Ok, It’s pretty late already so this is going to be a fairly
brief summary of such a funtastic day!
After breakfast it was a 9am start this morning, we are
going to the Upper Guisane. I’m a bit
nervous and Ali asks me if I’m up for this.... I’m not... Austria had shaken me
up, Slovenia settled me a little, but even the section I did that had grade 3
in it was only short sections of just about grade 3. The Sun Run had felt messy yesterday, and the
large group hadn’t helped. I’ve been wondering
how much I’m going to enjoy the alps trip this year, and whether or not I’d
actually have anything to paddle with such high levels of water
everywhere. The Guisane seems to be a
nemesis for a few, Sam in particular has had a few incidents, and S Bend has
been a troublesome section for some too.
I’m certain I won’t be running S Bend and I’m prepared for the long
portage. The get on doesn’t look
massively different to last year, there is one little eddy to get on at and
mainly that’s used for those of us not feeling so confident, held still until
we are ready by another member of the group.
The others seal launch off the bank.
Sam is grouped with Alex, Dylan, Tim and Jen so that she
feels confident having 4 strong paddlers with her (even if she doesn’t know two
of them very well). I’m with Bill, Matt,
Gregg and Rob, which is good for me as I have Mr Cool (Bill) to follow, and my
safety blanket (Rob) is tail end Charlie, with Matt and Gregg in between. Keith, Trevor, Chucky, Jamie and Ali go in
the third group. I’m nervous but after
giving the first group a little lead we set off. I get out of my eddy at the same time as Bill
launches in from the bank and the others file in behind. This isn’t a river with many eddies so it’s
basically just choo choo all the way. As
I paddle on down behind Bill I can tell just how much bigger the river is. In some ways it makes it more difficult as it’s
fast flowing and pushy but it does mean it’s generally less technical and less
rocky. Once I’m past ‘Sam’s Island’
where Sam lost her paddles last year I start to relax a bit. The further I go the more I enjoy it. I still get a dry mouth but I’m loving this
river at this level. There are a couple
of little sections where you want to get a good line to avoid rocks or get the
friendly side of a feature for example but generally it’s a blast from start to
finish and I don’t have a single scary moment.
It’s a good adrenaline rush and I’m smiling about 80% of the time. I really enjoyed that!
At S Bend, Myself, Sam and Trevor portage and meet the
others at the bottom. Ali is facing her
Demons as the first time she ran this a few years ago she had a nasty swim and
broke her thumb, Gregg also had a swim
through this two years ago and Jamie this is his first time out in the
Alps. I understand there were a few
nerves at the top for these guys but everyone sailed through and had an
excellent run. Ali styled it in to the
eddy at the bottom, sat breathing with relief and disbelief for a few seconds
then she did a huge woop and had a massive grin on her face.
We had decided to have lunch back at the house and discussed
afternoon plans. We’ve all had a great morning but have different ideas on how
to make it a great day. Keith, Bill,
Chucky Alex and Dylan all go to paddle the Briancon Gorge again, and Jamie and
Gregg head out for a bike ride.
Rob, Ali, Sam, Matt, Trevor and I are going to
do a Via at Valouise. It’s about a half
hour drive but it’s well worth it. This
one isn’t gated or manned like the one in the park it’s a proper Via in the
mountains and it will probably take a good while longer. On the first section Trevor leads, followed
by me then Matt, Ali, Sam and Rob at the back.
Again Rob is the most experienced so stays at the back to make sure he
will see if anyone has any problems and be able to deal with it. We go up a little way and then mostly
traverse the Gorge walls, with a rope bridge and a wire crossing as we go. The River below is immense, and there are
some fairly exposed sections on this route.
At the end of this first section there are signs for ‘Retour’ which is
the walk out and signs for ‘Via Sport’.
No one has done any further than this before so it’s an unknown and Sam
decides she will take the walk out path. The rest of us carry on in to the gorge and the route gets more complex.
I’ve taken the lead this time as Trevor
says it seems I know what I’m doing. I’m
quite comfortable with this sort of thing so I’m happy to go ahead. There are some climbs and decents as we
traverse along it, and even some bits of overhang in some hollows in the rock
face. It’s absolutely amazing and I try
to get pictures where I can along the way.
We reach the end of this section and again there are two choices. This time it’s Via sport, or a word in French
which we believe says ‘escape route’.
Rob checks with us all what we want to do and we all decide to continue,
there are further climbs and decents, getting more exposed and technical now,
and some more overhang on the last climb section. I reach the top and move out of the way so the
others have plenty of room, and find a nice rock hanging over the edge of the
gorge to sit on and look at the view.
Trevor is very close behind me and a short while later Ali arrives. There is a little more of a gap before Matt
comes up and we hear him before we see him.
We all giggle a bit as he grunts his way over the last overhang, he’s
possibly the one who found this route the hardest and hasn’t much experience of
climbing or Via stuff. Rob is shortly
behind him. I'll admit it got fairly tough so I take less photos as I go on. The walk out takes us through a beautiful meadow and we all feel like we are in a scene from the sound of music!
We all have a smile on our faces as we walk over the ridge
to the true ‘end’ of the Via, and then we see Sam who had walked up the walk
out route to wait for us, rather than wait at the car. We all then go down the walk out. We’ve only covered about two miles on the Via,
but it’s taken about two hours, which gives you some idea of the
difficulty. We’re all a bit dehydrated, we
took water with us and had a few stops on the way but the exposure, the heat of
the day, and the physical effort required all adds up. We have to stop off at the supermarket on the
way back, and then we are back home to meet up with all the others, and
everyone discusses their various activities.
The paddling group enjoyed the gorge so much they did it twice, and the
cyclists have had a good long ride today. Sam has a look at the Via ap and finds out the 'sport Via' section is a black route, one of the hardest there is!
Keith and I are cooking tonight, Keith is doing a Risotto so
I prepare some salads, and a fruit salad to make sure Jamie has a vegan option
for pudding. I also begin doing some washing
up and tidying around Keith as he goes.
There are plenty of laughs around the dinner table again and some
discussion as to what river to go to tomorrow.
I’m not sure what’s been decided but I think there are a couple of
options and it will depend on the river levels in the morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment