haute-alpes high Water

What can you say, with such a large snow pack across the Alps, it was either going to be a slow burner with a long runoff season or mega flood. When in Valsesia we got a great two months of excellent water conditions, and in the French Alps we got 10 days of a bank full torrent. The water was so high in France that the Prefecture of the Haute-Alpes Department closed all rivers to kayaking. This is an interesting precedent, and I will be gauging my future visits to the Ecrin based on the predicted conditions.

High water Gryonde, bank full and closed for paddlers by the local government office

Often when you get a strong Winter like the last, Spring takes a while to have an impact, and often the mountains create their own micro climate, which means days of rain. This was the case in Valsesia for the latter part of May into June. However towards the end of May, heavy rains arrived and washed the normally dry ford away in Campertogno, leaving the very nice people there without road access for a few days.

After a few days of looking at the flood waters in France, I headed to Lanzo near Torino. Flowing into Lanzo are a number of lower altitude rivers, all of which are wide boulder garden runs. Our local expert Stefano de Lanzo, showed us the way. The runs of Stura di Viu, Stura di Lanzo and Stura del Grande are great alternatives when all else flowing from the higher mountains are in flood. After the weekend, I went back to a very wet Valsesia, I joined up with Leeds Uni’s finest Nick Horwood and Tim Trew. We hit the classics with good levels, it was more like Norway than the normally low volume steep creeking. On the way back to France, we headed to a high level Soana in the Gran Paradiso. The Soana is a real favourite of mine, its more a river than a steep creek, with numerous steep boulder rapids. On the Soana there are lots of great moves to be had, so a great days paddling with the Leeds crew, plus English Rose Emily Walls. In the image is Emily boofin’ her rocker mid river on the Soana.

Once the Haute-Alpes Department opened up for paddling, we headed to the Durance Gorge and Middle Guil for some high level sport. The Durance gorge is not so hot at high levels, most is washed out, the main drops a little shity and the runout of the portage far to dirty. Alas the Middle Guil cleans up with more water, and several runs we had. Strangely in spite of their being numerous paddlers around, these classic sections were very paddler free!! In the following images check out Paul Robertson on his days off from Palm’s marketing department, firing it up on Trois Chutes in high water.

Check out the large Chamois, an alpine deer we saw on the banks of the Guil at the staircase rapid.

With all the rain, and the rivers closed, a few of us have been taking to the hills with our Mountain bikes. The area around the Ecrin has a host of trails, so every evening of late, we have been getting up lift and flying down the single tracks. Here’s Dave Carroll making like the wind near Briancon, France.

In between the rain in the Alps, I went to Finland for see my lady. It was recently her 30th, and here she is enjoying wine in Tallinn just before the Ballet.

Regards

Simon

ticino, pure Gold

In between Gene17’s trip in Soča and Valsesia, I needed to clean up 22 Trnovo after the recent construction, and get to Milan to collect friends for a weeks Ticino action.  Well I turned up a day late, and then we headed for some San Giovanni water fall action.  This rain fed run near Verbania is an excellent canyon trip, plus a few years back I did the rarely run upper section.  Its all a little narrow granite bedrock creekin’ all within a very green and heavily wooden valley.  A very beautiful place for a group of paddlers looking for action.  We hit the series of drops that featured in the legendary ”Family Mad” topo boating video of the earlier 90’s.  Great fun was had, especially for those paddlers looking to get on the steeps after a winter of no boating.

The rain did not stop, all night long, we headed to a wild camping spot with a prefect place to cook, a rough lean-too, and I fired up the stove to produce a wine laden pasta dish.  As we enjoyed dinner in the growing darkness, the rain abated, with the moon revealing that the snow line had dropped considerably to some 250 metres above us.  It was a cold night.  Bluebird sunshine greeted us in the morning, and a fine breakfast in the mountains, the cafe flowed and my new favour Dorset Cereals museli with yogurt and bananas was enjoyed.  We head to the Valle Verzasca, and were not disappointed, this superb run was in prime condition.

