Monday 29 December 2014

Les Alpes Part 5 - Day 11, 12 and 13

Day 11 (Tuesday 8th July)
Sometimes you have days on the river when everything goes fine. This was not one of those days.
So at 6am team gnar hunters drive off to the Verdon gorge, we all hope they don’t die in a syphon then we roll over and go back to sleep.
The Onde seems like a good plan. It was fun last time and nobody had too horrible a time. Except maybe Carolyn and Jonny, but hey, let’s give it another shot. When we get there it’s raining so much some of us wonder if we’ve accidently gone back to Scotland. The river is higher than the last run, but it’ll probably be just like it was before with a few less rocks. Probably.

Looking down the first rocky section below the grade 4.

Some of the group is unconvinced by my probablys (fair enough) and decides to take photos and meet us at the bottom.

Group photo takers.

Raffa and I are leading the last group and we’re the only ones who’re keen for the top rapid. We head up and paddle down the same line as before, that is until I don’t quite make it to the right on the last move and do some silly fail of a grind over some boulders and capsize. It’s probably the fastest roll I’ve ever done, but I still bounce off a couple of rocks. The Onde is a bad place to be upside down.

Photo by Jon Wyles

Photo by Emily Stratton.

Photo by Jon Wyles.

Photo by Emily Stratton

Photo by Emily Stratton.

We join the rest of the group who are spectating from rocky perches along the bank. Raffa leads off down the river with Dave, Carolyn and Patsy following and me bringing up the rear. We’re unaware of it at the time, but Gina has swum in the front group and they’re having issues getting her boat out. A couple of corners in Patsy capsizes and is having difficulty rolling so I go in for a t rescue, just as we both crash into a tree. Patsy capsizes again and loses her paddle while I have a disagreement with some branches and end up with a scratched face. I manage to get the nose of my boat to Patsy and she tries to t rescue. Meanwhile I see an upside down red boat and assume that Dave is swimming. Then I see Dave paddling past me. Raffa is swimming. This is not good. Finally Patsy gets herself upright and spots her paddles. They’re really close, so she lets go of my boat and makes a grab for them, just as we both drop into a hole. I pop out the other side, but Patsy is swimming. She gets out really quick so I make for her boat and almost get it in an eddy. Dave and Carolyn get themselves in an eddy so I yell at them to stay there. Raffa, for reasons best known to himself is still trying to get himself, his boat and his paddle out on his own which is never going to work, so I start yelling at him which he probably doesn’t hear, but hey, he’s somehow seen sense and swims just himself to the side. We’re passing the other group now and Izzy manages to get Raffa’s paddle. Someone else manages to grab Patsy’s boat, so now it’s just me and Raffa’s boat. I try hard to shove it into eddy after eddy and onto several rocks, but it’s not willing and eventually I’m exhausted and kind of just floating beside it not really knowing what to do. I see some other paddlers and have a go at pushing the boat towards them, but I’m too tired and it doesn’t work. Thankfully, they couldn’t leave me all by myself and race to catch up. One of them jams it against a rock and we all leap out in various precarious positions. A bit of live baiting onto a rock and some hard pulling on a throwline and we’ve got the boat which… seems to be draining awfully fast…


