We interviewed Noelia Novoa, canyoning guide, speleologist, explorer and mountain lover.

"A mountain guide is a professional who guides an individual or group, carries out teaching and sports training tasks and manages the risk of activities carried out in the natural environment, providing safety for all the members of the group involved".

Spanish Association of Mountain Guides (AEGM)

This definition is perfect, although perhaps too cold to define a profession as old as the history of the sport and whose origins can be traced back to the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 by Dr. Michel Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat, a chamois hunter and crystal detectorist.

Between that feat at the end of the 18th century and today 238 years have gone by. Much has changed since then, although some things will never change, and the hunters, shepherds or crystal prospectors who drove aristocrats through the Alps or the Pyrenees are today highly qualified, highly trained professionals.

We asked our good friend Noelia Novoa, a canyoning guide who specialises in canyoning and is in charge of Barrancs lo pallars and a regular contributor to this magazine. We have talked about training, safety, what today's clients are looking for, about her explorer facet of large underground caves or about the presence (increasingly) of women in this world.

Hi Noelia, how are you? Where do we catch you these days?

Hi Kike, these days you catch me training in Montserrat and giving training in caving, always entertaining and in the mountains.

Montserrat? Good place to give us a bit of envy. Tell us, how did your love of the mountains begin, especially canyoning and caving?

My hobby began 15 years ago, when together with some friends we decided to go down the Infern canyon in Pobla de Segur with a local company. The family had already had a flat in Pobla de Segur for years and I had already noticed those mysterious cracks through which water came down... Caving came after canyoning, when I started to train at a federative level.

Oh! So your first contact with canyoning was as a client and from what I can see, it really marked you. When did you decide that you wanted to dedicate yourself to this professionally and create your own company?Barrancs lo pallarsWere you afraid to take the leap? Leaving your previous life behind and turning what was until then a hobby into your livelihood?

6 years after travelling through the most famous canyons in Spain, Pyrenees, France, Switzerland, Dolomites, Slovenia, Madeira and even a training trip to Morocco, I decided to train to become a professional, with the intention of learning more, being completely autonomous and sharing my knowledge and passion for the mountain with clients, all accompanied by a dose of enthusiasm and a lot of motivation.

I was afraid to take the leap, I thought long and hard about it, especially because of the change it would mean, but the change was worth it.

Were the beginnings difficult? A lot of paperwork, little income, making yourself known... Besides, it was in the middle of the economic crisis... do you regret it?

I have no regrets, I feel very proud to have taken the plunge in those difficult times and to have come out on top, all that I have learned in many ways by setting up this project on my own.

It was difficult because with the pandemic we had a lot of insecurity, suddenly we had a free hand and all of a sudden they closed us down again... It was desperate, I was only thinking about being able to work and move forward with my project that was just starting up, but the pandemic favoured us.

Of course, the beginnings of a freelancer are hard, I suppose that as in many businesses you have to build up a portfolio of clients, your clients have to know you, know how you work.... You have months of less income and months of more income, expenses, etc. You have to find a balance.

What advice would you give to someone who, like you 15 years ago, has a comfortable life, a stable job, but is not fulfilled by what they do?  

Of course, my advice would be to take the plunge, at least try, as you might regret not having tried.

I am of the opinion that when something goes round and round in our heads and comes back again and again it is because it is telling us something, it is because there is something there that needs to be discovered, that needs to be released.

Stability is all very well, but we really learn when we change, when we get out of our comfort zone, and who said that we have to do the same thing all our lives? Maybe if we try it we will discover something new about ourselves that was dormant.

Going back to your activity, what activities do your clients ask you for the most?

Most of them tend to be not very long activities, adrenaline activities and spectacular places with good views. I have more demand for the more well-known commercial canyoning and via ferratas, and then from time to time I have a profile of clientele who ask me for more sporty canyoning and caving, as well as multi-day getaways.

In recent years, have you noticed any changes in the type of people who decide to hire the services of a guide?

For me personally, yes. I have noticed that I have more demand for activities in the 40+ age group.

Do you think we are now more aware of training and safety, or are we still a country where people start with the friend who once did this or that canyon and nothing happened?

I think we are more aware of security, in fact, every year there are small groups that want to be trained to become self-employed, but there is still a customer profile that prefers Youtube or Instagram tutorials, which I am not saying that it is not right to watch, but that they should look for a reliable source of information or that it is people with official training who are following them on the networks.

I suppose you've encountered all sorts of situations over the years, is there one you remember most for whatever reason?

