Viking Open Canyon Norway January 2023

The Viking Open Canyon team manages to open two of Norway’s most challenging canyons

Text and photos by Daniel Planells and Viking Open Canyon team

In 2019 they started expeditions to the Scandinavian country for the exploration and opening of canyons and found an area with great potential for ravines and canyons to explore. Since then they have not stopped visiting Norway, going even 3 times in the same year, bringing to date approximately 60 open canyons in the country.

All the objectives that were proposed were being achieved, until they found what they called “big projects”, which include the Glera canyon and the Marakelva canyon.

Both have a large receiving basin, feeding their flows to several glaciers and lakes. (For example the Glera’s 75 km2 reception basin, 6 glaciers and several lakes.) So their flows are very high in their normal state.

They have tried to “attack” these beasts in 5 different expeditions. Even in the winter of 2021, when glaciers and lakes begin to freeze and flows begin to decline. But, even in this expedition they failed again due to its high flow, and bad weather.

It was necessary to study the behaviour of the flow in detail, to look for a good climatological window where the maximum temperatures are always below zero for several days and also when the risk of avalanches is practically nil…

In other words, to tackle these two canyons not only must the “perfect” conditions be met, but these conditions are extreme, where any mistake can be fatal.

In January 2023 they return to Norway, with almost all the stars aligned. But once there, the forecasts begin to change and the temperatures rise sharply, but after assessing the risks they decide to enter these two canyons…

The difficulties of the ice, the cold and the high flow mean that they are opening with a certain degree of commitment and that will be marked in their memories for their entire lives.

According to Daniel: “The choice of material in this type of activity is fundamental, as factors such as lightness, comfort and effectiveness must be taken into account. For this reason, we choose the “Bestard Canyon Guide” boots, as we have tested them on previous expeditions in Norway and, moreover, on other canyoning trips in winter conditions.

An essential requirement for us and that Bestard offer us is that the crampons fit properly and do not move or wobble when we progress on the ice, and another plus point is that, despite the number of layers we wear on our feet, they are very comfortable when walking.

Daniel Planells and Viking Open Canyon team