THE FIVE TECHNIQUES
What Canyoning Involves: Five Skills in One Descent
Abseiling, jumping, sliding, swimming and the odd zip-line — canyoning strings five distinct techniques into one guided descent through an Interlaken gorge.
See canyoning trips on GetYourGuide ↗The five techniques, in brief
| Technique | What it is | The guide's role |
|---|---|---|
| Abseiling | A roped, backwards walk down a waterfall or rock face | Rigs the anchor, sets your speed, backs up the system |
| Jumping | A checked leap from a ledge into a plunge pool | Verifies depth first; always offers a non-jump alternative |
| Sliding | Sitting or lying back down a polished natural rock chute | Positions you at the top, catches you at the bottom |
| Zip-line | A cable crossing over a gap or drop | Clips you in and controls the line |
| Swimming | Crossing calm pools and connecting stretches | Leads the group, keeps everyone together |
Abseiling: the controlled descent
Most canyons open with a waterfall, and the way down is a rappel: your guide rigs a rope to a fixed anchor, clips you into your harness, and you walk backwards down the rock face as the water runs past or over you, feeding rope out to control your own speed. A second guide or a friction device usually backs up the system from below. It looks like the scariest part on paper and usually turns out to be the most controlled, since you're on a rope the whole way and can stop whenever you like.
Jumping: guide-checked, never compulsory
Before anyone jumps, a guide has already checked that pool for depth and hidden rock — canyons are scouted and re-checked as water levels shift through the season, and a guide typically waits in the water below to signal when it's clear. Jump heights vary a lot between canyons, from a metre or two on the gentle descents up to several storeys on the hardest ones, and the technique is simple: feet together, arms crossed over your chest, chin up, look at the horizon rather than down. Every single jump has a walk-down or abseil alternative built in, so nobody is ever forced to leap who doesn't want to.
Sliding: the gorge's own water slides
Years of meltwater have polished some rock chutes into natural slides, and a handful in the Bernese Oberland canyons are well known enough among local guides to have their own nicknames. You sit or lie back exactly as directed, keep elbows and knees tucked in, and let the current do the work while a guide positions themselves at the bottom to catch the exit and steer you clear of the rocks either side. They're shorter and gentler than most of the jumps but often the part people remember most fondly afterwards — pure fairground physics, carved by nothing but glacial water and time.
Zip-lines and swimming: the connectors
Not every obstacle in a canyon needs rope work. Some gorges span a gap with a short zip-line instead of a climb-around or an abseil, clipped in and controlled by a guide at either end, while the calmer stretches between drops are simply swum, sometimes with a mild current to work against. These flatter sections are where the group naturally regroups, catches its breath and takes in the scenery, and guides keep the pace tight throughout — nobody swims alone, and the group moves as a single unit from one obstacle to the next rather than spreading out.
Why the order isn't fixed
Two trips down the same canyon can look noticeably different, because guides adjust the exact sequence on the day — which pools get swum versus walked around, which jumps are offered, how long is spent at each stop — to match the water level and the group's ability. That's a deliberate safety choice, not inconsistency: a canyon that's straightforward at low water can be reshuffled or shortened after rain, and a confident, strong-swimming group might get offered an extra jump that a nervous or tired one skips entirely. The techniques stay constant; the exact route through them is decided fresh each day.
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