Simon Westgarth

After a late start to the UK paddling season, the first significant cold snap arrived and set about drying and freezing all of Dartmoor’s water, locking it in well into the New Year. Thankfully, I had other plans. I flew to Helsinki to meet the lovely wife, and the head straight to the ski hill with some of the Finnish paddling crowd. Conditions were not much better for snow sports, with only 2 slopes open and temperatures just around freezing, so we set about clocking up laps to get the legs ready for the Christmas trip north to Lappland.

With a few more days back in Helsinki, we packed up the car and drove to the train station for the night train, where your car came along for the drive on its own carriage. Through the night the train headed north into the Arctic, and after a few beers and a movie the rumble of the wheels on the tracks sent us into a restful sleep. On arrival, the most authentic Santa Claus I’d ever seen was waiting to greet everyone off the train, it was quite the site, and the young children could not belief their eyes. A big open wood fire set the scene for waiting passengers, as their car driver’s collected their cars.

We arrived on Christmas Eve, so a quick afternoon nordic skiing to get the legs going, then sauna before a traditional dinner with Satu’s family in the small ski village of Levi. The restaurant was made to appear like a local Salmi dwelling, with a huge open grill pit in the mid of the room. After dinner we were treated to traditional Salmi songs and poetry about northern life and Salmi culture, wonderful stuff.

As the days passed, Satu and I fired up the ski legs and made numerous day trips from Levi on the tracks around, through the week we clocked up over 100Km, plus had a day or two on the snow boards. Around most of these ski towns there are numerous tracks with cafe’s or shelters with fire where you can grill food for a warm lunch. What is really revealing on these ski tours, is not only the amount of people out there, but also the diversity of people, all ages, race heads, families, groups of teenagers and old couples can be seen enjoying the workout and the Winter Wonderland. On one trip we came across dog sledging tours, and very noisy affair.

During the evening, Satu’s parent had got Guitar Hero World Tour, and as you can expect we rocked out on every occasion. Another high light was the traditional Finnish Christmas dessert, “Joulutortut”.

As ever no sooner are you into an excellent holiday routine, it was time to leave, Satu and I took the night train back south on New Year’s Eve and had a great fireworks show as the train passed through Oulu at midnight. Soon after it was time for myself to head back to the UK for work, and colder days than I had in the Arctic, still Christmas in the snow with loved ones is a slice of wonderland.

And finally after a long early Autumn in Finland trying to finish my long awaited and now 4 years in the making Instructional DVD, Genotype 2, I headed to Munich from Helsinki to collect the G17 Sprinter, and drive back to England.  I know this drive very well now, I can normally get to Dunkirk in 10 hours via Luxembourg, and the VIP lounge o the ferry was worth the extra £10 just for the leather sofa to sleep on, let alone the inclusive drinks and food.  Once in the UK and remembering its on the left, driving that is, and getting it wrong can be a right problem!!  I normally do at least one mistake after each cross over, its on T-junctions where I head off up the road on the right!!  Needless to say, I quickly remember where I am, “England my home, the crash and burner of life”.  Harsh I know, but its been a bleak Autumn in terms of the amount of on the water fun.

Here is Devon at its finest, a rare high water Autumn day with friends, hmmmmmm

Soon after returning to the now fabled River Dart Country Park, I took up residence and waited for the rain.  I edited away, ran the wonderful forest trail, went mountain biking with Dr Paul, any visitors from Norway and Canada, went to Galway for a wedding, and yet no rain, what a time of it I was having.  Still I could organise a bunch of other things for Gene17, namely moving bank, accounts, and planning for 2009.  The moving of bank has allowed Gene17 to trade in Euros and not have to pay £30 every time I wish to send money outside the UK.  This although boring, has been the vain of banking for sometime, and now HSBC have opened the door for European style banking in the UK, its no winder they have not been caught up with the looming economic recession at our door.  I also have a bit of a rant with O2 and got a lot of money back and an iPhone, so I to can enjoy my apple on the move.   

At least the UK politics have kept myself entertained, and with BBC 5live on 24/7 I am getting all the low down, Vince Cable, he’s has nothing to lose and just says it like it is, a refreshing insight into real politik. Now I have hours of political podcasts to enjoy when I go trail running.  As you see its been a little desperate in terms of paddling news…..

With so little rain, I managed to run a bunch of WWS&R courses, in particular the Advanced course is very popular, plus a few 4 Star and 5 Star Training and Assessments, we finally got a little rain for these. Some boys from Waterford, Ireland came over for some coaching, and we hit the Upper and East Lyn for Steep Creek Training and Group Dynamic coaching. There are numerous play moves on both rivers at all levels, so it was great to show the guys that fun can be had even at low water, and England does in fact have some WW.