The crack is about two feet long along the bottom of the hull. Not ideal. I thank the Cardiff paddlers profusely and find out where they’re staying to bring them some beer. Then I sit for a good long while and get my breath back. Raffa appears, limping down the track at the side of the river looking a bit sad, but he looks a lot sadder when he sees his boat. I leave him to grieve while I go upstream to look for anyone else. I’m pretty sure I’ve walked most of the way upstream when I find Gina and Carolyn standing by the riverbank. Patsy arrives too, then Izzy appears with Gina’s boat on the opposite bank while we’re having a catch up about where everyone’s been walking today. I throw a line across to Izzy and we pull the boat back over. Gina, Patsy and Carolyn are going to walk out, so I run a few metres then walk most of the way back to my boat because, meh, tiredness.
I wait on the bank in my boat ready to launch, talking to Raffa. He swam because he was trying to show Dave a line, hit a rock, capsized and tried to demolish a bolder with his head. He shows me a large dent and scrape in his helmet – lucky he has a Sweet Rocker! Eventually James, Jonty, Cami and Izzy appear and I paddle off with them. Turns out the take out is literally just round the corner. No jokes.
Time for lunch and a lie down. I’m so knackered.
Some of the group head off to the Gyronde. The rest of us drive down to the slalom course via a stop at the supermarket and have a laze about it the sun which we had not expected to see today. Emily decides to paddle to the campsite with the others when they arrive.


For dinner Carolyn and I make awesome Sweet and Sour Turkey (Rory’s not here). It was supposed to be chicken, but chicken is expensive. After dinner we drive back to the slalom site and leave the Cardiff paddlers a crate of beer for rescuing Raffa’s boat!



Day 12
Everyone is a bit fed up of paddling today, except Jon Harwell, but he’s never fed up of paddling. Like, ever. We decide to have an additional rest day today and most of us head up to the source of the Gyr to go see a glacier.
The drive up is long and slow, but since the car park is at 1874m above sea level this should be expected. There are large snow banks in the car park and we have to convince Jonny that he does not in fact want to go and have a snow ball fight. Some of the others are clearly lost, so we wait for them at the alpine hut and I drink coffee while the others have crepes (good luck getting the owners to understand what Coeliac disease is).

At the cafe drinking coffee!

Finally they arrive and we head off up the path. Soon we have a good view of the Glacier Noir, covered in moraine and not particularly impressive.

The path up with the Glacier Noir in the background.

Some marmots appear and Sarah is very amused by them eating bread.

Marmot.

Up and up we go, way way up until we finally crest a slope into a hanging valley and we can see the Glacier Blanc.

Glacier Blanc.

It’s slightly surreal. It is huge of course, but a foreshortening effect and the fact that it doesn’t look quite real anyway means that it’s difficult to get the scale of the thing in your head. We stop for lunch on a large rocky outcrop that has a great view up to the glacier. Some Alpine Choughs come and scavenge around us. They seem to like gluten free bread!



Most of the students climb up on a large rock overlooking the glacier and strip off. All for charity, I volunteer to take the photo.
Onwards and upwards as it starts snowing a little, but the climbing is hard work so we’re still in t shirts. We have a stop and regroup and Dave tells us that it doesn’t get any harder from here and we’re nearly there. When it gets considerably steeper and we need to scramble up some bits and we’re still going an hour later I feel a flashback to Rory on the Guisane.



Nevertheless, we finally make it to the Refuge du Glacier Blanc at 2542m above sea level. Woo! We all pile in for a look and get coffee/hot chocolate/beer depending on preference.


It’s very luxurious inside and very busy, so we soon pile back out and take another naked photo outside the Refuge, giving everyone inside a nice bit of entertainment.

Refuge du Glacier Blanc.

The view point and scene of much nakedness shortly.

The Glacier Blanc from the Refuge. Taken by Carolyn Nisbet.

John and I are not very good at walking downhill and much prefer running, so we whiz off ahead. We stop at the Torrent du Glacier Blanc so that lots of the others can give me vertigo by standing on the rock balanced over the huge waterfall.

Heading back down the path.

Torrent du Glacier Blanc.

Just as the path drops over the edge and heads down the steep valley sides is a small gully with snow in it, so John decides to hide and wait for Dave to come round so he can throw snowballs at him. Dave, however, manages to catch the snowball and throw it back.


On the way down the zig zags we spot some marmots and John fails to tempt any to taking bread out of his hand, no matter how determined he is.

There actually is a marmot there taunting John.