Highlights of the run are hard to pinpoint, its all pretty world class.  The middle section is a boulder garden event, lots of rock spins, grinds and flares to enjoy.  With our merry group of 8 paddlers, it turn out to be a race for the best move, all the time we descended the run, more water cascaded in off huge waterfalls.  The landscape is more Yosemite than Alpine, with massive magma tower, and wide sweeping bedrock of the smoothes granite a paddler could hope for.  As we headed into the Lower section, the sport increased and we upped our game.  The New School Grad drop is a favourite of mine, however at the level we had it 30-35cumecs or so, there is a wonderful rock 360 grind slide just above Black Knight, that I really enjoy to nail.  Below is a sequence of Dave Carroll enjoying the grind.

That evening I took the night train to Passau to pick up Gene17’s new road warrior, a mid height long wheel based MB Sprinter minibus.  With the trip business growing fast, the need for a second car was too much.  So I bite the bullet, borrowed from my not so helpful UK bank and brought a silver surfer of the van.  This van will be used on the new D4DR WW programme starting next month in Slovenia.  The D4DR is our new instructor training programme, based at 22 Trnovo, and will have Deb Pinniger, Leo Hoare and myself delivering this exciting course.

Another Winter clicks on by, and what a Winter it has been, high snow falls, an excellent snow pack across the European Alps and Norway.  That was the thoughts that ran across my mine through Early Spring.  And up until recently, it has been a been a real red letter Spring.  Fine water and sunny days in Soča, a friends trip to Ticino and then great conditions in Valsesia.  The day the G17 trips finished in Italy, the rains started and so the great Spring swung to extremely high water conditions.  As I type this, its been high action, and then closed rivers in France.  The Eastern Alps is finally drying out, yet it has been heavy conditions, and thus what one can expect after such a strong Winter.  As they say, be careful what you wish for.

slovene Vir

What to say, the Winter was a strong one, so its grip on Spring was so much so the season decided to hold on for quite a while.  April Showers were more like a month of rain, thus my little plan to get the final few shots needed to complete the much delayed new instructional DVD was thrown out of the window. I’ll need to wait until June.  In spite of the weather, Gene17 had a bumper month in April, with many new faces and great laughs too.  My brother in law join us, he has only been in a kayak 5 times before, so for him to ace the different sections on the Soča was a thrill for both him and myself.

Dave Carroll enjoying high water on the slalom site in Trnovo.

A G17 paddler flaring a rock grind on the Upper Soča River.

Dave Carroll in hot pursuit in the Third Canyon.

High water and the beginning of the Spring melt, allowing the Boka Waterfall to flow.  The water source for the waterfall is a cave on the lip of the cascade, a classic Karst rock formation.

Myself inspecting the final stages of construction and renovation at 22 Trnovo.  Its been 3 year since I purchased my ruin in Slovenia.  No one lived there for 40 years or more, so there was a huge requirements to completely install all the services and insulate the property to modern standards.  I had the ex-president of the AKC doing most of the technical work with the under floor heating, plus a team of Balkan workers doing the general construction.  The house has been considerably transformed to cater for G17’s expanding instructor training programmes, the first of which D4DR WW starts in a few weeks time.  From 2009, G17 will offer the property for group accommodation, details to come this Autumn.

With demand on the increase my hand was finally forced to purchase a new van for G17.  Now for UK tax reasons this is always fun and days, and I understand the advances of leasing, yet there is something about spending that amount of money and having nothing to show for it, that just is not in my comprehension.  So instead I borrowed the funds, and went to Germany and brought a MB Sprinter.  This export purchase will be registered in Slovenia, so my slow migration of the whole of G17 to Soča takes another step.  

Towards the end of the month, just as I was about to depart, the sun arrived for the first time in weeks.  One day it what 25′C, so short sleeves came out, and the snow started to melt….fast.  Since I left and have been in Piemonte, Soča has been in major flood.  For the last 2 weeks it has been all around high water Kajak.at This picture has and is continuing to be the picture of runoff in the Alps this Spring. Often when the Winter’s are strong with high snow pack conditions, the regional micro climates are dominated by heavy rain fall conditions. All this tends to continue until late Spring, after which stable conditions can finally arrive to start melting the snow, and the melt water all comes at once. Expect high water conditions for a while yet if you are in the Alps.

Be careful out there.  A Ticino and Valsesia report to come soon.

Cheers

Simon

1st day of the Season

An early flight, heading South to the Alps meant that my Winter season was all but over.  Arriving in Munich early doors, I headed overland to Nussdorf, where Olaf and Manuel were waiting to go.  It appears to be the normal first day of the season induction for myself, fishing out the tight dry gear, pulling apart the latex seals and wondering where all my equipment is before we head off.  I go through the same gear inspection at the putin, wondering whether its all there, amongst the personal confusion there is fevered talk of Winter fun or Spring plans.

