will
08-07-2006, 05:10 PM
Day 6
Today some kind of path flattening thing.
we woke and it was obvious dave was not fully functional, infact he had gut rot and was blowing chunks and painting boulders brown frequently.
We took it easy in the morning as we were waiting for the Landeck Gorge to go off as it was due to release yay!!!
It went off, Dave still not up for a paddle sat in the car as the rest of us went and paddled the Landeck gorge (4). It was a blast, Big volume big holes big waves lots of fun. so much so we went for a 2nd run, Talked dave into it and he grudgingly crawled into his kit, you know what happens next, it made dave smile lots and he seemed to recover rather rapidly!!
Day 7
Strimmers again
A bloody Cold day and it was Pissing down and the thought of getting out of a nice warm dry tent into that lot was not very appealing. After deciding it was in for the day we emerged into the rain for food and tea and seeing that the gut rot monster had got Andy.
We were heading back to Switzerland higher up the valley than before to do the Brail gorge, but upon arriving there we were dissappointed to see it was dry, the air temp was down to 4.5 C from 36C the day before brrrr ever regret not packing your thermals??
After getting a coffee we finally decided to run the Giarsun again but it was up about 1/2 a meter on last time so quite different. when the clouds cleared a little we realised it had actually snowed on the mountains and the snow line was only about 200m above us. Lots of fun big and bouncy
Day 8
Pneumatic drills
Final full day of paddling, no-one had gut rot!!
We set off back up the Oetz and upto the upper Oetz, We were here early as it was up near the Glacier and known to rise while your looking at it, luckily it was another cold day so the rise was slower than normal. The guide book states" 4km of continuous fast and heavy class 4+ water.
The 1st rapid is called the Mad Mile, you look adown this long straight rapid from the bank and it doesn't seem a mile!! we got on and started descending this rapid which was a pure adrenaline pumper consisting of drop stopper, drop stopper, boulder stopper, . . . . . . . . . . you get the picture, we broke out 1/2 way down to get our breaths back and looking upstream it seemed that we had hardly gone very far and it still seemed a long way to the end of the rapid but it was clear that the gradient was a lot steeper than it appeared. we set off again, upon getting to the bottom where the river eased to class 4 i looked back upstream to see what i didn't want to see, Cath was swimming she had got nailed in a huge pour over and ended up bailing Andy and Dave Caught her boat and paddle but she missed the eddy so we got sucked into the gorge and the start of the next 4+ section which was locked in by sheer gorge walls, we managed to get her to the side onto a little beach just after the 1st drop where she collapsed exhausted from the baltic water temperature and numerous washing machinings in numerous pour overs on her way down. but she was ok after she got some air in her lungs :) we then had fun problem solving how to put cath, boat and paddle back together again as there was only one way out..... downstream!
We finally got a line across the river and dragged her boat across which got nailed in a hole on the way across and took some pulling to get it out, upon retrival we noticed the crab with a 120kn breaking strain had bent in the force of the water, very sobering. We got back on and ran the other long rapids without events.
After that we went in search of the Wolfs Gorge (4) on the bottom of the Rosanna which is actually a nice paddle, very much like tryweryn grave yard rapid on steroids but lots of fun!!
Day 9
No tools yay!! typical on the last day when we were going home.
My turn to blow chunks
After packing up we went back for a final run of the lower Oetz which I sat out on as i was feeling delicate, but took the camera and got some good footage of Andy and Dave getting intimate in a hole :o)
Then that was it, Back to Blighty
I would definitely recommend a trip to Austria, Don't listen to the hype, yes it's bigger water but you soon adjust.
Thanks to Cath Dave and Andy for an absolutely stonking trip!! same again next year.
Will :cool:
Today some kind of path flattening thing.
we woke and it was obvious dave was not fully functional, infact he had gut rot and was blowing chunks and painting boulders brown frequently.
We took it easy in the morning as we were waiting for the Landeck Gorge to go off as it was due to release yay!!!
It went off, Dave still not up for a paddle sat in the car as the rest of us went and paddled the Landeck gorge (4). It was a blast, Big volume big holes big waves lots of fun. so much so we went for a 2nd run, Talked dave into it and he grudgingly crawled into his kit, you know what happens next, it made dave smile lots and he seemed to recover rather rapidly!!
Day 7
Strimmers again
A bloody Cold day and it was Pissing down and the thought of getting out of a nice warm dry tent into that lot was not very appealing. After deciding it was in for the day we emerged into the rain for food and tea and seeing that the gut rot monster had got Andy.
We were heading back to Switzerland higher up the valley than before to do the Brail gorge, but upon arriving there we were dissappointed to see it was dry, the air temp was down to 4.5 C from 36C the day before brrrr ever regret not packing your thermals??
After getting a coffee we finally decided to run the Giarsun again but it was up about 1/2 a meter on last time so quite different. when the clouds cleared a little we realised it had actually snowed on the mountains and the snow line was only about 200m above us. Lots of fun big and bouncy
Day 8
Pneumatic drills
Final full day of paddling, no-one had gut rot!!
We set off back up the Oetz and upto the upper Oetz, We were here early as it was up near the Glacier and known to rise while your looking at it, luckily it was another cold day so the rise was slower than normal. The guide book states" 4km of continuous fast and heavy class 4+ water.
The 1st rapid is called the Mad Mile, you look adown this long straight rapid from the bank and it doesn't seem a mile!! we got on and started descending this rapid which was a pure adrenaline pumper consisting of drop stopper, drop stopper, boulder stopper, . . . . . . . . . . you get the picture, we broke out 1/2 way down to get our breaths back and looking upstream it seemed that we had hardly gone very far and it still seemed a long way to the end of the rapid but it was clear that the gradient was a lot steeper than it appeared. we set off again, upon getting to the bottom where the river eased to class 4 i looked back upstream to see what i didn't want to see, Cath was swimming she had got nailed in a huge pour over and ended up bailing Andy and Dave Caught her boat and paddle but she missed the eddy so we got sucked into the gorge and the start of the next 4+ section which was locked in by sheer gorge walls, we managed to get her to the side onto a little beach just after the 1st drop where she collapsed exhausted from the baltic water temperature and numerous washing machinings in numerous pour overs on her way down. but she was ok after she got some air in her lungs :) we then had fun problem solving how to put cath, boat and paddle back together again as there was only one way out..... downstream!
We finally got a line across the river and dragged her boat across which got nailed in a hole on the way across and took some pulling to get it out, upon retrival we noticed the crab with a 120kn breaking strain had bent in the force of the water, very sobering. We got back on and ran the other long rapids without events.
After that we went in search of the Wolfs Gorge (4) on the bottom of the Rosanna which is actually a nice paddle, very much like tryweryn grave yard rapid on steroids but lots of fun!!
Day 9
No tools yay!! typical on the last day when we were going home.
My turn to blow chunks
After packing up we went back for a final run of the lower Oetz which I sat out on as i was feeling delicate, but took the camera and got some good footage of Andy and Dave getting intimate in a hole :o)
Then that was it, Back to Blighty
I would definitely recommend a trip to Austria, Don't listen to the hype, yes it's bigger water but you soon adjust.
Thanks to Cath Dave and Andy for an absolutely stonking trip!! same again next year.
Will :cool: