As I was able to spend my fourth winter in a row in Chile it was my first trip where I was guiding customers through this beautiful country on the west coast of South America.
Daniel on the last drop of the lower palguin
First destination of our journey was Pucon where we did some warm up paddling on the surrounding rivers. Ellies B&B offered a lovely ambience with the view on the Volcano Villarica to relax after the long trip to get there.
Peter in the “volcano drop” of the Trancura
In the first few days the group got a taste of some big volume rapids on the Trancura, they mastered the difficulty of running their first waterfalls on the Palguin and they got in touch with some remoteness of the Chilean wilderness on the Maichin.
the highest drop of the upper Plaguin, photo: Michael Sommerauer
After Christmas, which would have been described as a summer garden barbecue party in Europe, we started to travel south. With a stopover at the Rio Fuy where the group improved their waterfalls skills our next main destination was the Rio Futaleufu, which is called one of worlds finest kayak destinations for a good reason.
upper Fuy, photo: Michael Sommerauer
Driving down south took us a whole day and leaded us through pleasant fjords using three ferries as well as down the Carretera Austral and through the “Parque Pumalin” – a gorgeous nature park in the Chaiten region. Unluckily the typical Patagonian constant rain didn´t spare us but once arrived at the Cara del Indio camp we considered ourselves fortune by claiming the last free Cabana that evening.
pole position on the ferry
After a good sleep we started to have our first real big volume paddling day down the Bridge to El Macal section on the next morning. As we barely find any comparable whitewater back home I observed some hectic paddling till we reached the take out. So we decided that another day of warm up paddling down the same section would be necessary till everyone got familiar with that kind of exploding waves and whirlpools and felt ready to venture through the canyon and down the complete 46 kilometer long whitewater section of the Futaleufu, just in time for closing paddeling on New Year´s Eve. Tired but happy to collect the “golden medal” of the Futa we rewarded ourselves with an original Chilean “Asado” – a whole lamb grilled for several hours by the owner of our Camp.
Almut in her great Palm gear and Dagger Mamba at the put in for the Rio Azul, photo: Fabian Krummreich
So the group started off their paddling year 2014 by getting more and more comfortable on the extraordinary whitewater of the Futa day-by-day. Due to the continuous rain even the Azul came a little bit up and became an enjoyable run. So relaxing in the traditional Hot-Tub high up on the cliff over the Futa was the last missing thing of the Futa-experience which got ticked off the list before we had to loac up the truck to start our journey back up north again.
the boys having fun in the mud tub of the Termas Amarillo, photo: Fabian Krummreich
On the way our plan was to paddle the Michimahuida, which offers an entire day on the river filled with numerous rapids and scenic waterfalls coming in from the glacier on the sides in the remote Patagonian wilderness. Unfortunately the river was running a little bit to high for us on that day so we took out after the first few kilometres just where the road leaves the river and spent the rest of the day in the nearby “Termas Amarillo”. While half of the group kept relaxing in the nice and clear naturally hot water of the Termas few others felt more pleased resting in the natural mud pool. In the end of the day the sun finally managed to burn all those clouds of the seven five days away and brought us a beautiful last evening on our wild camp on the beach close to Chaiten.
last wild camping spot on the beach close to Chaiten, photo: Fabian Krummreich
Back in Pucon we spent our last few days on the more and more drying Rios Fuy, Trancura and Palguin and tried to absorb as much sun as we could before we had to fly back to winter in the cold and dark Europe.
Almut boofs one of the nicest drops of the lower Palguin
Chile is and stays on of the best places on earth to escape Europeans winter season for all paddlers who enjoy paddling class IV whitewater. One can find everything paddlers heart desires – from steep volcano rock built low volume creeks to excellent big volume whitewater. As one of the safest South American countries Chile fascinates with its clean and clear rivers, tasty food, dry and warm climate and tons of breathtaking landscape.
Almut following me down the upper Plaguin, photo: Paul Meylahn
I will be back next year for sure.
Thanks to the Crew and…
… bye bye Chile
I started off my season 2013 while travelling in Chile. So I spent new years eve at the Rio Fuy – big water, carry out of the upper Fuy and paddling the lower section later on which was great fun at that level. Waking up my first time in 2013 at one of Chiles beautiful lakes “Lago Panguipulli” we started heading south. On the way we didn´t want to miss out to paddle the Michimahuida before we finally continued to the our next destination Futaleufu. After staying a couple days at Cara del Indio, lapping the Futa to get familiar with the big water in Patagonia we travelled further South to do the Baker once more before this lovely giant will get destroyed by some dam building project. So Chile was January adventure.
