Adventure tourism experts in canyoning (a vertical sport with ropes focused on the exploration of ravines and canyons), can fulfill the dream of entering the heart of the Barranco del Río Barroso in Marseille from Venice in San Carlos, and realize the dream of descending to the base of the giant waterfall and touring the canyon in its entirety, leaving through the “La Cueva” waterfall, downstream. This waterfall is born in the old row of the Old Volcano, in the Juan Castro Blanco National Park.
In recent years, many national and foreign adventurers have undertaken to climb up the mighty Toro River, passing giant stones and crossing small rapids to try to reach the base of the great waterfall, but the journey comes to an end at a site known as “Cueva”. Here, the river walls close in a narrow canyon, where a 140-meter waterfall prevents further progress.
Every attempt to climb the sides has failed, and the base of the great waterfall has always remained out of reach, hidden in a deep canyon where the sun shines for only a few minutes a day, canyonists note.
Like being in another planet
Inside, their can be found a landscape like from another planet, with stone walls hundreds of meters high, a forest of giant “poor man’s umbrellas”, fast waters and 90 km / h winds. The feat can not be achieved overnight, but through the fruit of multiple expeditions and the support provided by experts in the field.
The Ecos de San Carlos Unity Group was the first to gain access by mountains to the head of the giant waterfall, and to carry heavy rescue ropes with which they made a first foray up the slopes of the dark ravine.
They did not touch the bottom of the canyon, but they witnessed the amazing eternal storm that the waterfall forms in its bowels when it collides with the rocks, and more importantly, they opened a viable path for future forays.
In the second instance, representatives of the Marseille Development Association of Venice supported Toros Canyoning Group to carry out other inspection and approach tours and, finally, international canyoners such as Félix Ossig-Bonanno (Australia), Fernando Fraire Tirado (Mexico) and Pablo Ruiz de Llanza (Spain) gave their support in the two tours in which they entered the bowels of the canyon.
Conquering the fear of the unknown
Finally, the Petzl brand, whose motto is “Access the inaccessible”, donated all the necessary equipment to enter such an inhospitable place. “Being hung from an ultra-thin rope over a completely unexplored canyon, with the giant Barroso waterfall alongside making a deafening noise… No member of the group is going to deny having felt a certain level of fear,” said Scott Trescott of Toros.
For his part, Allan Brenes, a mountaineer and rescuer with extensive knowledge of the national geography, said that this has been the most incredible place he has been able to observe in all of Costa Rica. The initial teams left the route equipped so that others can travel it. Of course, the route has an extremely high difficulty rating.
