit here and watch the discussion.

[CarpeyBiggs]

i think you are confusing a wilderness race with an adventure race... the only thing that has been discussed on this site is a canyoneering wilderness race. in other words, an excuse for a bunch of likeminded folks to get together and do an extended self-sustained canyoning trip. the competition element is simply because some people find a lot of value in moving efficiently and testing their techniques against others. ultimately, i think the outcome of these is not to produce a "winner" so much as to push the envelope for people who want to expand their outdoor skills.

while that may not have value for you, that doesn't mean canyons get trashed, trampled, closed, or will generally have a negative impact on the canyons or their access...

now what is presented above is yet a different animal altogether, and has many aspects to it that seem objectionable to me, however almost none of it is applicable the canyon race discussed on bogley.

[DRobb]

i think you are confusing a wilderness race with an adventure race... the only thing that has been discussed on this site is a canyoneering wilderness race. in other words, an excuse for a bunch of likeminded folks to get together and do an extended self-sustained canyoning trip. the competition element is simply because some people find a lot of value in moving efficiently and testing their techniques against others. ultimately, i think the outcome of these is not to produce a "winner" so much as to push the envelope for people who want to expand their outdoor skills.

while that may not have value for you, that doesn't mean canyons get trashed, trampled, closed, or will generally have a negative impact on the canyons or their access...

now what is presented above is yet a different animal altogether, and has many aspects to it that seem objectionable to me, however almost none of it is applicable the canyon race discussed on bogley.

Well Said, CarpeyBiggs. I for one, am completely uninterested in anything like the "World Canyoning Tournament". Maybe I'm naive, but I can't imagine a scenario like what Peakbaggers described happening here. It's worth noting that the root of our whole discussion about a canyoneering race began with a comparison to rock climbing, and I think that's a better model for what the future of canyoneering might hold. There're climbers who love to take their time and enjoy the scenery, there’re climbers that like to push the limits of difficulty, and there're climbers who like to go fast. All are perfectly legitimate pursuits in their own right and none of them are causing the destruction of the sport. Quite the opposite, all these different approaches enrich it! Canyoneering is no different. CarpeyBiggs nailed it: a group of enthusiasts getting together and going fast through some canyons is not going to lead to the downfall of the sport. It’s just one more way to enjoy the canyons.

[jman]

X3. Man, I need to get back into this thread and get the ball rolling on this baby!