Rio Baker, January 2013, photo: Stefan Motz
Back home winter got me back and I went skiing in Tyrol a couple times, realizing that I have way more fun paddling than skiing so I started to look forward to the first snow melt in the Alps to get some good runs down the Brandenberger Ache (AUT). At the same time I started to prepare the annual kayak school trip to Corsica, which started mid of March.
Our first week in Corsica (FRA) was filled with building all the tents for the customer trips and paddling for ourselves to check all the rivers again. Due to the great snowpack this year in the mountains of the “Isle of beauty” and some recurring rain Corsica offered loads of good runs, new rivers for me and most important great to start the European paddling season 2013!
Rio Futaleufu, January 2013, photo: Stefan Motz
Back “home” end of April I had to do some Freestyle as our German tem trials and National were held beginning of May at the Plattling (GER) Eurocup. Being out of a Freestyle boat for the last couple months I did quite well at the event, even leading in semifinals and ending with a fifth place overall and in first position of all the Germans. As I realized that freestyle boating is a lot of fun as well I decided to take part in the 2013 Freestyle worlds at the NOC in North Carolina (USA) and do all the other Eurocups in Prague (CZE) and Cunovo (SVK) as well later in the season.
Plattling 2013, photo: Michael Sommerauer
In May I jumped back in my Veloc and went to Ticino (SUI) and Piedmont (ITA). I had an awesome time in beautiful Verzasca valley as well as on all the tiny little Creeks like the San Giovanni, the Cannobino, etc. Also, the Tyrolian kayak school season started and I had a lot of runs around Innsbruck. With a little stopover at the Soca river (SLO) time was running through my summer.
Verzasca 2013, photo: Michael Sommerauer
June was my racing month, so I jumped in my new red racing Raptor for the first time. I went to the “King of the Alps” in Merano (ITA) and the “Eporedia Active Days” which took place at the Ayasse river this year. Winning all competitions and taking home some prize money (and a crown :D) I felt being in a good shape and race mood my motivation to do more races this year increased a lot and I decided to go for the Sickline race later in the season as well.
Eporedia Active Days Ivrea 2013, photo: Alessio Avetta
Eporedia Active Days, Ayasse 2013, photo: Arnd Schaeftlein
In July and the Beginning of August I had to do some “real” work to earn enough money for my next few trips – so not much kayaking at all. I just spent a few days in Prague (CZE) for the Freestyle Eurocup. It took place in the last week of July and it was a week with about 40°C outside. So being in the water was the best thing to do and the whole event felt like having a big summer party. I ended up 4th in the Freestyle competition and me and my racing Raptor kicked some guys asses coming third in the Boater X overall – even winning my first heat against some Czech slalom paddler 
Boater X at Troja Freestyle Fest in Prag 2013, photo: Dobafotek.cz
Next stop was the NOC in North Carolina (USA) for Freestyle worlds. Getting my Veloc there I was able to do some “real” paddling in between the daily half an hour in the Freestyle whole. My highlight run was definitely the day on the Green followed by “The Cascades” release upstream of the NOC. In Freestyle worlds I managed to reach the finals and ended up in 4th place just 2 points away from the podium. As I saw the other women paddling in trainings and I realised the huge rise of the standard I did not expect to even make semifinals so I was quite happy in the end with this result.
Freestyle Worlds at the NOC in North Carolina, photo: Olga Blokhina
Back home in September I did some kayak instructing again before I did a final Freestyle event in Munich (GER) and headed to Cunovo (SVK) to the last Eurocup of the season. The hole there was kind of shallow and not as fun as I expected it to be but seeing a lot of the German team members again made my stay there worth and I was able to claim the podium in my first Eurocup, ending up third and making the 2nd place overall!
photo: Michael Sommerauer
October. I started to study again and time to jump back in a Creekboat and get ready for the Sickline race. Having only one day to train I concentrated on the qualification run knowing that for those who will make the cut will be another time for training on the main course the next day. I was happy with my lines and made fifth position in the qualification, only 0,12 seconds away from the third place. As the organiser of the event first wrote that we are five women going into the finals I felt clapped-out when he suddenly decided that there would only be three going through. So the losers party started right away before at dinner we finally were allowed to compete the next day in the finals – without any training then. So my first runs the next day have been miserable and unluckily I took a bath after the last drop in my first run. Due to the cold weather conditions on the final day I had hard times to find the motivation to step up again and do my second run. With a sweet line I was able to claim the second fastest time in the women competition that day – unluckily both runs counted in the female competition. So I stayed with my fifth place which was finally not too bad with all the Freestyle I did during the months before.
Adidas Sickline Race 2013, photo: Manuel Arnu
Doing a lot of studying since Sickline and some kayak courses on the weekends I was only able to do two short trips so far. One weekend I spend in Kuchl (AUT) to see if the wave there is still good to paddle and last weekend I went to the annual Hurley-Classic Freestyle event (UK).
Hurley Classic 2013, photo: Nouria Newman
As it is getting quite cold now in Europe and paddling outside is not one of the most fun activitys to imagine at the moment I figured that now would probably be the best time to work on my own homepage to start my own coaching business – et voilá! So sitting on my ass pretty much the whole day I really start looking forward to my this winters kayaking trip to Chile for Christmas holidays!
Rio Palguin, January 2013, photo: Stefan Motz
Big thanks to Palm Equipment for the for the excellent paddling kit with its perfect design which keeps me warm and dry while I am on the water!
Double Drop at the Start of the race course on the Ayasse
This year’s edition of the Italian Eporedia Active Days in the beginning of June took place in the Ayasse valley and on the artificial race course in Ivrea. The newly found race course on a steep and demanding section of the Ayasse river offered enough water and so the competition went through with some interesting lines and even some swims. Compared to the former years less competitors took part but they got rewarded with a way better organisation of the event, an awesome dinner up in the small village Pontboset and four days of great summer weather in between the rainy European spring and early summer 2013.
Ayasse race course in Pontboset – “Corner Drop” in the back
During the day before the race on the Ayasse almost all the competitors showed up and went down the race section together to check out the lines. The competitors merged together to an awesome crew on the river, paddling together and working out the lines during the training. So in contrast to the usual individual training before a white water competition where everybody is just doing his own laps down the race course this time the training day turned into a fun paddling day on the river with a big group of some of worlds best kayakers.
happy to get a fast line through the first Double Drop
The individual- and team-race race course started with a technical Double Drop in the beginning, followed by some class III. Next difficulty was the “Corner Drop” with a sticky hole in the end, which claimed most of the swims during the competition followed by a 3 meter drop also with a sticky hole at the bottom. Next few hundred meters offered some easier white water before the last beautiful drop under a romaine bridge leaded into the finish pool. The King of the Falls section involved a difficult entry rapid and ended with a 70m long slide, so spectators were well entertained.
King of the Falls – Final Slide
Summing up the race-course on the Ayasse was definitely the hardest race-course I have ever competed on.
right after the start, entering the first drop of the “Double Drop”
But once the competition side moved from the Ayasse valley to the town of Ivrea it didn´t get much easier. Spectators got to see some hard battles. During the slalom race only 8 competitors managed to pass all the gates in both runs and in the end the fight in the Boater X decided about the overall win.
Slalom Race – town of Ivrea in the back
After four incredible days with the best competitors crew ever, no injuries (except the Russian who ended as a victim in our international rugby game the other night and got a stitched eyebrow) the new King of the Falls (Sam Sutton), Kayak Freeride World championships by Nations (New Zealand) and the overall winners (Jamie Sutton and myself) have been honoured in the “Stadio della Canoa” in the Piedmont town of Ivrea.
girls team checking the line on the entry double drop
Check back for all results here: http://www.eporediaactivedays.com/en/sports/kayak/results
Boater X in Ivrea
Thanks to Arnd Schaeftlein for the photos.
Seeing all those cold looking paddling pictures from England in this blog for a while I think it is time to let the spring come in! So let´s start: I was spending five awesome weeks in Corsica coaching kayaking. After having a “low water year” in 2102, the Ile of Beauty rewarded us for coming back each spring with a great amount of water this time. We got numerous runs done which haven´t been run since a while, so even after travelling to Corsica my 6th year in a row I got some little adventure feeling form tiome to time.
Back from the Mediterranean I didn´t stay home for a long time – so I got myself back on the road and headed south again. This time my destination was the beautiful Ticino and Piedmont. Arriving just after some rainy days we found super sweet waterlevels all around and the sky cleared up to bring us another five beatiful paddleing days around the Lago Maggiore.
All photos by Michael Sommerauer, River: Verzasca (SUI)
This winter was my third in a row I managed to travel with my kayak through one of the most beautiful countries in the world – Chile. I only had a window of four weeks this time but nevertheless I still got to see new rivers and got some of the best classics done.
