European Euphoria

We started our paddling with our tried and tested river, the Sunshine Run on the Lower Durance, which to our surprise and joy did not turn out to be ironic, as the rain clouds were forced out the way by the sun. After this big and bouncy warm-up, we set course for Briançon to run its magnificent gorge, and finding it running high as well, we knew that in France we were in for a treat. With two rivers paddled successfully, we decided that nothing would be better than to celebrate by heading out to town. Some folks from Bath University Canoe Club were up for joining us for the banter, and we set forth for a night of drunkennesswell, for everyone but me and Baths driver.

In the next two days we ran the Gyr, the Onde, the Gyronde and the Upper and Lower Guisane before disaster (well, a sharp rock) struck, preventing me from paddling for the next week and leaving me with a striking resemblance to Harry Potter!

Our groups next target area was the Guil, specifically the Chateaux Queyras and Guardian Angel Gorges, and the Middle Guil, but due to two particularly long, spectacular and painful swims by Sean and Tom, and two kayaks having to be rescued from the bottom of the second gorge, everything but the moat around Chateaux Queyras had to be left for later.

Due to the carnage the previous day, when we went to the Middle Clarée, only five people were up for getting on, and due to some socialism the previous night, one of the five decided hed had enough after five minutes. An uneventful run left time for us to head back to the Guil, for Chris to look at Triple Step. He successfully styled it, only to be back-looped involuntarily (in his Nomad) by the hole at the bottom of a wave train. This loop perhaps convinced him that the Guil was running a bit too high.

For the last bit of paddling in France, the group retreaded the two favourite rivers so far, the Gyr and the Briançon Gorge, and these were the only rivers to be repeated throughout our entire three week holiday.

The drive from France to Italy took a day. But it was not without its piques of interest. Deciding to avoid the toll roads we perceived as having bankrupted us on the drive through France, we took the mountain pass to Aosta. We were (initially) completely oblivious to how high it would take us, and were taken aback when we realised that we were driving though the middle of the Val dIsere ski resort! This meant that we had to stop to do some snowboating and have a snowball fight.in June!

Val Sesia: possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been, and home to some of the cleanest rivers in Italy. Even as we pitched our tents in the glorious sunshine at Campertongo, we could see waterfalls of turquoise water cascading through the village a paddlers paradise. Our move here marked my return to kayaking, and we started by heading to the famous Sorba, which with its magnificent slides and falls makes the Etive look trivial and tame.

The following day saw us head to the Egua, another river known for its slopes and slides, but proving to be rather tougher than expected, it was abandoned, and a crack squad consisting of Chris, Adam and the two Toms went on the Sermenza, while the rest of us headed to a small café in Varallo.

The next two days we focused our attention on the main river of the area, the Sesia, paddling its Middle and Lower sections with Angus, an ancient C1 paddler who used a modified Burn: total legend! After this, we went to the Upper Sermenza for Chris to get a beating in the fall shown in the guidebook a fantastic way to cap off the paddling in Italy.

In France, the rivers had been clear and blue, in Italy, they had been a deep turquoise, and in Austria, they were brown. Our first river in the country, on an average day, has 250 cumecs of water flowing down it. This is an awesome amount of water. But we were not in Austria on an average day, oh no. They were totally emptying the dams to clear out sediment. The rivers were officially pumping!!

We started by paddling the classic run ending at Haiming, the Imst Gorge. This was bigger and bouncier than the Lower Durance, with incredible amounts of water and gigantic waves: a genuine insight into kayaking in Austria.

In our two remaining days, we targeted four rivers, with the Lower Oetz (with its death wier) and the Inn Shoot only being paddled by Tom, Adam and Chris, the Landeck Gorge being ran by everyone, and most people finishing their Alpine paddling by kayaking in the clear-blue water of the Sanna.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Glasgow
• University
• Canoe
• Club
• Alps
• 2009
• Strathclyde
• Uni
• Film
• Night
• 2010

[MichCort]

Nice paddling, but why does everyone aaaaaallways use fucking creekers?

[lemonmeringuepie]

Epic stuff!