Greece is a rather small country. However, it consists of a very interesting natural environment, almost all land surrounded by sea, measuring countless km of coastal perimeter, more than 500 islands and islets, very tall mountains (like Olympos, homeland of Zeus and the Greek Gods) and more than 250 canyons open for canyoners, spread all over the country, most of them friendly to all levels of canyoning, depending on the weather.
Canyoning started in Greece in the ‘90s by some outdoor enthusiasts getting their steps into caving first. As the time went by, a handful of extreme sportsmen were officially initiated in canyoning by Jacques Cohen, the notorious French canyoner, sadly no longer with us, who is considered to be the father of Greek canyoning. Year by year popularity of the sport started rising, so the need of proper education, the connection to international standards and the friendship with J. Cohen team created a link to Ecole Française de Canyon – Fédération Française de Spéléologie. All Greek amateur canyoning organizations follow the French system of validating official courses and many professionals now working in the field as guides. When professional canyoning lead to the creation of ICOpro, an affiliate center was also establish in central Greece.
FHS – Hellenic Federation of Speleology, member of Fédération Internationale de Canyonisme (FIC), has canyoning under it’s wing, for there is no official Hellenic Canyoning Association yet. If you want to read more about FHS here: http://www.fhs.gr/