Having little trouble getting our rental car our little group of four Germans with “Los tres hermanos” Motz and me made it out of Santiago late on the first evening and headed straight to the Teno valley. Coming from cold and nasty Europe we got Chile at its best with beautiful sunshine and a warm summer temperature. So we started our paddling trip with one of the brown coloured classics, the Teno, before we headed further south.
Skipping the well-known and beautiful but this season way to dry Rio Claro we continued to the Laja valley where we met with two other friends. Having up to then only four boats for six people we were laping the only two kilometre long run for a while before we continued our journey down south to the kayak El Dorado Pucon.
Due to the heavy and sustained rain in the week before our arrival we got very lucky with the water levels in the region. So after getting our missing boats we picked the classics in that area, like the Palguin, the Trancura, the Nevados and the Maichin before we left to continue our road trip further down south.
Next stop was the Rio Fuy. The river was way too high for the upper part, what we first realized when we already found ourselves running quite big water. So later on the lower part of the river was way more fun and it gave us a little foretaste of our next main destination – the Futaleufu. But first we had to spent New Years Eve somewhere. As this trip came out as a typical road trip we spent it somewhere on the road, camping at one of the beautiful lakesides at Lago Panguipulli.
Our next two days we took two ferries and drove all the way down to Chaiten and a little further to the Rio Michimahuida. In my opinion the Michimahuida is one of the most worthwhile rivers in Chile. It offers a full day on the river packed with big boulder garden style rapids in deep remote canyons and wilderness as well as an incredible view on the volcano Michimahuida right at the put in. There are hundreds of waterfalls coming in from the sides. After more than 30 kilometers of finest whitewater the river opens up for some open riverbed paddling before it meets the road again at the take out. After that great day on the river we finally made our way down to the Futaleufu.
Coming back to this beautiful river after one year felt like coming home. We stayed there for a couple days paddling alternating the Puente to El Macal section and the whole 44 kilometre long complete run. After three days, there was some rain coming, which didn’t seem to stop for a while. The river came up really high and its colour turned from blue to brown. As we wanted to go further south anyways we decided that it was time for us to leave.
One and a half days and 700 kilometres later we arrived at the Rio Baker. For me it was the third year down at the giant river. Teaming up with another group we spend three days paddling through the big volume canyons of the Baker. Good to see this powerful giant still flowing free through Chileans Patagonia. Little sad to leave that gorgeous place we started our trip back north. And yes – its possible to make it from the Baker to the Futa in one day…
We had a few days left to enjoy Futaleufus crystal blue first class whitewater and later on the Pucon kayaking lifestyle and holiday gift shopping before we finally made our way back to Santiago.
Photos by Stefan Motz, Thomas Motz, Nini Bondhus and Anne Huebner
by Anne Huebner
Why sea kayaking: This trip was my very first time in a sea kayak. So why? This spring my boyfriend came up with the idea of doing a sea kayaking trip to the Ionian Sea in Greece so I simply thought: Lets give it a try!
Logistics: We took the car to Venice. Due to the fact that taking the car to Greece would have been quite expensive we decided to leave the car in Venice and went on the ferry to Igoumenitsa as Pedestrians. We were allowed to take the kayaks as bikes for free. In Igoumenitsa we started paddling. Every three days we went shopping in one of those picturesque coastal hamlets to fill up our water and food reserves. We slept wherever we found a nice place along the coast. Thirteen days and 470 km later we reached the town Patras from where we took the ferry back to Venice.
Itinerary: We started paddling in Igoumenitsa were we went southwards along the west coast. Once we reached the island Lefkas we continued paddling southwards along the west coast and from the southern tip we jumped to the next island Kefalonia. Again we paddled down south along the west coast and again from the southern tip we jumped to the Ionian island Zakinthos. From the northern tip of Zakinthos we paddled almost all around the island starting down the west coast and from the southern tip northwards along the east cost almost back to the town Zakinthos. From there we jumped to Peloponnese and continued along the coast to Patras.
Conclusion: During the trip we have seen endless empty beaches, deserted bays and crystal clear water with all colours of blue, flying fishes, a giant turtle and few of the most beautiful sunsets. But we did not only get to know the beauty of sea kayaking. We also had a few days with strong wind. On that one day we paddled southwards the west coast of Zakinthos there were quite big waves – I think, the biggest waves I have ever paddled, which was very impressive. Luckily we had the waves coming from the back and so we got pushed forward about 50 km almost without any effort – except for my nerves.
Now, after the trip, I am very happy that I tried it and I am sure I will do it again – maybe once a year – ?
Thanks to Palm Equipment for getting us the Dagger Exodus boats and Kober Paddles for the touring blades!