Well, if we stayed at home there would be no anecdotes to tell... or would there? Haha, the thing is that 15 years are a long time and in the mountains there are moments for everything, she tells you when she lets you be...

I have experienced all kinds of situations, I have witnessed accidents, I have been rescued by helicopter, I have had to rescue, moments of tension in canyons, sudden changes in the weather that you have to manage, clients with panic attacks, etc., but the one I remember most was the accident I suffered in 2013, while we were enjoying a morning of climbing with friends, a giant block of rock came loose and fell on top of the foot of the route, cutting the rope, leaving my partner stuck to the wall and me on the ground a few metres below the foot of the route without being able to move. It was a very serious accident due to a misfortune, nothing depended on us and we could not have avoided it, these things happen and they happen.

The best thing to do in this type of situation is not to dwell on it too much, to recover as quickly as possible and to continue with your objectives, whatever they may be, to learn from what happened and to overcome it.

This accident happened to me in the middle of my guide training, it meant a break due to the injuries I sustained, but it did not prevent me from continuing with my training, which was my greatest dream.

Now it is only a vague memory and a life experience that made me grow as a person and as a mountain enthusiast.

A friend of a friend of a friend also had something very similar happen to him (hehe). Going back to training. In these winter months when activity is at a standstill, do you take advantage of this to give courses, etc.?

Yes, in the winter months I'm more into caving, as in spring/summer I'm more in the water. I really do training all year round.

You are also dedicated to the exploration of large underground caves. Your CV includes some of the deepest underground traverses in the world, such as La Piedra de San Martín (-842m), Gouffre Berger (-1,122m), Cueto Coventosa (-815m), etc, etc. On your website it says that you are currently involved in the underground exploration of the Escuaín system, in the Ordesa National Park, with more than 36 kilometres of galleries explored. Tell us a bit about it, so that someone who has no idea can get an idea of what it's like to go into a chasm for several days, in total darkness, in extreme conditions of humidity, cold, narrowing, mud, lifting heavy rucksacks...

Well, it's an expedition but underground, hehe, very different from the ones mountaineers do, although some things are similar.

To begin with, as you say, the dynamics of underground exploration are always confined spaces, cold, wet, damp, hard portages, being wet or dirty and all sorts of other discomforts. Most of the time, to get to the exploration point where you left off last time, it can take a whole day or a day and a half to get there, and then set up camp underground and then finally, after that, start the work or objectives to be done, i.e. start exploring.

In the Ordesa National Park, specifically in Escuaín, which is where we are exploring, the temperature inside the cave is approximately 5 degrees Celsius, which makes this type of Pyrenean exploration extra tough, so it is very important to carry good equipment and to be well prepared and hydrated, no pineapple diet, come on... hehehehe.

The bag you sleep in is very important, down there it is much better to sleep in a hammock and isolate yourself from the ground, respect sleep and meal times, the same as if you were going to work every day, you have to follow certain routines underground, to compensate for the hours you don't see the sun.

I am lucky enough to explore with some of the members who one day made the connection of the famous traverse of the Fuentes de Escuaín B15 B1, with a drop of 1,151 metres, the GEB group from Badalona, together with other groups, but I have to say that they are the best family I have ever had. I have learned a lot with them and I am still learning, they are an example of overcoming and motivation for the new generations, they were real titans who with the few means they had before made those great discoveries in much tougher conditions than now, and I am also lucky to have my partner by my side, who is a great explorer, topographer and speleologist, together we have always been motivated to take on great challenges underground and he is a person from whom I have learned a lot, the engine of my life.

Exploration can be harder or less hard, it depends on how you approach it. For me it's a challenge and a game at the same time, we depend on the permissions that the Park gives us, we can't always go, so when we go we squeeze those moments and we enjoy it a lot, we give the best of us.

In Catalonia, are there many of you who dedicate yourselves to the exploration of large caves, I mean, with this level of commitment? In the end, it is a very hard job, which is not paid, on the contrary, it has no recognition or anything else.

Well, I would say little recognition, although all our work is documented with reports and topographies that we carry out after each campaign and published in the magazine of the National Park, which every year requires us to document the work we carry out there.

We receive some subsidies from the Catalan Federation of Speleology, but part of the material we use every year exploring is paid for by the participants of the exploration.

The truth is that it is a very hard and undervalued job in my opinion, but personally very satisfying for those of us who are interested in this exciting little world.

I read in your web You're training in scuba diving. Is it because you're drawn to the exploration of very aquatic caves, with flooded galleries, or is it because you're also drawn to the sea?