Finally we reach the Torrent du Glacier Noir on the level of the car park and John and I sit down to wait for the others to catch up, until John decides that we need to take another naked photo of him in the meltwater stream. A few girlish screams later and I’ve taken the photo and a couple of tourists are in agreement with me that he’s a bit of a nutcase. The rest of the group arrives and we take a few group shots on the bridge.

I think John took this.

Photo by Izzy Tween.

Back in the cars, I manage to make it to the confluence of the Gyr and the Onde before I actually need to use the accelerator, so the day’s fuel efficiency comes in at 105mpg.
Andre is on cooking duty tonight and makes an amazing leek and bacon creamy sauce that I have with gluten free pasta.


After the sun has gone down I star gaze for a bit and manage to spot an iridium flare from a passing satellite!



Day 13
We head back to the Ubaye today so that those who chickened out of the racecourse the first time round can have a go at it. My group is Jon H, Raffa, Sarah and Patsy. Raffa has managed to borrow Mr. De Lac’s boat which is a little too small for him, but he’s glad just to be back on the water. The water level is lower than last time, making for an easier run.
Jon and I lead Sarah and Patsy, respectively, with Raffa floating at the back in case of emergencies. Sarah swims twice and has a less than happy day, while Patsy nails everything, even when I fall sideways into a pourover and have to roll. Nice to be on a deep river this time! Jon, who has swapped boats with Jonny so he can paddle his playboat for a bit, is having issues because Jonny’s deck is fairly awful and lets in floods of water. Every time he stops and empties, half the river pours out of the boat.
We get to the end ok though, as do all the other groups. Jon is annoyed because no one wants to come do the Ubaye gorge with him, but we’re all more excited about the prospect of ice cream.
We stop at a car park on the side of the Lake on the way back and some brave souls go for a swim in the freezing cold water. Others have a sun bathe while the pale brigade hide under the shade of some trees.


Photo by Izzy Tween.




Ice cream is sourced at the “funny rocks” café (can’t remember its actual name) in the form of magnums. Rory is extremely disappointed at the lack of Calyppo.

The funny rocks.

At the campsite Chris and Jon cook up a concoction of vegetables and saucisson which I put in a pasta sauce and the rest have with cous cous. Someone starts a drinking game of ring of fire and the evening descends from there…


Sunday 28 December 2014

Paddling My Own Canoe

I've done a fair bit of canoeing from the front seat. However, this autumn I decided to learn how to paddle by myself. My first outing was a trip on the Tay from Kenmore to Aberfeldy with STAUCC's freshers trip. Learn by doing.

Looking out on a windy and wavy Loch Tay.

The scariest part of the trip came right at the start - paddling around the bottom end of the loch into the mouth of the river. The waves were big, the wind coming straight down the loch. Paddling on one side just wasn't going to cut it, so, just in case, I had brought my touring paddles. Paddling with them I made it round into the river, though it was still terrifying!

Made it into the river! Now I just wait for the kayakers to catch up...

Eventually the first group of kayakers caught up and I floated down with them as they played a funny game involving passing a ball around as many times as possible. Soon, the grade 1 began and it was amazing how much more unsettling tiny riffles are when you're in a 15 foot long boat. The levels were very, very low, so there were rocks everywhere!


Just above the Chinese bridge rapid.

The main rapid of the day, a grade 2 under the Chinese bridge, was easier than I thought it would be, with very few rocks in the main stream. I bobbed down easily enough, though some of the freshers managed to find some rocks that I hadn't even noticed. I gave one girl a ferry ride back across the river to her boat! Off we went, down the long river. I was very thankful for the extra speed of the open boat over the little river boats, as there was a lot of flat.


At one point I did some ferry crossing on a powerful jet - getting the hang of this thing now.

Photo by Kathryn Haddick.

Photo by Kathryn Haddick.

Photo by Kathryn Haddick.

The get out in Aberfeldy.