The water was cold, freshly melted snow from the Northern front range of the Alps.  As I snap on my bone dry deck, I think I am going to dislocate my thumbs before I even take a stroke.  On the water, its everyone’s first day of the season, I witness all, trying to make the slightest move, eddying out be hide a ripple, surf the smallest wave you have ever seen, its like the warming up before a grand rooster conversion!  Into the gorge we go, from the stalled start, its like lemmings into the breach, one by one, into the Kulm they go.  Its madness abound, like a rolling competition, I look upstream and down, everyone is head ruddering the gorge, I cant stop laughing, especially as I am the only one still upright, and what is even better, I am with all the locals.  The river is relatively high, no stoppers as such, just a flume of fun, waves bouncing of the canyon walls, confusing water and confused paddlers.  This is a great first rapid!!

Out into the sun we appear, all smiles and laughter, the next few kilometres its flat, just more of that rooster strutting is going on, me included.  I must remember how to paddle quick sharp, so I busy myself with any move that gets the rotation and edge to edge transitions going, I’ll S move anything.

Next up, an entry boof, that see half the crowd surfin it up and some prompt scrabbling for the throw bags.  It worked out good, just those first day nerves going for a little jangle. Again more S moves and little boofs, oh what fun, back at school enjoying the river.  With every passing gorge, the sun bathes us in its  warm glow.  I can feel the Winter chill weather away with every second of warmth, mmmmmarvelous.

The next gorge, brings the sport, a deeper canyon with more powerful moves, a few slides and clean moves to do, ahh the source.  To accessing that energy from the river to push the boat beyond the traditional lines, certainly gets myself fired up for the season.  To have this feeling in the first day is always great, and to nail a few dynamic moves you see and have a few unstable moments keeps the passion alive and the mind sharp.  Hello paddling season 2008.

What else can be said about the first day of the season, your body is near immobile, your gear is unstretched from its lack of use and your mind is awash with the excitement of a new season fresh from its Winter slumber.  What enjoy.

After a week in the Northern front range of the Alps, Satu and myself headed to Trnovo in the Soča Valley.  As we arrived on a clear night, a full moon lit the snow up on Crn. This is the view from my house.  

As with most Spring days, Winter battles it out to hold on, thus most of the best skiing is at this time, powder dumps, bring great mornings on the mountain.  Here is team Bovec running down to the B station, way off piste on a fabled powder day.  

Here is Trnovo on an early Spring day, looking South towards Crn

My house in Trnovo is nearing completion, and will be ready for the D4DR WW training course this June, so if you drive through Trnovo, my is the new orange house.  The windows need cleaning, but hey its warm and 200m from the Slalom course taken out, which is quite nice.

winter & the North

My recent really winter started in the Alps in Zillertal with Olli & Ingrid.  As ever after the long drive from the UK, I arrive in Nussdorf for dinner and the beer starts to flow.  Much talking and refreshment is undertaken, leading to a early hour bed appointment.  The following morning its a near dawn raid to the ski hill, where the following routine always happens; the only warm up I get is a traverse to an off piste rigid, with some hiking, more traversing and then completely knackered I stand on top of yet another long snow field of pure powder, knowing its what I am here for, but these guys know how to push their guests.

Here is a shot of myself enjoying high alpine society with an expresso on my 36th birthday, its official I am middle aged! 

From Nussdorf, I drove South to drop off Gene17’s new trailer in Trnovo on the Soča, and have a few days at Kanin Ski Hill above Bovec.  The day I arrived was the first that was bluebird for a while, the conditions were excellent.  Snow levels for this season in Soča are great, it looks like another long paddling season with 30-40 cumecs probable for this Spring’s runoff. Here I am in my flash green Sweet snow board pants, that seam to give me a little more lift!!   

