AUCC 2010/11 Video

Well done Meike for the edit:

The Findy G

I’ve paddled the Findhorn Gorge a couple of times now, a classic Scottish East Coast run. Whilst fun, I do think it’s been a bit overhyped in some online guides – particularly difficulty wise, so maybe some people have been put off paddling it by reputation, who in reality would have enjoyed it. The main rapids are Randolph’s Leap at the start, then Triple Step and Corkscrew further down, all decent grade 4′s (The Leap probably touches a soft but sketchy g5 if you take the cauldron line – I’ve always been too scared and so sneak down the right) but easily portageable if you’re taking less experienced paddlers – the other rapids are grade 2/3 bimbles. Being relatively fast flowing and in gorge, shit can hit the fan quickly if you’re not on the ball with swimmers, as kit can go along way, but with good safety boaters the Gorge makes a great g3/4 club trip – just make sure you portage the siphon drop at the end!. I’m yet to paddle it in high water though, and I can imagine that being a slightly different ball game.

I had a great day on it last summer with Stu, Steve, Baker, Campbell and Victoria – with Ian tagging along as photographer/shuttle bitch. Here are some of his snaps (all photo credit to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ian-McDougall-Photography/196231783756155?sk):

Myself going for the flare on the drop just below Randolph's

Steve doing his thang on one of the bimbles

Stu on the middle drop of Triple

And boofing the bottom of it

Myself going for the boof on the last drop of Triple Step

Baker stuck at the bottom of Triple - just as well given the look on his face peering down into the hole!

Steve skirting a big hole on the entrance to Corkscrew

Following the tongue through to finish the move

And being rad

Cambell pretending to be a submarine on the entrance move of Corkscrew

Me coming through the middle of Corkscrew

Then riding the waves through the exit

Meig Gorge

Back in September I got the opportunity to paddle the Meig Gorge for the first time with Graham and Joe. What an excellent little river!! Set in the bottom of a 70 foot vertical sided gorge, the Meig is a steep, low volume, tight and technical run, falling over many awkward twisting drops. Egress is understandably difficult from the super-commiting gorge, and scouting the rapids can be pretty tricky too. The first time we ran it was almost an excersise in canyoning – we swam the first three drops to get a better idea of what might be coming up, before going back for the boats. This pattern continued down the rest of the gorge – find an eddy to stop and get out of the boats, swim down to a rock on the lip of the next drop, then paddle it – great fun, and felt like a real adventure. Later on in the year we got another chance to go back and take a few other people from the club down. Here are some pictures (from both trips) – photos from Matt Witz and Titch (aka Kate Annan):

Myself running the entry falls

Awkward scouting...

G-Ram boofing the entrance falls

Luke being a douche on the siphon/constriction mess of a rapid

Brodie boofing

Joe in the siphon/construction mess, a pretty awkward portage too

Me on Tea Cup Falls

Gregseh getting his boof on

Watch Matt’s carnage filled video of the weekend here (includes some of the Findhorn Gorge)

Falls of Feugh

Following a fresher trip on the Dee, we caught the Falls of Feugh running at a good level with the spring snowmelt, so myself Titch and Joe took the rare opportunity to run it. Although it looks fairly meaty and intimidating from the bridge, it’s actually a pretty straightforward grade 4 drop – there’s no chance of getting stuck in the hole at the bottom as the water hammering along the side channel would smash you straight out.

Joe went first, fluffed the entry, and proceeded to take the comedy line down the middle:

LOL!

I took the ‘pussy option’ (aka, The Line):

Then Titch stepped up in her playboat, getting some good downtime in the process:

Quick video of myself (thanks Ian McDougall Photography):

Eurotrip (better late than never…)

Last summer (2010 – yep that’s how overdue this post is!) Trixi and I fancied a bit of a road trip, so we drove from Innsbruck to Vienna, then on to the UK (via Amsterdam and Bruges/Brugge), then back through Germany and Wiesbaden. Big thanks to Erik (a friend from ski instructing in Saalbach) who put us up for the night in Amsterdam, and to ‘Joe,’ Trixi’s 21 year Opel Astra hatchback, who made the whole journey with no problems at all, and even turned out to be (relatively) comfortable to sleep in.

Seats down, duvets out, curl up and 'enjoy' a night of mild cramp and light sleep...

Lots of bicycles in Amsterdam...

Trixi posing by a canal in Amsterdam

Bruges was the main highlight of the trip, so much that we spent two days there, and another on the return journey. The tour of the Brugse Zot (Brugian Fool) beer distillery was excellent, and led by the fattest, jolliest and most enthusiastic man I’ve ever met – the free pint afterwards was also one of the best I’ve tasted! Here’s a few pictures from this beautiful historic city:

A Breakfast of imported KrispyKreme doughnuts in the Minnewater gardens

Sampling the local brew in a sunny streetside cafe

Bad-ass chocolate dragon

Darker Stronger Brugse Zot? Yes please!

Tempted by the ace fish market

Unfortunately, with both of us being tax-dodging students, we couldn’t afford to eat or stay in the city, so we drove to a nearby beach for a swim and picnic dinner.

Did someone say... SHARK?!

Fresh bread, cold meat and camembert, washed down with cool white wine... Tasty!

Unluckily our later plans to sneak into a campsite under cover of darkness were foiled, so we ended up sleeping in the car again, in a public car park just back from the beach, before being woken up at 6am by two irate (and non-English-speaking) Belgian policemen… Still, at least we made the ferry on time!

 

 

 

Spring

Spring is awesome, wherever you are. The sun comes out, the weather warms up, for some reason it seems to snow more, although even when it doesn’t slush is fun and the meltwater swells the rivers, so whether you want ski, paddle or just sit int he sun with a cold beer, you’re sorted.

Back in early March I had some of the best skiing this season (and actually, ever). The snowclouds moved down the Inn valley and got trapped against the Nordkette mountain wall, dumping their entire snowload – powder time! The first day was a real suprise. Trixi had gone to uni, and as it looked cloudy up the hill I had a lie in before going up for a ski, and was delighted to find 20cms of fresh and the mountain to myself. Ripping up one of the lower altitude ski routes I bumped into one of the local instructors, so we teamed up for the afternoon. The next day passed similarly with another 20cms, but Saturday was the big one with another 30cms of snow on top of the previous days. Absolutely great day of fresh tracks with Trixi and Geli, with some amazing runs down the upper couloirs.

With fresh snow Nordkette is a truly awesome ski area. It might be small with only one real piste, but it has really epic offpiste, with the couloirs down from the top being particularly special. With a bit of imagination for lines you can find skiing to suit whatever mood you’re in – big open faces, steep tight chutes or fun jibby lines through the trees and bushes.

Me offpiste at Nordkette, photo Geli Feldbacher

Back in Aberdeen snowmelt in the cairngorms gave a welcome boost to river levels, and I enjoyed some particular good runs down a high water N’Esk and a humping Dee – big waves and powerful holes galore.

Me on Triple, photo Sandy Niven

Me on the lead in to Fishladder, photo Matt Witz

Fish, by Matt Witz

Me missing the boof, by Sandy Niven

Dissappearing in the hole (you can just seen my paddle), by Matt Witz

...and backlooping, by Matt Witz

Over the Easter holidays it was time to head back out the mountains, but this time my family and Trixi’s parents were due to join us. Before Trixi’s parents arrived we spent a few days in Westendorf (where my family were based). I absolutely love Westendorf, I’ve spent lots of holidays there in the past, so it was great to go back, see the Hotel Glockenstuhl staff and ski my favourite runs – not to mention spend some time with my parents and sister.

Me carving down KiWest, photo by Trixi Loeschenberger

It was a very different atmosphere to whenever I’ve been there before, so quiet, mellow and chilled out – almost empty of punters. Very green too with the snow melting, but lots of fun slushy bumps to ski. We were surprised with some fresh snow too!