My second trip was downstream of this, from the SCA access point to Grandtully. A step up in difficulty, but not too far. Thankfully there was a bit more water, so a lot less rocks.
I was tagging along with a beginner trip, so I got to practice ferry gliding and eddying with everyone else. It requires a lot more concentration than you might think!


Off we went down the river. Some bouncy rapids, eddying and ferry gliding and we were at Grandtully. I don't think I've ever inspected with that much intensity. Despite my intense inspection I was still on the water and paddling down before any of the kayakers were finished looking. I came up to the top drop, the most difficult move, as slowly as possible and slid down neatly. Unfortunately I was a little too far to the right and got spun around in the flow by the tail of the eddy in the middle. There wasn't enough time to turn the boat around, so I sneakily just turned myself around and paddled into the eddy from there! Quick breather, then out and down the final easy shoot to the bridge. So awesome!
Photos taken by my lovely husband.



Just after sneakily turning around in the boat.

I'd also brought my Jed, so I went for a play while the uni club faffed around. I rescued some of their kit during some carnage filled moments too.

I'm quite liking this solo paddling thing!

Sunday 21 December 2014

Les Alpes Part 4 - Day 8, 9 and 10

Day 8 (Saturday 5th July)


Today we head to the Guil, a classic Alpine river. This river has six very different sections before it empties into the Durance near Guilestre (the clue is in the name). The Upper Guil, where we’re headed, is classed at 3+ and is open alpine bounciness with a short gorge section. Below this is the famous Château Queyras box canyon, then the hard and committing Guardian Angel Gorge. Next is the Middle Guil, classic alpine grade 4/4+ continuous water. Below this is a hydro reservoir above the Guil Gorge, rarely run due to spontaneous water releases from the dam making it a little like Russian roulette. The final section is the Lower Guil, a beginner run down to the Durance. Apparently people have actually paddled the whole thing in one day…
Anyway, today we are going to paddle the Upper section in the morning, then decide on the afternoon’s entertainment at lunchtime. Emily is just about throwing up every so often, so decides not to paddle, trying to reassure everyone that it probably wasn’t the food last night.
En route to the put in we stop at Triple Step, the put in for the middle section, and watch some random paddler style it as his friends stand around faffing.

GNAAAARRRRR!

Random guy, looking cool.

We put in by a ski complex, abandoned and kind of sad looking in the sunshine. The public toilets located round the back, for reasons unknown to us, are accessed through a large, solid cage. Preparations for the zombie apocalypse?



The put in is the standard alpine territory of balancing precariously on some rocks, hoping not to fall in before you can get your deck on and grab your paddle. Then a scramble for a micro eddy and wait for the rest of the group to get in. The first part of the run is bouncy grade 2/3 and we muck about a bit doing boofs into eddies and grinding off boulders. The sun is shining and the water is really blue and really cold. Soon, the banks start to gorge up and we eddy hop down, following John R. I bring up the back of the group, constantly entertained by the faces Jon W pulls as we paddle around blind corner after blind corner, never finding anything too scary. The eddies are clean and the moves super cool. Too soon the gorge walls fall away and we bounce down the last of the section towards an amazing view of Château Queyras.




Paddling down towards Chateau Q.

We have lunch beside the cars at Château Queyras. Opinions differ on what we should do next, so we split into several groups. Some head back to the river to paddle the Château Q box canyon then the middle Guil. Others are up for a chill and opt to watch then head back to camp.

Team Chateau Q gear up.

John, Chris, Amy and me all head into town and hire some via ferratta kit. Chris drives us up a tiny mountain road until we can’t go any further, then we get out and walk to the foot of a huge cliff up a relatively small alp. We clip in and climb, way way up! It’s great fun, though I’m pretty sure it’s not made for someone who’s 5’3’’… The views from the top are amazing, and the walk back is super scenic so I take way too many photos.

Walking in.

Dat view...

That's our Alp to climb!



On the top!