By the beginning of December, the now annual Gene17 Adventure Paddlers Weekend hosted at the RDCP in Devon draws lots of paddlers. I am very happy to see so many people from across the UK and further away come to Devon for some fun. Our little race with friends was great, and with a Team in the Dagger Green including myself it was a bit easy to pull away from the crowd, a few restrictions I think for next time. We got rain a few days before the event, and so people made the trip, I heard some 100 paddlers were on the Lyn on Saturday!! A busy spot given its narrow size. This event is quite a joy to run, the hosts are great and happy to see paddlers, and the crowd that comes down supports the whole event, and this year drunk some 1000 pints in one night!!!

Here is a shot taken on Palm’s new Drysuit photoshot, where one of our number managed to pin their paddles across a certain drop on the Upper Dart, and although I had heard of them before, I have never seen it. Its like the old comedy scene where someone is trying to fit a ladder size ways through a door, if you have T bird through a slot your paddles will be left be hide.

So with this image in mine, its time to pack up 2008 and look to 2009. What is on offer, when my wife may be with me on the road this coming year, so I am very happy to paddle with her all season. The stronger Euro may have a bearing on UK clients joining G17 in Europe, as our prices have been in Euros only for a year now, as that is what our costs are in. Still bookings look good for now, and a trip to the Alps in February will the excellent early snow will lighten the load as I look to bring on new staff for 2009 and a training course in late March to fire them up for Operation French Alps with SND this coming Summer. After the Summer, a belated post honeymoon honeymoon with a round the world trip to BC and Nepal in the Autumn should fire up the soul for the next UK season. For now I will enjoy the rest of my Lappland experience before the UK for another 5 weeks, although I will not leave the island until I have completed Genotype 2, and as such I must, its been a labour of love and now I must share the ideas and concepts for new school paddling and the coaching of the modern style with all and everyone.

Cheers and I’ll see you in 2009

Simon

Its like no other paddling place I have been, the annual Gauley Fest in West Virginia, on the East Coast USA is like the Glastonbury Music Festival of the WW kayaking world.  Full of geeks, freaks and uniques every where, plus a host of the mainstream crowd all rubber busing this fine river section.  At this point I best say there are some nice normal people there too…..  Above is Bumblebee man, a regular paddler on the Gauley.

Before we hit West Virginia, Deb and I went to visit Confluence and its R&D department to look at the new Dagger and Wavesport boats for 2009.  Unlike the days of Dagger at Harriman, we were not allow to take any images, in fact we simply weren’t allowed.  So from Greenville to Asheville to visit the Apple Pies, the girls had arranged a cook out for us, and we had an array of illuminating conversations and laughed a lot.   

After Asheville we headed to Gauley, and the Pie and Pints Pub in Fayetteville, where we meet Katie Johnson, a long time friend of Deb’s.  After some great wine, we crashed at Katie place and in the morning we meet up with more friends of Deb, Pamina and Christano, Torinesse from Italy now living in New York.  Over the next few days we cruised the Upper Gauely, playing at the top spots, and meeting some great old faces from the US scene, as I’d not been in the US since 2000.  Katie showed us lots of little hits on the slot boating lines that the Upper Gauley is famous for.  On the Saturday night, the grand event, its like a big gear give away at the end of season, some manufacturers sell off their end of line gear, others simply throw stuff from the roof’s and all kinds of give away events are going off all over the place.  The party theme is set with live music on the central stage and free beer on most stands.  Its quite the kayaking festival.

Here is a great squirt boat mystery move sequence taken at the take out of the Upper Gauley, such a cool spot to watch these guys chop into the green and disappear for a moment on such a small and seemingly weak feature. Cool hey?

Here is one of my favourite things about the USA, the “Cinnabon”, like a visit to the burger store, one a year is suffice, still what a luxury, mmmmmmm 

After the USA, it was a hop through London to Venice and Soča beyond.  A quick clean up of 22 Trnovo, some days on the river in my new slalom boat, and then on to the Kanu Messe in Germany for some fun with friends and to see all the new stuff for 2009.  Below are the final samples of the new Palm Drysuits for 2009, Gene17 has been testing these beauties since last December, their ace.  The two main improvements are the development of a new fabric and a new modern cut.  The shoes below are a joint development between Palm and Merrell, which has been an 18 month project.  These are paddle sport specific water shoes, with an encapsulated shoe with razor cut lines in the sole to provide more surface area for improved traction on water rock.  Both are available in the New Year from Palm. 