  After Slovenia, I flew north to Helsinki to my Winter residence.  There was no snow in Helsinki for the second year in a row, and thus no nordic skiing tracks to train on.  Hmm, so I got out my running shoes and hit the trails to get ready for the coming season.  During this time Gene17 completely filled its core destination trips.  To have such numbers this early is unprecedented, there is a lot of work for Matt, Dave and Deb this Season. Our new adventures have been filling up to, along with our new instructor training scheme, D4DR WW.   In early March, Satu and myself flew further north for a Lapland ski holiday. We went well inside the Arctic Circle for the white stuff. The days came in two forms they where either the classic Arctic high pressure bluebird weather that showed the beauty of the northern Winter or its was like a scene out of a polar expedition documentary trying to capture the hardship of the polar regions.

Here is a collections of shots from the contrasting days.

And here is a shot of myself grilling our lunch on a little nordic skiing trip. It was a little cold this day, but hey thats no surprise.

Well as this week passes by, I head South to start the paddling season soon, as my little 6 week break to rest is over, Spring is soon in the air and the runoff not far away.

feast or Famine

What can be said about the life of a white water paddler in the temperate zone in Western Europe, desperate may be?   The uncertainty of rain makes our sport either a feast or famine, and this Winter has been no different.  Right from the last weekend in November, wave after wave of Atlantic frontal systems soaked the South West Peninsula for the first 3 weeks of December, it was a paddling feast.  During these wet days, Gene17 had its now annual Adventure Paddlers Weekend at the River Dart Country Park in Devon.  Its a mass gathering of the white water clan of the UK.  This years event had very high water on Saturday, making for news of high jinx and lost gear, needless to say, much fun was had, especially by a few of the girls!!!  As Christmas approached, a dry easterly high pressure arrived to sit over the UK for 2 weeks, these are cold times of freezing mornings, lowland fog and crisp frosts.  During this time, I take a few moments to get on top of other work, normally back office tasks for G17 and I get to mountain bike a bit more.  However, the phone kept ringing and the work still flowed.  During this time, you can do some ELF (Extreme Low Flow) descents of the Upper Dart, as the pool drop nature of the run lends to a perfect class room for teaching how to run drops.  Rain arrived to Christmas and with my wife, Satu we had a great run down the Upper on Christmas Day, plus a BBQ with the Sells!  Fine times indeed.  Incidentally, at the put in on the Upper Dart I found a large Salmon, this beautiful fish was heading down river and was about 80cm in length.Just after Christmas it was a long awaited trip to Portugal with some of Ireland’s finest company.  Now it had not rained for weeks and in fact the locals said it was the worst paddling season for years, so we went to Northern Spain for storm force surf.  After days of wine, wind and wild rides, the weather forecasts turned in our favour, so we headed back to Northern Portugal for days of rain and a fine New Year with the UK’s latest batch of boozing kayak talent.  Highlights were the social time, meeting the local paddling crew and finally getting to see and run some of the famed Castro river.  We had to walk out as the river rose on us very quickly, and the prospect of heading further down into a closed out pool drop gorge with high flows was not so wise.  So we headed to the Vez and ran the two middle sections in highwater, it was like a narrower Upper Dart, excellent fun.

Rain, rain and some more rain and we headed to Cavado, which the musical youth had just ran.  On the next day, the Cavado was too high so we meet up with the local George’s for the Lower Beca.  This was a little low! Still the run was a kin to the middle Vecchio on Corsica, and once passed the confluence on the Tamiga this high volume steep river was a classic. And then all of a sudden our Portugal adventure was over!  Alas, we’ll be back, as its a very easy place to go, longer winter daylight hours, warmer winter weather and the accessibility from Porto airport was a breeze, in fact I would go as far as saying its as good if not a little better than Scotland for rain feed fun.On my return to the UK, it rained and we worked, a lot. In the shot above we see a bunch of paddlers on an advanced WWS&R course, going on a life bait rescue be hide the drop for my WWS&R boat I trapped in there a little earlier. Why I like this shot, for the big laughing face on Ceri Williams, the tall chap addressed in orange. Ceri helps G17 out on a range of BCU qualification courses and assessments. Below is a sequence of a rock spin on the Upper Dart, taken when on a 5 star training course, just showing that I really enjoy my work.As my UK Winter comes to a close, I am crazily trying to clear my in tray before the long drive to Slovenia to drop off my car, kayaks and new trailer!! I’ll hit Nussdorf along the way for a little skiing with Oli and Ingrid. By mid February I head back to the UK for Canoexpo to bang the G17 drum, so if you are going and wish to know a little about G17K’s adventures, come and find myself. After Coventry for the weekend, I fly to Finland for editing, skiing and resting before the Summer, the biggest so far for G17 and myself.  Thus as one season of feasting closes and another one begins, a time of famine is needed, if only to rest the arms for the coming Spring, Summer and Autumn fun to come.  Here is a little YouTube video of a new move I saw today on Euthanasia, its always nice when you find something new….