Walking back out.
Driving back down alongside the deep Guil Gorge.

Back at the camp site I make a tasty stir fry while Izzy tells us about how Rory may have forgotten about stopping for the biggest rapid on the middle Guil.



Day 9
Today we learned a valuable lesson. Rest days are dangerous.


The morning starts off with some of the group heading to a water park and luge near Guilestre. We see them off then drive to the Fournell. Lots of the group get on and paddle down while Dave, Jon and me sit at the bottom of the biggest drop and grade them on their entertainment value. Unfortunately there is some carnage and Izzy has a nasty recirculation swim in the top drop. Thankfully, rescue is on hand and she gets back on. Jon and Rory both manage snazzy hammers off the big drop, to many cheers.







Hammer time.


With the promise of ice cream we head to Briançon old town. Parking is our first challenge, thankfully we spot another car just leaving a spot. We entirely fail to find the others, so Jon, Dave, Raffa and I wander into the fort and look for a café. We soon find out that we have arrived in the middle of a medieval festival.

Narrow streets full of straw! Photo by Dave Manley.

Jon and Dave are grumbling about the fact that the fort is Napoleonic, not medieval. We find a café and have coffee, lemonade and Orangina (not all together).
Now, France has a lot more smokers than the UK, for some reason, so by this point I’ve used my inhaler twice. That’s more than in the last month. I probably should have taken this as a warning sign.





There’s a big movement out towards the moat – apparently there’s a big show about to start! We decide to go have a nosey. We find some grass by the fence and eagerly await the spectacle. And keep waiting. And waiting. Some people ride horses in a circle a few times. Some guy talks a lot in French. Still waiting for a spectacle.

Waiting for a spectacle...

Eventually Dave, noticing that I’m on about five uses of my inhaler and still wheezing, suggests that maybe we should just go. We leap on the idea and quickly make tracks. At the city gate we run into Rory and his car – apparently he’s been stood on by a horse. Before things get any worse, we head back to the campsite!
The water park/luge goers are back and making a “peasant stew” for dinner. Andre’s sunburn can probably be seen from space, and John had a fun trip to the hospital after falling off the luge and losing a large proportion of the skin on one of his arms.


An interesting point – we had more carnage on the rest day than on the entirety of the rest of the trip.



Day 10
Today, since are supposedly rested from yesterday, we head up to the Guisane which flows into the Durance in Briançon. The Guisane has two sections, the upper easier than the lower. We put on at the top of the upper, sliding into the fast flowing river directly from the car park. I’m just glad to be out of the red car after the shuttle. It smelled like something died in there.
Worryingly, thunderstorms are brewing at the valley head, and the rumble of thunder accompanies us down the river.

Thunderheads gathering...

Bouncy grade 2/3 leads down until we reach the grade 4 “s-bend” marked on the guide. We hop out where the group in front are getting back in and wander along the shingle bank. We can kind of see down the rapid a little bit, but the next bit of the inspection looks like it might involve some effort. The group that were just getting in paddle down and don’t have any major incidents, so we figure it’s probably fine.

"Gina got to the bottom fine, it can't be too bad." Sorry Gina.


Patsy follows me while Emily follows Rory. We skirt a pourover on the lead in and slide into it. I’m vaguely concentrating on the river in front, mostly on what Patsy is doing, so I just bounce happily down, occasionally sideways, mostly backwards. It all goes fine! Fast and bouncy and full on but still friendly. Soon the river quietens back down and we revert to floating with occasional bits of paddling. The take out appears in the form of a car park beside a bridge. We stack the boats up in a colourful array and get on with the important task of eating lunch.


After many manwiches have been consumed, the group split into a team heading with Chris to the Gyronde and team hardcore, off down the lower Guisane. I am teamed with Rory, Andre and Jonty. We hop back in boats and head off as team number one.


