OURAY — For a man dangling above 170 feet of open air, Greg Foy was composed. Leaning out over the cliff’s edge, he checked his climbing harness and tugged the rope and anchor securing him to the canyon walls. Then he stepped back, leaving the safety of the ledge and entering the vertical world of one of Colorado’s wildest waterfalls.

I stood at the base of the falls, water still streaming from my shoes and wetsuit, and watched him descend. A black dot against the rocks, his body disappeared halfway down the face into the torrent of water. Moments later, he plopped into an ankle-deep pool.

Foy unclipped from his rope and pulled it through the anchor above. “You’ve joined an elite group,” he said with a grin. “Very few people have seen what you’re seeing now.”

We stood together in Lower Oak Creek, one of the lesser-known technical canyons of the San Juan Mountains. Though the entire length of the canyon is less than a mile from the southwest Colorado town of Ouray, steep rock walls and the surrounding mountainsides render it invisible to anyone not actually inside.

Foy believes the bottom of Lower Oak has been seen by fewer than 200 people.

Through the annual Ouray Canyon Festival — which he organizes with the help of his wife, Connie — Foy hopes to bring these canyons out of obscurity and into the forefront of the sport.

Popular for decades in the sandstone slot canyons of Utah and Arizona, canyoneering is travel through canyons by any means necessary. Some canyons can be explored with no more than a pair of hiking boots, but others require canyoneers to scale cliff faces, clamber over boulders or swim.

The sport has carved a permanent foothold in Utah, particularly in Zion and Canyonlands National Parks. But the community of diehard canyoneers is still just a few thousand people strong, so destinations like the mountains around Ouray went completely unexplored for decades.

“Nobody knew anything about the canyons,” said Mike Dallin, a Boulder software engineer who pioneered the first descents of most of Ouray’s canyons a decade ago. The second edition of his guidebook, “Ouray Canyoning” is slated for print in the spring of 2013.

Armed with mountaineering equipment and a topographic map, Dallin first went looking for technical canyons in Ouray on a hunch. The quality and variety of canyons he found in the bowl of mountains surrounding Ouray left a permanent mark on him, and he now believes the town is among North America’s very best canyoneering destinations.

“You can visit three or four different canyons in three or four days, and each one looks like a completely different place,” he said.

Ouray’s canyons offer different challenges from those in the deserts of Utah and Arizona. Canyoneers in the San Juans are often hiking and rappelling within the flow of running water and are constantly exposed to falling rocks from the crumbling canyon walls. Heavy rain can flood the canyons, dislodging logs or boulders and changing the character of the descent overnight.

Because of the challenges presented by an alpine environment, many who travel in Ouray’s canyons refuse to call the sport “canyoneering” at all. Instead they opt for “canyoning,” the phrase used in Europe for the descent of technical canyons in the Alps.

The insides of these canyons are almost otherworldly in their remoteness, but each of them spits travelers out within a short walk of Main Street, Ouray. Just minutes after rappelling the 300-foot Cascade Falls, travelers can sip margaritas at the local Mexican restaurant.

“It’s mostly just (the) canyons that are draining into town,” he said. “You don’t often see a fully stocked tourist town near this much canyoning.”

With Foy’s Canyon Festival in its third year, Ouray is just coming into its own as a canyoneering town. Local publications are full of features on the sport, and Outside magazine recently chose canyoneering in Ouray as one if its “Best Southwestern Adventures.”

The festival itself — held in mid-August — is small but well-organized. A few dozen canyoneers turned out for a banquet dinner under a white tent in Ouray’s Hot Springs Park this year, and several more were seen in the canyons and on the trails around town. Around the banquet’s buffet table, where canyoneers enjoyed food and beer donated by local businesses, the enthusiasm was palpable.

“These are America’s cathedrals,” said Sal Ciro of the basalt towers that ring the high country of Ouray. “Europe’s got its cathedrals, but these are ours.”

A first-time visitor to Ouray, Ciro traveled all the way from his home in New York City to attend the festival. Other attendees traveled from Arizona, Utah, California, and from across the state of Colorado.

They were welcomed by a town eager to share its treasures. Stores boasted signs or banners reading “Welcome Canyoneers,” and the local mountain shop offered a discount to all festival attendees looking to purchase equipment or guidebooks.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Foy, who hopes one day to see his festival attract hundreds of canyoneers. “And the iceberg is so deep, it’s ridiculous.”

Canyoning is not easy. The sport requires technical equipment and skills, and subjects practitioners to the dangers of falling rocks, rushing water and precipitous drops. The sport isn’t one to be picked up in a weekend, but it is available to all able-bodied people with a thirst for learning and an appetite for risk.

OURAY CANYONING INSIDER’S GUIDE

Get there: The town of Ouray is along U.S. 550, 36 miles south of Montrose. Most canyons can be reached by hiking from Main Street (550). Parking in town is free.

When to go: Peak season for Ouray’s canyons varies by the year. Generally speaking, the canyons are best traveled in August and September, when temperatures are high but water flow is manageable. In the early summer, when runoffs are at their peak, many of the canyons are too dangerous to descend.

Where to learn: San Juan Mountain Guides (970-325-4925, ourayclimbing.com), based in Ouray, offers canyoneering classes and guided descents. Individuals and groups of all skill levels can take part in the company’s introductory course, which involves a guided trip down the moderate Portland Creek Canyon Route. For more advanced canyoneers, the outfitter offers trips down Oak Creek and other challenging canyons.

What to bring: All of Ouray’s canyons contain running water, so canyoneers should bring wetsuits, gloves and water shoes. As with most technical canyons, a climbing harness, rappel or belay device and rope are needed. Be sure you know what length of rope you will need before entering a canyon, and be prepared to build your own anchors along the way. Helmets should be worn at all times. Most necessary equipment can be purchased in town at Ouray Mountain Sports (732 Main St., 970-325-4284, ouraysports.com).

Dine/Drink: After a descent, hungry canyoneers can grab food and drinks at any number of local restaurants. Maggie’s Kitchen (520 Main St.) offers some of the town’s best cheeseburgers, and top-notch Mexican food and margaritas are available at Buen Tiempo (515 Main St., 970-325-4544). Locally brewed beer is available at both the Ouray Brewery ( 607 Main St., 970-325-7388, ouraybrewery.com) and the Ourayle House Brewery (215 Seventh Ave., 970-903-1824, ouraylehouse.com).

Matt Minich