musing & Nepal

As Autumn swings into Winter, I was lucky enough to head out to Nepal with a group of paddlers from Adventure Dolphin in Newbury. These chaps who are all young apprentices have been on a number of G17 courses and trips over the past 2 years as part of their professional development.  So this DofE Gold trip near the end of their training was like a graduation test, and needless to say they passed with full honours.My trip started in Bristol with a train ride to Heathrow, getting the boat on the train is also interesting, and at the first hurdle My Jobworth train manager was not going to let my kayak go in the guard carriage, in fact the carriage was totally empty.  Still with the trains departure held up, the manager came and looked into the guard carriage and saw that the kayak took up so little space, he let it on.  Once on the train the manager found myself in first class, the ticket was in fact cheaper than standard class, and apologised no end!

At the airport I was a little nervous as this was the first day of British Airways kayak/surf board ban, no problem off it went. For those who know I spend a lot of time outside the UK, so when any English media is at hand I consume with all my senses.  I watched 4 films back to back en route to Delhi, great stuff.  The transit hall awaited myself in Delhi, this is not a pleasurable experience, and the way the airport deals with transiting passengers is amazing!  No you are not allowed to go straight to the transit hall, no you must wait for an airport staff member to record your ongoing flight details and collect your baggage tags.  When I met up with the boys, I was told we had an e-ticket for Kathmandu through Wise Miser.  As it transpires our e-Ticket was totally useless, as this route is paper tickets only, so we needed to use all our US dollar cash to buy additional one way flights, no credit cards could be used.  Our carrier Jetlite, took the cash and the kayaks and we got to KTM 4 hours late!KTM was certainly livelier than during my last visit in 2003 when the Maoist insurgency was a rising threat.  Within a day we headed to our warm up on the Upper Bhote Kosi, which was a little high for the season and the boys were excellent.  So back to KTM and then a night bus through to the trail head on the Tamur.  Our timing in spite of the 20hrs drive was prefect, the Hindu festival of Diwali was in full swing, fireworks, bright colours and dancing going on through the land.  We were warned that getting porters after the big night of partying might be a problem. Thankfully we started at 11 with a few slow porters, one of who had clearly fallen over a bunch on the trek, as Jake’s boat was completely covered in mud!!  The next 2 days trekking along a ridge with massive peaks before is a prefect prelude to the Tamur river. The Teahouses were very good, expect the Sonam Tashi Hotel, which is to be avoided.  If you have the time on the long decent get to the Hidden Valley camp at the putin.

The next 4 days was excellent, straight forward Class III/IV boat scoutable.  The Upper run was full of  fine alpine style WW, nice volume pressure with some cool moves in your loaded boat.  Campsites on the way are isolated beaches, so our routine was up at 0530, breakfast and packed by 0800, paddle until 1500, dinner and camped by 1830, some rum under the stars, and asleep by 2200, peaceful and delightful.  The middle days has some flatter water, yet is moves along very swiftly.  The last days in full of bigger rapids, sharper features and more pressure.  Some stopper surf by myself at Hell Hole kept the enjoyment level up and the scene arriving into Chatra where the mountains give way to India Plains is striking.A day later we were all in KTM and off to the Rodeo again on the Bhote Kosi.  Entrance were down, but there were many paddler’s around, we did a trip on the Upper section with 14 new friends!!  An en mass descent had its ups and downs, Dan managed to test his Sweet helmet to destruction and was packed back off to KTM early.  On the Sunday we went down with a raft trip, a little bit of a clown show, as their safety kayaker swam at the Wall of China, lost all his gear and needed medical treatment, all in front of the onlooking raft customers!!  Back to KTM, int he bar with Al, Mikey and Sam Pacman and on to Delhi and London beyond.  At KTM you always get hit for excess baggage, my lot weighed 25kg, yet 5kg excess was paid.  Its cheap per kilo, yet you always get hit.  Delhi Airport was a pleasure again, its interesting that you need to show your boarding pass to about 20 different people. 

