The fifth edition of the International Canyoning Meeting, GORGS 2008, took place in 2nd Arnes, Tarragona, on 23rd, 24th and 25th May. On the same occasion, the International Canyoning Conference and the 1st International “Lucien Briet” Photo Contest were held. All these events were organised by the Catalan Alpinism and Climbing Association (FEEC) and the Catalan Caving Association (FEC).

The precious help from 26 colleagues and friends who were on hand to welcome more than 400 participants contributed to making this Canyoning meeting a resounding success for a sport that is still a minority sport, but which stands out from the rest in its respect for nature and the environment.

On Friday 23rd, we finished organising everything at the same time and sat back to wait for the first arrivals. Desnivel had a stand in the registration area, where some of its manuals were available, as was the publisher Piolet with its map of the Ports area.



The opening speech was given at 17.30 by the Mayor of Arnes, Sr. Xavier Pallarès i Povill and the members of the Organisation team. Among those who attended were the counsellors from Arnes and Horta de Sant Joan, the members of the UEME corps dels Ports, the managers of the dels Ports natural park and of course, the sponsors and participants.

Then Sr. Carlos Martínez, who has opened many canyons in the area, took over to give a presentation on the canyons in els Ports, entitled: “The first explorations” (Las primeras exploraciones).

His speech was followed by the projection of the films entering the competition and the evening was rounded off with a presentation from Sony on the digital camera world.

In the meantime, in the background a steady flow of participants continued to arrive, and unlike other years, their number grew over the two days of the event.


Early on Saturday, the first conference was held on Canyoning Regulations and Prohibitions (Regulaciones y Prohibiciones del Descenso de Cañones y Barrancos) followed by a round table discussion on the document concerning the ethics and morals of re-equipping canyons.

At the request of the Gorgs Organization team, the meeting on regulations was presented by a representative from the Comisión de Accesos y Naturaleza de la FEDME, Sr. Carlos Ferrís, and was based on a document created last year in Covadonga during the 3rd Seminar on Protected Natural Areas, that dealt specifically with canyoning in these areas.

The purpose of the meeting was to present, on behalf of the FEEC (Federació d’Entitats Excursionistas de Catalunya) and the FCE (Federació Catalana d’Espeleologia), based on the seminar previously organised by the FEDME, the content of the documentation on Covadonga to the different directors of Catalonia’s natural parks (Ports, Cadí Moixeró, Montserrat, Alta Garrotxa and Alt Pirineu), to the representative of the subdivision for Biodiversity in the Generalitat de Catalunya, to the Vice President of the AEGM (Spanish Mountain Guides Association) and to various guests who attended from other Spanish federations; the FAM (Andalusian Mountaineering Federation), the FAE (Aragonese Caving Federation), the FECV (Valencian Caving Federation), the FBME (Balearic Mountaineering and Climbing Federation), the EMF (Basque Mountaineering Federation) and the FCE (Canary Islands Caving Federation). The FFME (French Mountaineering and Climbing Federation) was also present at Gorgs.

The current regional issue was discussed and possible solutions for Catalonia were put forward, that could be extended to other regions.

The meeting was considered a real success, for the simple fact of having succeeded in bringing together so many representatives from different organizations and administrations, ready to discuss the issues associated with canyoning prohibitions and regulations.

After the debate, there was just time for a coffee before the second meeting of the morning on the documentation on re-equipping canyons, signed by the different Spanish federations and organisations between 2005 & 2006. The aforementioned federations were present, as was a representative from the EEAM (Spanish High-Altitude Mountaineering School), and the EFC (French Canyoning School) belonging to the FFS (French Caving Federation) and the CAF (French Alpine Centre) sent apologies for their absence for work reasons.

The FCE put forward a number of proposals to clarify the original text of the document which, once they had been discussed and approved, renewed the support for this charter of morals and ethics concerning the issue of re-equipment.

At 16:00, the different scheduled conferences began, covering themes such as the flora, fauna, geology, hydrology, sanitation, pathologies associated with poor harness use and techniques.


After the conferences, the participants made their way to Horta de Sant Joan to have dinner together in the local sports hall.

Awards were given after the meal and the more than 400 participants applauded the following winners at Gorgs 2008: Eduardo Gómez (for promoting the activity), Carles Martínez (national veteran), Bernard y Edith Trouvé (international veterans), UEC de Tortosa (Catalan Club), Betrand y Delphine, www.descente-canyon.com (on behalf of the organisation), Pere Martí (Consell Comarcal), Xavier Pallarès (Arnes Town Council) y Àngel Ferras (Town Council of Horta de Sant Joan).

A very special award was given to Joan Lluís Haro, for his unwavering dedication to the sport, for his work to promote canyoning, for being one of the main driving forces behind the creation of Gorgs, and for his impressive sporting career.

Then the professional Jury (Häkan Hjort, from Olympus) took centre stage to give their verdict on the 1st “Lucien Briet” National and International Canyoning Photo Contest. The prize-winning photos were taken by Jordi Martínez in first place (400€), and Damià Pérez in second place (300€). Both photographers also received equipment from Petzl, Kordas and Desnivel. The third prize, a digital camera and protective casing from Sony was awarded to Belén Cuadrado by the public jury.

A prize was also awarded for the best audiovisual presentation to Joan Sabater: “Els Ports. Un macizo con dos caras”.

The participants ended the evening in lively discussion with their friends.

Over the three days and owing to the variable weather that weekend, the mountaineering equipment and literature fair was set up in one of the lower ground floor rooms in the Arnes cinema.

On the Gorgs website, you can see the different items and articles presented at Gorgs2008, the photos entered for the contest and the prizewinners.

Initial information for the presentation of articles at the 3rd International Canyoning Conference 2009 will be available soon on the Gorgs website. A bit of advance information – the deadline for the submission of abstracts is 10 December 2008.

The Organisation team would like to conclude with a special mention for the active participation and goodwill of all the participants, administrations, institutions, federations, sponsors, and all those who have made Gorgs a true event in its own right.

Thank you to you all, and see you at Gorgs 2009 !