Grande Riviere Claire
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| | Raps:22, max ↨98ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:Required 12.0km Vehicle:Passenger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 30 Dec 2024
"A long creek walk at the end, but worth it for such a unique canyon. Access road was steep, overgrown, and muddy in sections (note: 2WD hamster cars w |
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| Best season: | Any, AVOID rains
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14.8078, -61.1747
14.8091, -61.1837
14.7743, -61.2018
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Introduction
Grande Riviere Clair is a nice route on the western slopes of Mount Pelee. While mostly not a slot, this is a long and beautiful route with some very unique rappels on distinct volcanic features not found in other canyons. The approach has some very, very dense bushwhacking; otherwise, the route is mostly straightforward. Plan on a full day if this is your first time. Car shuttle required.
Approach
Leave a car at the bottom, and drive your other car to the top. From this upper parking area, hike up the steep, well-travelled trail on the slopes of Mount Pelee. There are steps cut into the mud to help. The views are stunning. Don't start too late, as the sun can be hot.
Use the gps track on this page for help finding the turnoff. At a nondescript point on the trail, you'll see a very faint bushtrail heading to the canyon. Follow this best you can. At times it will disappear completely. At one point you should see a large PVC pipe marking the canyon.
From here, the approach becomes a horrendous bushwhack down steep slopes. In general, it will be easier to stay towards the higher parts of the ravine. There are cliffs hidden in the chest-high bushes, and falling could have serious consequences. Be careful. At this point, the GPS is for guidance, but the thickness of bushes may shift every year. You'll then arrive in the ravine, and after a few minutes of downclimbing boulders, be at the first rappel.
Descent
The first rappel has a bolted anchor hidden in the moss and underbrush on the right side. The canyon is mostly dry at this point, but it's best to put on wetsuits here, as it quickly becomes wet.
The first part has a bunch of brushy rappels in quick succession, often with small pools. Anchors are almost all bolted. There is at least one were you will probably want to double rap around an obvious tree.
Soon, the flow increases somewhat, and you find yourself in more of a slot. This is a section with odd brown material on top of volcanic rock, that makes for some stunning and unique rappels.
This section has several crazy beautiful rappels. After, the flow increases somewhat.
There are many smallish rappels after this part, and the canyon is mostly unremarkable.
Eventually, there is one more brown rappel to navigate. After this there is a small, gushing drop into a pool. This section of the canyon ends, but don't take your gear off yet - there still more obstacles downcanyon.
The route goes past a flat, muddy goat pond as it meets the valley of the Riviere Chaud. You'll have a brief but VERY intense bushwhack across head-height grass to get to the river bed. You may want to rig a rappel off a tree to get down a 5-meter slope. It's worth bringing a machete for this part.
Then, you'll suddenly be in the Riviere Chaud, which sometimes stops flowing.
Follow the Chaud downcanyon for quite a while. Eventually, the route again slots up at a big rappel You'll have to rig a sketchy traverse on the right side out to bolts, and then a freehang 20+ meter rappel along a beautiful waterfall.
After this, there are still several tricky downclimbs, usually with a big of water.
Suddenly, the canyon opens, the water disappears, and the route ends.
Exit
After the canyon opens and the water disappears, it's a 20-30 minute flat exit back to the road where you parked your lower vehicle.
Red tape
No red tape.
Beta sites
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Descente-Canyon.com : Grande Rivière Claire - An Kanion La-madinina : La Grande Rivière Claire
- Mur d'Eau Caraibe : Rivière claire
- LukasEddy.com : Canyons of Martinique
Trip reports and media
Background
This route was probably first descended by a French team in the 1990s or early 2000s.