Me in the pow, glad for 'local' knowledge, by Trixi

Trixi ripping up the short turns

Photo by Trixi

Later in the holidays we stayed over in Kirchberg with Trixi’s parents, Berti and Fanni. Again blessed with more suprise fresh snow we had some great skiing. Kitzbuhel has easy access to lots of fun mellow offpiste, and when the freshies runs out there’s lots of slushy bumps to play in. I was a little dissapointed with the Hahnenkamm though. Yeah you’d have to be mental to ski it at the speeds the downhill racers do, but even the proper route (which is undeservedly marked as an ‘extreme’ offpiste route on the map), although fairly steep,  isn’t particularly difficult.

My sister Hollie at the start of the Hahnenkamm, by Fanni Loeschenberger

Bertie and Fanni synchronised, by Trixi

When we got back to Innsbruck the snow was so sticky on the south facing Nordkette slopes it just wasn’t worth skiing, so we enjoyed a fair few beers in the sun at the Schirmbar at the bottom of the slopes, and paid a visit to the Alpenzoo!

 

 

On 9th April my Grandad, Professor Matthew Aitken Clark OBE, one-time head of Architecture and planning at the University of South Carolina, retired Chief Executive of the Norfolk Broads Authority and heavily involved in Europarc, sadly passed away after a short fight with cancer.  RIP Grandad, you’ll be missed.

My Grandad and Dad in Turkey last summer

Chilly paddling antics in February

Post exams, the cold weather February brought to Aberdeen wasn’t going to put me off my paddling.

Trixi came over for two weeks, so I took her along on a club trip on the Dee, which was her first real whitewater experience.

Gotta love old club kit - Trixi suited and booted

With no swims at all, even on the grade 3 Invercannie rapid, she did really well, and didn’t even complain about the cold once! The day was only marred slightly by some abuse form a grmpy fisherman, who wasn’t even fishing! I thought I’d escaped all that agro when coming up to Scotland!

The next day some of the club paddled the North Esk, which is one of the classic East Coast rivers. This was the first time I’d got round to paddling it, and I gather levels were on the low side of medium. I’d been previously told that it was a good grade 4 trip, and heard it described as Scotland’s version of the Upper Dart – but it really isn’t. It’s a nice and fun river, but (at the levels we had anyway) there were only really two grade 4 rapids, and it was more pool drop than the Dart. Still, it’s an excellent paddle if you’re in the area, just possibly a little overhyped. Maybe with more water it would become more continuous at the grade.

The first grade four is Triple Step (or Rocks of Solitude, depending on who you listen to). Consisting of three drops with noticeable stoppers in between, the last hole is especially meaty. Only four of us ran it, and two ended up spending some upside down time in the last hole, with Nomad power seeing me and Gregseh through fine.

Me disappearing in the bottom hole of Triple, pic by Sandy Niven

Even with Nomad power I narrowly avoid backlooping back into the hole, pic by Sandy Niven

Just downstream from Triple lies Presidents Corner (apparently named after several club Presidents had a simultaneous swim there). It’s an awkward rapid with a tight move over a drop and simultaneously round a corner, which saw my first capsise since coming upto Scotland, with a faceplant into a rockshelf after catching an edge on a crosscurrent. No roll needed, but I sustained a couple of scrapes on my nuckles pushing myself upright.

The second grade 4, Fishladder, is much nicer than it looks. An 8 foot(ish) drop, the right side leads to a world of pain in a boily, surging and recirculating eddy, whilst a kicker halfway down river left gives you a perfect ski jump over the hole and out through a narrow exit. Fairly intimidating to look at, it’s pretty fluffy when you run it as long as you make the right line.

Me hitting the kicker on Fishladder, pic by Sandy Niven

Last weekend saw some more Dee action, with very low levels due to masochistically cold temperatures. Did I say I love my drysuit?! With the top six inches of water in the process of freezing over, the river resembled a slush puppy in the current, whilst the eddies were frozen so solidly you could walk on them! Gnarly!

Unfortunately, even with the bumper snow season, I still haven’t managed to get any Scottish skiing in yet. Still, with all the paddling recently, I can’t complain too much.