Low Force. River Tees

Some photos of us shooting Low Force that a local guy took and sent to us via email

Elliott 

Welly Matt

Me

Me in my Spanish Fly

Caroline (first time ever paddling on moving water - ultimate cred!)

French Alps, June 2014

The Alps was the best trip of my life hands down. Some of the most enjoyable, scary, technical and beautiful rivers I have ever paddled. Me and Elliott set off from Heathrow in the ridiculous hours of the 25th to catch our Ferry from Dover, the journey from door to door took us around 11 hours of non stop driving (soz Ellie). As soon as we passed Grenoble and took the mountain pass through to Briançon I knew the Alps were the most spectacular location I had ever been to. The tiny little Ski huts at the bottom of valleys to the magnificent pale glaciers on the caps of the mountains. The house we were staying in was a real awesome place to stay, and the company was even better.

 We were squeezing 3 to 4 runs in per day, padlding non stop for the week we were out. The second day we paddled the Guil, and the best part of 30km of it (with no lunch...). Featuring the infamous Guardian Angel gorge (4+) and the Lower Guil Gorge it was by far the most full on day of the trip, but it had to be the best.

Probably the most local of all the rivers was the Guisane. The upper (3) was a lovely fast flowing section with magnificent scenery, however the lower (4+) became enclosed by forests and the river became technical, shallow and unpredictable. It caught me by surprise resulting in me having a couple of upside down moments, but after a good bashing to the head I rolled up with a few more scratches to my helmet than i'd really wanted. With a couple of portages it eventually flushed out into the Durance. The lower definitely had me bricking it the most out of all the runs in the week.

On our final day we almost HAD to boot it over to the Ubaye as we had been avoiding it because of huge levels all week. This river was such a unique experience to anything I had ever come near to in the past. The larger volume and complex boulder gardens resulted in big holes and wave trains, making lines trickier to hold. But still a sick day and one of the best rivers in my log book. To top if off, for our Last Supper we had genuine metre long pizzas.

                      

Sucks I can't out there next season because of school, but come 2016 I will be there...

such a sick time, with such sick company and goddamn sick rivers. safe.

Here's a video I put together from everyones footage 

(Cheers Tom & Chris for that)

A Day in the Alps

The Gyronde

Thanks a million to everyone who made it the best holiday of my life. See you all soon!

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Southern France, August 2014

Just over a 24 hour drive from London gets us to the Ardeché in the South of France, where we spend most of our summers. Mainly running Police Cadet DofE trips down the Gorges but i'm only there for a quality easy going paddling trip in the sun. 4 Days down the class 2 river is such a pleasure in the warm waters of the gorges, with 500m cliff faces on either side of you, it's no real wonder why its a protected National Park. But after 2 and a half weeks in the Ardeche we travelled a couple hours north over the Massif Central mountains to an area called Haut-Allier.

The river Allier is where i first fell in love with more technical white water, with different sections varying from class 4/5 all the way to comfortable 2/3 it is the perfect river for a large group of different abilities. We usually travel over there with both Canoes and Kayaks, and usually go about our own business whilst also coming together to run the easier sections. One section is perfect for an over night bivouac in the forest covered shallow gorges, which usually results in a river side rave and lots of hang overs the following morning. With rather large levels this year, and a smaller group of Kayakers (3 of us) we decided to run the Monistrol to Prades section (3+/4). Which is where i made this video. 

the video : Haut-Allier

Can't wait to return for yet another year, and do some more quality paddling!!!

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River Tees Trip - 14-16/11/2014

Such a sick weekend on the Tees, paddling my new Pyranha Spanish Fly OC1. Managed to get the posture right after numerous cramps whilst on the river and leg spasms whilst off it. High Force to Low Force section was great, shooting some good 3/3+ in some pretty decent levels. Managed to break out mid-way down Dog-Leg and empty out before boofing the next couple holes, definitely need to install a pump system. Such a fast nimble and reliable boat, gets a bit slow and heavy when full of water though but still very manoeuvrable. Boofed off Low Force first time no issue, despite me being a leftie and the drop being a righty boof. Second time not so well and ended up swimming. Got to shoot the drop in numerous kayaks that were about as well so there was no missing out on one of my favourites.

Can't wait until next time. 

some of the footage is out of focus but what can you do eh

Video : The Tees

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