Europe and Norway
The past few months have followed the familiar pattern: Teva Race in Italy in May, cruising in the french alps in June, then stepping it up in Norway in July.
The Teva Race has become ever more competitive, whereas before, it was possible to turn up not having done any training and achieve a decent result, the top guys are now training hard specifically for the event and it shows. Rosie came 5th overall and 2nd in the Extreme slalom.
Rosie on her way to 2nd in the Extreme Slalom
Pat Keller going for it
France was awesome, cruisy and clean paddling. The highlight was definately a high water run down the Ubaye gorge with Dave Carroll, which had more push in there than usual.
And what to say about Norway: other than it rained constantly more or less the whole time I was there. Myself, Sam Hughes, Mikela Ramazza and another Italian ran Amot Gorge at a stupidly high level. Once in the gorge, which I hadn’t scouted, we couldn’t get out and the river was insane.
After that I had some good runs on the usual classics with Killian Kelly and the rest of the Irish lads, such as the Upper Jori and Finna. Sam and I did a slideshow of our India mission at the Sjoafest. I helped out in the massive recovery operation of the Russian rafters on Ausangjuvet, two of whom unfortunately drowned. A sad day for all involved, but it was great to see all the Sjoa locals pull together so well. After the accident I was amazed to see journalists wandering around the campsite where the Russians were staying, taking photos of them grieving. I also found myself quoted in a Norwegian newspaper as telling the Russians that the Sjoa “was very dangerous” due to the high levels. They quoted me accurately, but it goes to show how careful you must be in dealing with the media if ever involved, even remotely, in an accident.
Myself, Dave Carroll, Sam, Kim, Tim Trew, Nick Horwood, Killian Kelly and Irish Dave did an excellent Whitewater Safety Technician course with Jann at the Sjoa Kayak School. It is specifically tailored to whitewater paddlers and was by far the best course of its nature I have ever done. I cannot recommend this course enough. All in all a great trip, if somewhat waterlogged. I am now in Wales and have just finished a solo mission to climb all 15 3000ft peaks in North Wales. Next week I am doing a coastal skipper course, then back to France for a while.
All photos by Sam Hughes and Rosie Cripps