The first couple of kilometres are gentle grade 2 and we float, feeling more and more nervous. Then Rory signals and we eddy out. We are approaching Shelob’s weir, a nasty mess of concrete and spikes (apparently). As we’re walking round I have a peak into the darkness under the bridge, but it eludes inspection – supposedly people run it, but it certainly doesn’t sound friendly.
After this is a nice grade 3 boulder dodging section before we eddy out again to portage a marginally more friendly weir which Rory decides to run “because Jonny made him run it last time”.


I have a suspicion that sticker came from a Pyranha kayak.

The river starts to step up a bit from here and rock dodging moves come faster and harder. Big boulders, tight drops, spinning, boofing, oh look Jonty is perched on a boulder, I’ll not go that way. Seconds later I look back upstream to see Jonty’s boat upside down and Jonty getting bounced bodily down the river. He makes it to the bank fairly quickly as Rory chases down his boat and Andre lobs his paddle on the bank. I make an executive decision that I’m scared and I want the bank now please!
I run downstream through the woods to see if I can help, pulling Jonty’s paddle out of the trees on the way. The group behind us have caught up and Raffa helps Rory get the boat off a rock and onto the far bank. A super slick throwline-boat-pull and Andre, Jonty and I have the boat on the other side.

Boat retrieval take 1.

I run back up to my boat and nervously bounce down to the others. We head off again, back into the maelstrom. I’m concentrating hard, so I don’t see what catches Jonty out the second time, but he gets a proper beating before he gets to the bank. Rory and I empty the boat and we do another awesome boat-across-river-throwline thing.

Boat retrieval take 2.

Intrepid kayaker emerges from a grumpy stomp through the woods.

Look at all the sunshine that's not here.

We’re all in the “eddy” or more accurately water that’s moving a bit less quickly downstream. Jonty is grumping because the river stole his sunglasses. Rory gives us a pep talk.
“It’s all good guys, there’s nothing harder now, you’ve done the worst bit.”
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
We drop round the corner into an incredible non-stop grade four whoosh. It is steeeeeeeep, you can see the rapids spread out below you as you desperately try to find a route down and through without hitting too many rocks. At one point I go through a chute that I have to angle my paddles along my boat it’s so narrow. I scream several times. We pass the other two groups, just fly straight past, no idea what they’re doing at the time, but they’re all over the banks at one of the really scary bits.
And then somehow we’re in an eddy. Quite a large one where the water is pretty much still, a strange experience on this river. There’s quite a bit of incoherent babbling, then Rory paddles over to talk to someone from one of the other groups. Andre, Jonty and I continue a bit of babbling. We head downstream to float with Rory – it’s grade 2 from here and Patsy in the other group has lost her paddles, so he’s going to paddle on to the get out to see if he can spot them.
We float down in a daze. Soon, we came upon the last obstacle, a small weir that can be scraped over on the right. In a case of amusing coincidence, just as I drop over the weir there comes a massive crash of thunder from upstream. A more amusing coincidence is that at the time we were at the weir, Patsy, who wasn’t having the best day ever, had just asked Jon what was round the corner. Jon, knowing it was grade 2 from there, had, in classic Jon mode, said “The rapid of Doooooooom!!!” to coincide beautifully with the thunder crash.

Floating through Briancon in the rain.

We’re floating through Briançon when the three of us realise we don’t actually know where to get out of the river. We kind of hope Rory will be obvious, but we do have a quick check at a random bridge, just in case. When we come out of the Guisane into the Durance and realise it’s the same take out as the Briançon gorge we all feel just a little silly.
It takes the others a while to arrive, so we’re hiding in the car when they pop into the layby. It’s pouring with rain! When the shuttle is run, apparently the river at the top of the run is very high, brown and churning – I’m glad we’re not too much slower!

(I don’t remember what dinner was, but I do remember it took a long time to arrive and we all sat around in discussing various people going to the Verdon gorge the next day at stupid o’clock in the morning.)

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