After KanuMesse, I went to Helsinki to be with my wife and edit the long waited Genotype 2 DVD.  Its a labour of love, and has taken 3 years to get this far.  Now the end is close, which is a relief, yet there is still much to do.  These days I am back in Devon editing away, and waiting for the rain.

After the Inner Gorge delights, the river’s difficulty drops off again leaving days of cruising and the occasional surf wave, or entertaining move through a rapid.  Yet its all about the environs of the Canyon which is part of the draw.  There are a number of attractions to consider, side hikes up various creeks to view geological phenomena, or native artefacts or just for the pleasure of being in such a unique place.  We did an excellent day hike you Thunder Creek, over a dry bench and down another creek, hot, dry and world class hiking. 

Lava is the single biggest high light of many days of action.  The group were nervous, especially as its certainly Class IV, you need to go for a line in amongst it, yet rolling in the wash out is pretty much the worst you’ll face.  Still the guys lined up for the action, and action they got.  Great fun watching from above and seeing all enjoying themselves.  We camped just below Lava, and a few of us went back in the morning for a few more runs.  Myself, well I needed to master a clean line, after 5 runs and 5 rolls, the day before.  After no breakfast just after dawn, 3 runs and all clean, the trick was to surf the face of a diagonal to cut the top of an exit lateral, the day before I was always a metre too right, and got involved with a brace off, I never seamed to win.  Still its great to be able to challenge yourself a little harder to nail the beast.

My mother fired it up with the paddle raft crew, that also included my in laws, all loved Lava Falls.

After Lava, the days mellow out, there is the occasional river attraction, yet its a cruise into extra holiday mode.  We had a few next delights at camp with both a rattle snake and a skunk visiting in the moon light.

Most people take out at Diamond Creek, yet we pushed on for an extra days good paddling.  These rapids had a little extra push as the Colorado reminds us its battle to the dammed lake below is still a little ways to go.  On the morning of the last day, a jet boat picked us up at the top of the lake, and we rocketed to South Cover, with a van ride to our accommodations and the real flip side of a near unearthly experience that is Las Vegas.  Below we’re in a stretched Limo heading out to dinner in the urban jungle, near removed from the pristine experience of the Grand.

A truly World Class trip, and a must do for each and every paddler, at least once in their paddling career.

 

Dave Carroll charging in the main line on Hermit, what wonderful stuff!!!

The Little Colorado was milky white, and in spite of being its namesake, was set within a massive gorge. As the tributary joining the Grand, the river bends around the last of the imposing walls of Marble Canyons to reveal a wide vista, with the canyon walls set we back from the river, this was the Inner Gorge.

On the section ahead lay most of the very best white water of the Grand. Legendary rapids such as Granite, Hermit and Crystal. Our early days training of who to deal with large volume was to be put into practise on these classic rapids.  We focused on strengthening basic tactics for large volume, such as lateral momentum, cutting the diagonals and riding the curliers.  The standard rule for volume is to be one third out from either side, this avoids the large waves in the centre that block your line of sight, and keeps you away from the sides where the eddy and seam lines can cause all kinds of problems for the little kayaker.

Here is we are looking at Hance, the first rapid that required some sort of plan. The line was to enter on the right and head left throughout the rapid, thus right to left. 

The action below is form a series of rapids in the Inner Gorge.  Both Granite and Hermit are excellent, large lateral waves with little consequence, other than a ball snap on the seat when you high off the back of the steep waves, some thing the gentlemen should be aware off!!

Much fun was had by all, and now the high sport was over, we had days to relax before an highlight, Lava Falls…. and that is another story all together.

All Images Nick Burnes and Deb Pinniger

On a bright sunny August Bank Holiday, Deb and I took the train to London, meet Dave and flew to the USA.  This was my first flight to the US since 2000.  I have simply been enjoying the delights of Europe and had the occasional trip to Nepal, but no America since 2000.  The truth be known, I never liked the Immigration Officials tone every time I had visited the USA in the past, they all seam to think that everyone on their way into the US wants to stay there.  I know it can be a little past the comprehension of some US Immigration Officials, but I quite like Europe and am happy to get on the plane home.

Since 9/11 I undertook that the tone at the border had become even more stern, was it to be an hour long interrogation in a private room of why did you wish to visit the US!!  Alas in spite of all the hype, it was a long wait in the line, and then on the hand scanner, one finger here and another there, and look at the camera 60 seconds appointment and I was in.  In where, in Vegas for my first Grand Canyon trip.