 

Once  back in the UK, the outstanding amount of office work was unbelievable.  For the next few days, I got on top of that lot, moved in at the River Dart Country Park and ran 2 back to back BCU Level 3 Training courses.  On Monday morning I flew to Helsinki for a rest and time with Satu.  Before I left the UK, I received the latest copy of Kayak Session, this edition has an interview with myself and amazing images of Olaf’s trip to Pakistan.  It used to be a strange feeling to see your words expressed to the world, yet with the explosion of blogging its much the norm now.  Still it is with a smile on my face that I am in print and in such a great publication.  Cheers to Nick Horwood for some great images.  Thus these days I do feel very lucky, may be its a great feeling when coming home to the arms of your loved ones, still luck indeed makes more luck and the momentum of G17 certainly is hitting new heights.  Successful year after year, the introduction of new programmes and excellent friends to work with has added to the vibe that underpins this air of luck.  Plus rain, significant rain in the UK finally due, and just in time for the Adventure Paddler’s Weekend in Devon on the 8/9th December, indeed lucky times.

river Rescue for creeking

With the recent changes to the BCU star test awards, there is now an inclusion of White Water Safety and Rescue training on Class III/IV rivers. So recently with Croydon Activie Paddlers and low water conditions in the UK, Dave Carroll, Deb Pinniger and myself put together a weekend of advanced WWS&R techniques for Creek boaters and Active paddlers alike. This course was tailor made to the groups requirements, yet easily fitted in to the new 5 Star Training aspect for Advanced WWS&R.On the first day we reviewed ropes and gear, then Dave Carroll made his now famous throw bag assault course which always shows the common mistakes under friendly pressure. On the afternoon of the first day, we walked into the Upper Dart, were we ran a number of z-drag scenarios, followed by, clinches for vertical pinning, foot entrapment and boat recovery.Day two took us to the River Erme again on Dartmoor, for more steep terrain specific rescue techniques.  First up Dave Carroll lead a steep access workshop, then I headed a live bate exercise which involved boat recover in the slot drop and to mix it up a bit we added an injured swimmer to the scene.  Later on it was more specific vertical pin scenarios, with tag lines, and clinches.  The mainstay of the second afternoon focused on group dynamics, communication and incident management, this is an area normally on the whole ignored with WW paddlers. The case to develop a functioning group dynamic with all members freely communicating and contributing to the solution rather than an individual leader attempting to direct the strategy can often mean the difference between prompt success and slow failure in a river rescue situation.   Plus it may also build trust, confidence and co-ordination amongst paddling friends. So when the water is low and you are waiting for rain, why not get out and work on some WWS&R with your buddies, its best to have a plan and not need it, than have no plan and wonder why its all gone to shit right in front of your eyes! 

downhill & High water, Uphill & no water

Logistics, logistics, logistics, that has been the undercurrent of the last 3 weeks mileage, and some mileage is has been. Starting off at the editing desk in Helsinki, I flew into Munich to meet Dave Carroll & Ed Cornfield and arrived at Nussdorf, Olli’s house for a late beer and bed. Dave had recently suffered a big smack in the face whilst surfin’ at Easkey in Ireland and was sporting a large fat lip! The previous week, I was charged with the job of getting boats sorted, this meant email exchanges with Paul at Palm, Thomas at Blue and White and Ingrid who’d collect the boats and get them to Oetztal. Strangely it took all day, not the right boat in stock, the wrong boat spec, and even the colours were not desirable.

Up for Breakfast with Olli, white sausage and sweet mustard Bavarian style. Olli certainly enjoys dishing this meat feast up for visiting paddler’s, and in a way I like it, it reminds myself that things are so massively different throughout Europe and that is a joy in itself. Plus it always beats cereal for Breakfast!!! Away we went, too collect my car, that needed a new clutch the last time I saw it. A paddler’s ride certainly gets a hard life, and this wagon has already been through 3 sets of tires, although a set of those was due to a deep and dark pothole resulting in 2 ripped side walls, the others are probably, about the pleasure of cornering at speed with 4 wheel drive. Alas with so many speed restrictions these days, cornering and accelerating are all the fun you can have on the open road. Some 800 Euro lighter, to Oetztal we went.