I also love the sea, I find the underwater world fascinating, every time I have dived it has been an enriching experience, but I don't have time for everything... haha, I would love one day to be able to train in cave diving and who knows if I can dive a siphon in Escuaín, my second home.

I'm sure you do. By the way, I've seen that in Barcelona there are 43 canyoning guides, four of them are women, including you. How do you experience this situation in which most of your colleagues are men? Why do you think this is?

When I trained as a guide there were about 15 of us, I was the only girl in the group, and I have to say that it was a fantastic experience, with a lot of companionship, and at no time did I feel different or that I was treated differently because I was the only woman, on the contrary.

The reason why there are more men than women may be because it is still difficult for women to opt for such a profession, in which your work environment is always the mountain and the risk, far from your family and friends, doing kilometres, although each time there are more men than women.We are more and more women who are committed to these types of professions.

Does the fact that you are a woman condition you in any way? I don't know, in the material, for example, or with clients, are they surprised, or when you consider becoming a mother?

The equipment is also designed for women, we already have many wetsuits in women's sizes and some harnesses, kayak jackets and so on.

Occasionally I have met a client who was surprised to be guided by a woman, but the experience has always been positive.

Being a mother is something I don't rule out, if it has to come it will, but I'm not obsessed with anything and it doesn't condition me, at some point you may find yourself in poor health and you have to go out to guide, explore or train, but nothing more than an ibuprofen can't solve.

Honestly, I think that your figure is very important, the fact that clients see that their guide is a woman. I don't know if you see yourself like that, but you are a reference point, especially for younger people.

All this of dedicating myself to guiding was born out of a great motivation, and a kind of challenge with myself, something personal that I wanted to show to someone very important in my life, so I never thought of being a reference, but to achieve what I most wanted, then over time I have seen all the good that I could contribute, being a professional guide is not just taking people to the mountains, it is a sum of situations, experiences and a special bond that you generate with your clients, values that you can contribute.

Yes, of course, I agree with these words. Going back to your activity as a canyoning guide (Barrancs lo PallarsDo you think that the administrations, town councils and others take you into consideration as an economic engine of the valleys, of the rural areas? I don't know, do you miss any kind of facility?

Yes, of course we are taken into consideration, part of the tourism in these villages is also generated by the adventure companies offering activities and making part of the territory known. Some entities help us to promote our work or in bad times they have offered us some help. On the other hand, it is true that with so many people taking part in these sports, after the pandemic, some places have suffered and we are finding more and more places that are forbidden, regulated or have to be paid for. We have to find a balance so that we all benefit, but I don't think that prohibition is the best solution or paying more than 30 euros to leave your car in a sandy car park half a morning.

We are at the beginning of March, I don't know if you are already preparing for the beginning of the high season, Easter... but, before I ask you about any of this, how does climate change affect you, have you brought the season forward, have you had to modify the activities you normally do on that date because the rivers have changed?

Climate change has had an effect, now the season starts a month earlier and ends a month later, the dry season is very long in Spain, on the one hand it is beneficial but on the other hand we have the problem of drought, which for example in Catalonia has brought us the alpha fire plan and that is a real problem and danger?

When they close mountain areas due to fire danger and heat, and you have reservations from months ago just for the area that they close when they activate the plan, you have to offer a plan b to customers and look for an area that is allowed on those dates and also respecting the activity profile requested by the client, sometimes it is difficult to improvise that, because the clients sometimes don't want to go far to do the activities, and we have to go further and further away in summer to find water in the canyons or areas without an alpha plan, and I am finding more and more torrents that used to be aquatic and now are practically dry at times of the year when they were not.

What are your plans for the next few months? Are you repeating the trip to Madeira?

Working hard, continuing to do what I like best, exploring and discovering new proposals for the clientele. Madeira we will see this year...

Anyone brave enough to have read the whole interview and want to contact you, how can they do so?

For the page webby email (info@barrancslopallars.com) or whatsapp (657 994 821), I try to answer quickly!

Anything you miss that I haven't asked you about, a message you want to give...

The truth is that I didn't miss anything, it's a very complete interview, haha.

A message... To all of you who are starting out, don't hesitate to take courses, training is very important to go freely in the mountains and gives you a lot of autonomy and safety and we avoid many accidents by training ourselves, and to all of you who are proposing to try a risky sport for the first time, don't wait any longer and do it, they are very enriching experiences that surprise you and that give you a lot at many levels, we only live once.

See you in the mountains!

Noe.