Γοργοπόταμος

That is, Gorgopotamos.

Which means something like "rushing river" and is the name of a village and, more relevantly, a river in Greece, in the Phtiotis, near its capital city of Lamia, some 250 km north of Athens.

"More relevantly", not because said river provides, as far as I can tell, any good paddling. Well, maybe it does outside the stretch I know. Rather, because, in that part, it forms a canyon (readers of exceptional fidelity and memory may remember that I consider canyoning and paddling activities that essentially share the same ethos, though).


Actually, it forms a big canyon. A canyon, perhaps not very famous, but with a certain reputation, often considered among the greatest in Europe and, possibly, the world. The reputation probably has something do with its having lots of water (so much at times that some years it has not been descended at all) and no known exits once you are in and with its 4.5 km in which it goes down 850 m. But also with things about which those numbers don't say anything: its enormous beauty and grandeur, the magnificent spruce forests of its headwaters and a certain feeling of remoteness and epic loneliness that pervades the whole activity.


It happened that our Dolomismo friends, Santi and Annabella, were on climbing-canyoning holidays in the Balkans in early Ocotber, and invited us to join them and another friend, Elíes, for a go at Gorgopotamos and a bit of fooling around in other canyons in the area. We couldn't say no.

Fortunately.


Note: As usual, pictures not mine. Credits and thanks go to Santi and Annabella. There are some more of their Gorgopotamos photographs here and a more more proper chronicle (in Italian) here. Also, this YouTube video of a descent by another group should help in getting an idea of the kind of place that is Gorgopotamos. Thanks also to Thomas Georgas and the Alpina XOOOL Club from Lamia for their hospitality and help with information.