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