Lucian Haid, AKA “Lucki”, mastered an extraordinary fastening task last September. The future doctor and emergency paramedic has been working as a self-employed canyoning tour guide for eleven years and has been practising the sport himself for 16 years. He guides canyoning guests wearing suitable gear through granite canyons, climbing and hopping down inclines, jumping into natural turquoise pools, abseiling down cliffs and waterfalls or sliding into plunge pools. Lucki offers tours, courses and canyoning equipment hire through his company, TICINO GUIDES (www.tessin-canyoning.com). 

He takes care of maintaining the routes himself, having placed several hundred abseiling hooks along the routes. “Safety is of the utmost priority during our canyoning tours, and it is our duty to guarantee it to our guests”, Lucki emphasises. “Before the start of the season in summer, we walk and inspect the routes to check everything is still in order. Last year, it turned out that old abseiling stations had to be removed and replaced along one of the routes”. The river in question formed an impressive canyon over the centuries, with high waterfalls and deep plunge pools in the granite formed by stones carried by the water and natural phenomena.

The abseiling stations each consist of two hooks connected by a chain. Their secure anchoring to the cliffs is tremendously important. “The fischer Group of Companies not only supplied a suitable fixing solution for this application, they also offered valuable support with advice, design, planning and on-site installation”, Lucki reports. It soon became apparent to all those involved in the project that the fischer FIS V Zero injection mortar was the ideal solution for the fastening project. It offers the necessary performance characteristics and is quick and easy to process, even under extreme conditions. Thanks to its special formula, FIS V Zero does not require hazard labels even under the strict stipulations of the EU’s current CLP chemical regulation. “I chose the mortar as it fulfils the necessary requirements without requiring a hazard label”, Lucki says, describing the advantages. “This means I can work without protective glasses and gloves, making it significantly easier for me to work in a canyon compared to me having to wear additional safety equipment in challenging conditions on a cliff”. 

Lucki initially checked whether the rock was still intact before anchoring the hooks. He does so by the sound of the hammer blow - the higher the sound, the “healthier” the rock is. Next, he created the drill holes in the rock to install the abseiling station. While doing so, it’s important to thoroughly clean the drill hole so that the mortar firmly holds in the drill hole wall to allow the fastening to achieve its full load-bearing capacity. Lucki then injected the FIS V Zero injection mortar into the drill hole with the accompanying fischer dispenser before inserting the hooks that offer a permanent, secure hold thanks to the mortar.

“We’re really pleased we were able to support Lucki during this project, accompanying him from planning and installation throughout every phase until the project’s successful completion”, emphasises Jens Zimmerlin, Head of Product Management Chemical Fixings at the fischer Group of Companies. “During a fixing job such as this, there are of course lots of technical queries that we were able to answer and clarify. In doing so, we were able to successfully illustrate the advantages and potential applications of our FIS V Zero injection mortar”.

Further information can be found at: www.tessin-canyoning.com