Now this town is a sublime blend of all that glitters is gold and more fibreglass creations in anyone place I have ever seen.  Pass all the bright lights, its a dump and no end of drinking, gambling and fooling around will get you away from the fact its the arm pit of humanity in the middle of a desert.  Yet it has an international airport and is close to our putin at Lee’s ferry n the Grand Canyon.  After a day of so of Dave fawning over everything Mac at the Apple Store, the rest arrived and we headed to the put in.

At Cliff Dwellers Lodge, set back from the Canyon Rim was a blaze in early morning sun light.  The red sand desert stretched into the distance appearing to continue to the cliffs on the east bank, yet there was no obvious sign of any canyon yet alone the Grand Canyon. We sat at a cafe enjoying this amazing yet alien site whilst breakfasting on ham and eggs american style.  Our boats had been delivered weeks ago, and awaited us all.  A few hours outfitting, packing and repacking flew by, and we were ready for the river. A drive along the desert with rising cliffs that flank the plateau in which the Grand cuts deeply into.  Lee’s Ferry is a car park with a toilet, a minimalist put in for such a popular river.  Clear and wide the nearly flat river flowed into a low wide gorge beyond the launching point.

As ever there is always at least a single rule in a US National Park is highlighted to the overseas visitor.  For Grand Canyon river runners its the need for a US Coast guard (UL) Approved PFD to be worn. Most UL approved PFDs are pretty poor for WW kayaking, as the standard is set to include water skiing in the same categorisation. The European CE standard is specifically for paddlesport and the considerable developments in the test standard, certain give the PFDs the edge.  Although I do like the design concepts be hide Astral from the USA.

During the next few days, we got into the rhythm of getting up and going to bed with the sun.  The white water picked up on occasion, but in truth it was a mellow cruise and time to enjoy the company of new and old faces on the water.  Camping on riverside beaches, short hikes up side creeks and surfin’ smooth glassy waves, are all but the daily grind on the river.

In heading down to a classic attraction, Red Wall Cavern, JP our motorboat captain, was telling is of this time when there was this massive storm and the walls were a wash with a near biblical experience.  And within being the spot for 5 minutes, look what happened?

Now with a rich red colour to the river and the sun greeting us after the storm, we headed down into the heart of Marble Canyon at Nankoweap.  Its great that many famous scenes from the Grand are captured, check these out:

The following day it was time to get my mother and my in-laws into the Duckies.  We slowly made our way to the Little Colorado river, and the end of Marble Canyon………

Whilst in Norway, I had the dredged water incident with my Mac.  Needless to say it was expensive, both in terms of time and money! I had left the computer charging during the day, and someone decided to do a little aggressive clothes washing in the Kitchen sink.  Water splash over the side and then down the cable that was leading on the sink unit, into the power point on the Mac. The computer worked all fine, yet it would not charge nor run direct off the power cable.  The Mac health clinic in Helsinki said I needed a new power unit, and logic board.  Oh that I knew was expensive, and it was cheaper to buy a new machine!!  It took 4 weeks to get the funds out of my insurance policy, and a further 2 weeks to get everything across from the old Mac, as hot swapping the batteries was the only option.  The moral here, water and computers do not mix, and charge your computer away from any area where others at likely to be.

Whilst in Helsinki, I managed to get to Neitikoski in Eastern Finland a few times, this excellent play spot is remote and in a wonderful place, far from the city.  Once you finally get there, you simply, eat, paddle, sauna, walk, eat, paddle, sauna, walk, repeat as many times as you like.  In between back to back weekends in Neitikoski, Satu and I left her car in Joensuu and got the train back to Helsinki, what a wonderfully relaxed way to cover 700km.  No sooner had I arrived in Finland, it was time to leave for England.

When you are at that certain age, all round plus yourself are getting married.  This is of cause a very wonderful thing.  Late this Summer Paul Cheesy Robertson and his long term lady, tied the knot is true style at Henley on Thames in England.  A class day out was had by all, with a river boat ride to a small island with a folly and traditional English games and drinks.  Not only was the company splendid, the whole day was eventful and marvellous.  Congratulations Mr and Mrs Robertson.

 

 

Also when I was in the UK, I managed to see a lot of old school friends, that facebook thing has help connect a bunch of people who would so easily lose touch.  Its fun that with a few short years, the whole online user content phenomena has influenced so many lives.  Devon called as it always does, and I went to visit friends there to plan the Winter retreat, which is not so far away.  But more of that later, as there are more pressing tails and tall stories of my adventures out West in the USA.

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

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.