Olaf Obsommer, paddlesports own gentle gaint had put together with a little help from adidas a great race concept, on the legendary Wellerbruecker section of the River Oetz in Austria. I had heard that the level of entrants was very high, and on arrival it was clear there were alot of paddler’s readying to race. I found our accommodations at HotelAlp, entered the race and caught up with friends from a far. One fleetling moment that was to stand out later, the now normal quick snap and fun exchange of wit with Tim Weinmann. It was a sorry shame that was last time I’d see him, before sunset that day he’ll be dead. Drowned on the river when paddling with friends. These are always dark moments, the departing of a friend, too know you will not see them again bores a hollowness inside, empty of happiness, wondering if there is greater plan or are we all destined to return to dust….

Sadly with Tim’s death, the tone of the event changed, the event organiser’s became edgey and water level restirctions meant that in spite of good intensions there was to be no event. Though the trip to Oetztal has its sad moments, with so many friends about, we still managed to enjoy each other’s company. Olli lead the charge down the middle Oetz, a fun run full of sharp and shitty rocks, and the ladies took myself on tour with a heavy hangover down the lower Oetz. The previous evening had been long, after a few drinks with the racing crowd I headed to the bar in town where most paddler’s went for a quiet beer. On this evening the English were drinking chasers with their beer, as ever there would only be one conclusion to this. With the bar closing up, some Germany paddler’s joined us, Holger from Ty Warps Paddles gave a UK coaching notable a new name, “James Blunt”, his abrupt reaction to this seamingly monumental insult provided us with much beer fuelled laugher. Close to tears I went back to the hotel, on the way up the stairs I could hear singing from the hotel bar, naturally I went to look. There stood on a table was Matze and Olli singing their heart’s out to the rest of small yet crowded bar. It was going to be a long night.

Sunday saw us all depart, westward with Dave to England, we managed to miss his plane out of Frankfurt in spite of the 220km speeds reached along the way. Traffic, so much traffic. At 3am I pulled into Shepperton Weir carpark for a sleep and then Whitewater, the Canoe Shop for Breakfast. Its a normal returning from the Summer routine now. By the afternoon I was at Palm dropping off boats ready for the next weekend. When at Palm, I was pulled into a 2009 product meeting, great stuff, always great stuff.

2 Days in England, it included a trip down to Devon to AS Watersports and the River Dart Country Park to arrange the Adventure Paddler’s weekend, then lunch with my Nan. By Wednesday I was again at Palm packing for a trip to Ireland, the annual Big Boat Bonanza in Wicklow. This is a great social event, Shane organises everything but the weather, and alas no rain on these Islands means no water in the rivers.

Still Paul, Jason from CKUK and myself had packed our mountain bikes knowing that we’d have poor river conditions and too the forest behide Dave’s house we went. Dave provided up lift with his car and showed us where to go. One spot where he takes his trials bike, proved excellent for jumps. Its a shame that the forest is quite thick there, as I could not get a good shot of Paul flying high. With this Winter’s prediction of normal rain fall for Europe’s Westcoast islands, its going to be a lot of mountain biking. Hopefully I will make some jumps in the woods be hide the RDCP, at least there is some fun to be had least we wait for rain. Plus at Holdan Hill a freeride park has been developed, plus their Tee looks ace, I must get one.

Here are some shots of the BBB, our Team run, though Paul, Dave and myself saw a short pinning on Jackson’s the main drop, that certainly gave the crowd reason to cheer. That evening the English Rugby Team went on to win in Paris during the semi finals of the World Cup, and this fuelled another evening of liquid refreshment amongst friends. The fanstay dress party was as ever the main event, yet I was a little to gone for photos, but this year was really good, honest!! Early Monday morning I flew back to Finland for more editing, and preparing for Nepal in November and another English Winter beyond.

editing, Just editing

Now Autumn is amongst us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s always time for myself to hit the editing decks. For the last 3 years I have been putting together the footage for the next DVD on WW Technique. This instructional DVD, “Genotype 2″, shot in HD, focuses on the Fundamental Core Skills of the modern Dynamic style that has evolved from the post playboating boom. Introduced as concepts and themes, rather than prescribed technique, the production will reveal core technique for dynamic stability, develop skills to drive the boat and evaluate tactics for running WW. I hope to bring the production to market in late November 2007.

Note; that there is no voice over yet, and there is a need for tie up graphic near the end of the segment. Plus the music is a bit D&B, if you know of any music that can be donated for this production, please get in contact.