Rover Scout sees the world one canyoning adventure at a time

From epic vistas to untouched jewels of nature, Charlotte Mason has seen it all.

The 2nd Gordon Rover Scout’s passion for exploratory canyoning has taken her all over the world, from remote national parks in NSW and the desert of Zion, USA, to stunning mountains in Switzerland and deep gorges in New Zealand. With a trip planned to Mexico at the end of the year, Charlotte is seeing the world as many could only dream.

Her interest in the sport started as a 12-year-old, exploring her first canyon with her father David, before further expanding her interest with 1st Balmoral Scout Group.

“I really liked the adventurous aspect of canyoning and then when I joined Venturers and saw that my Region (Sydney North) ran regular canyoning weekends over the summer, I started canyoning more regularly,” Charlotte, now 22, said.

“Through training with Scouts, I was able to rapidly upskill my canyoning abilities in the beginning. As my ropework skills improved through attending Scout abseiling and canyoning courses, I progressed to attending these weekends as an Assistant Guide, where I would learn more specific canyon skills from other advanced Leaders.

“More recently, in 2022, I won the Tony Balthasar Achievement Award – a Sydney North Region Rover Scout annual award – that granted me a sum of money, which I used to travel to France and undertake advanced canyoning training, including whitewater and rescue skills, from one of the world’s leading canyoners – Rodolphe Sturm. It was an amazing experience; I learnt so much that has since allowed me to do much more difficult canyons and first descents, as well as lead canyons better.

“One of the best parts of the course was being in the French Pyrenees. I stayed in a picturesque French mountain town and did some of the most beautiful mountainous canyons.”

Exploring the unknown

In the past four years, Charlotte has begun challenging herself with “first descents” in Australia – exploring and descending canyons that no one has ever been in before (in recent times at least). Most of these first descents have been in extremely remote national parks in northern NSW.

“I love doing first descents; there is something so unique about being in a place so few humans have been to before, as well as getting to experience nature at its finest and often its most wild and crazy.

“These expeditions require a lot of preparation – firstly, scouring over topo (topographic) maps and satellites to find potential canyons, deciding on the best route to descend the canyon, as well as organising food, water, gear, ropes and transportation to these remote destinations. The amount of gear required on these trips is insane. Unlike commercial canyons where there are anchors in the wall, you have to take your own drill, bolts and slings so you can create anchors as needed to descend the canyon.

“I have undertaken a two-week road trip up north with four other Rovers where we visited national parks and did 10 canyons, five of which were first descents and many more of which were canyons we equipped and opened for the community.”

Canyoning also requires precautions to ensure all participants stay safe. For Charlotte, this includes always carrying a first aid kit, satellite phone or PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) and other emergency gear so that she can spend the night out in the canyon, although she’s never needed to.

“In the canyon, we’re always taking action to avoid hazards. In a more difficult, aquatic or exploratory canyon, that could look like rigging a guided rappel to avoid some dangerous water, belaying people across the flow or out to abseil anchors if you suspect there may be a spillover, or drilling a bolted traverse line around a dangerous hazard,” she said.

“Also, if a canyon looks really difficult, it could be necessary to scout it before actually committing to the canyon descent, by abseiling in from the canyon rim and then ascending back out. But even in easier canyons I am always thinking of safety; rigging releasable rappels just in case you need to lower someone, checking existing anchors, checking pools before jumping or sliding. I also always carry basic rescue gear so that I can rescue someone on-rope if needed, or lower them, or haul them back up.”

Beyond the horizon

Canyoning has given Charlotte the chance to explore the world with a special community of passionate adventurers.

She has also given back to this community that has given her so much, attending the US Pacific Northwest Canyon Rendezvous in Washington (two hours inland from Seattle) in August 2023 as a canyon leader. She worked with another leader – her father David – to guide participants down some of the region’s premier canyons.

But the peak of her canyoning career so far was three weeks in New Zealand with a team of other Australian canyoners and guides, exploring new canyon regions and doing first descents.

“There was a lot of walking in the pouring rain with crazy heavy packs through some of the densest bush I’ve ever seen in my life, only to discover – to our disappointment – that the water levels in the region were too high to descend any of the canyons we had planned,” she said.

“However, it was all worth it when we struck gold on the West Coast, finding some of the most stunning and technically challenging canyons we had ever seen. We were able to do three first descents in this region, including the most beautiful but difficult whitewater canyon I have ever been in.

“We spent two days scouting and one day descending this canyon, although part of the canyon still remains undescended. However, once the full canyon is opened it is sure to be an internationally significant canyon – in my opinion, one of the best in the world.”

Canyoning together

There is so much to love about canyoning, but for Charlotte it is a mixture of the location and the people she is with.

“I love getting to experience places that very few will ever see in their lifetime,” she said.

“I love the adventure and adrenaline of whitewater canyoning, navigating dangerous features and swimming in fast-moving water. But most of all, I love descending canyons with my friends, many of whom I met through Scouting, and just going down the canyon, taking on challenges and having fun together.”

On another trip to New Zealand, Charlotte was able to explore some of the classic canyons with friends. She also attended the Makarora Festival with seven other Scouting friends from the Sydney North Region. The three-day festival was attended by about 100 people from around the world, with Charlotte running three trips down some of the more challenging whitewater canyons in the region taking some of her less-experienced friends who would not have been able to run the canyons by themselves.

Adventurous Scouting

When starting out canyoning at 12, there was no way Charlotte expected to do as much canyoning as she has done now, let alone take on canyons internationally or explore some of the most beautiful places in the world. Even a few years ago, she did not have any aspirations to do first descents and exploratory canyoning. She did not even know exploratory or whitewater canyoning existed when she started!

But she loves still having the opportunity to pass her knowledge and experience on to other Scouts.

“I have been leading canyon, abseiling and caving trips for my Rover Crew since I joined in 2019, although by now there are a number of Rovers that I have trained who are now Guides and also run trips. I have also guided trips on Sydney North Region canyon weekends since 2019 and still attend these, but more infrequently,” she said.

“I was the Region Rover Outdoor Activities Coordinator in 2021 and ran a number of Region Rover canyoning weekends where we had up to 30 Rover participants and would run two to three canyons each day. I’m not as active as I would like to be, but I still try to stay involved and give back where I can.

“I do enjoy taking out canyon novices and showing them an environment and activity that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. However, I prefer taking out more intermediate-level canyoners and training them, teaching them new canyon skills and also taking them into more advanced canyons that they wouldn’t be able to run otherwise. This way, I think I have a greater impact and am able to pass on more of my skills.”

Want to know more?

You never know where your Scouting adventure will take you – it is never too late to join. Existing members can search for upcoming canyoning and other Adventurous Activities events here, and new enquiries can get in touch here.