All photos by Michael Sommerauer
2012 was supposed to be a high water year in Norway so after 2 weeks of hard trade show work I was really looking forward to start my trip to the land of Fjords and Trolls. This year I was guiding a trip for the kajakschool “Source to Sea”.
After an endless drive up north we finally arrived in Sjoa. We had an awesome start of our tour with a sweet run sliding down the Store Ula followed by a long day on the river paddeling Sjoa Ridderspranget to the confluence with the Lagen. Waterlevel was still a little high so we ended up portaging a lot in Ridderspranget but having great times down Asengjuvet, Playrun and Amot.
During the next two weeks Norway showed itself from its best side with a lot of sun and epic whitewater in Sjoa and Otta region. Unfortunately those two weeks of sweet paddeling and nice campfires in the midnight sunset went over way to fast. But even on our way back home passing Oslo the Waterfall Trolls seemed to be well-disposed towards us. Some rain brought up the rivers in the capitol region and made our last paddeling day phenomenal.
Having a very busy kayak school season this spring I finally made it back to some races in June. I left Innsbruck end of May heading to Munich Airport and taking off to Vail, Colorado for the Teva Mountain Games.
The first race was the Steep Creek Championship which took place on Homestake. I had an alright first run but got pretty nervous in my second one, flipped, had to roll and finally ended in third position behind Palms Martina Wegman (NED) and Louise Jull (NZL).
Due to the low water levels the Freestyle hole on the Gore Creek in downtown Vail was shallow and tricky. Interesting to watch how current world champion Claire O´Hara (UK) was dominating the womens class, scoring 660 points in here winning ride. Also owed to the low water level the Down River Sprint Section took with a winning time of 24 minutes about 6 minutes longer than last year. It was a hard and tiring race and Martina, Lou and I made the podium again as in Homestake.
The last competition day of the Teva Mountain Games was the one which definitely attracted most visitors to the kayak events – 8-Ball kayak cross and raft cross have been on the schedule. After making it through the prelims in the 8-Ball competition, Claire and me tried to score in the raft cross as well. Unfortunately we had to race against two male US rafting team members so we were knocked out in the first round. Anyways, fun to watch the other teams fighting through the next rounds. In the afternoon I managed to make it through the semi-finals for the 8-Ball and so finally the three Kiwi girls Louise Urwin, Louise Jull, Toni Goerge and me who went into the 8-Ball finals. More and more 8-ballers showed up and it was quite hard to make a way through to the finish line. In the end it was me who crossed it first followed by Toni George and Louise Urwin. After my second participation in Vail I can summarize that I liked the Teva Mountain Games a lot. There is so much going on in Vail village – so many interesting events to watch like the bouldering world cup, the Slopestyle and Slackline competitions as well as pretty good concerts every evening. Still being stoked I left Vail the next morning and flew back to Europe, ready for the next event – the Eporedia Active Days in Piedmont, Italy.
Jetlagged as hell I made it to Val Chiusella two days later. Unfortunately the river occurred as low and bony as Gore Creek the week before in Vail. As a result the organizers moved the race section a little upstream compared to the past years, so it was a new challenge in the 2012 edition of the race to get in all the new drops. Mariann Saether (NOR) took first place followed by me and then Jenny Crimes (UK) in third position.
For the sprint race and the boater cross all kayakers moved out of the scenic Val Chiusella to the demanding race course in the beautiful town Ivrea – finally some water under my boat and incredible Italian ice-cream 
The same night the men’s team sprint took place what was close contest and really worth seeing. I was able to take a first place in the individual sprint and a second in the boater x the next day what ensured the overall wining of the womens class followed by Jenny and Mariann. Congrats to Honza Lasko (CZE) who was victorious in the overall mens category followed by Sam Sutton (NZL) and Filippo Brunetti (ITA).
Having my frst freestyle session of the year two weeks ago I didn´t feel well prepared for this weekends team trials and German Championships in Plattling. I started quite nervous in Saturdays prelims but finally got some good rides and even managed to do my frist McNasty in a competition. In the end I was more than happy with my winning score of 490 points followed by Nina Csonkova (SVK) and Sandra Sebelin.
In the next days finals I was even more nervous. Luckily it was the same for all the other girls. So we all didn´t score as high as the day before and my 313 points were enough to take home the titel. Second was Sandra Sebelin and third Nina Csonkova. Andrea Kaspers made the German team for Lienz as well and Lisa Schimanski completes the team as reserve athlete.
Back from Corsica – next stop Plattling. Perfect water level made my last five days there incredible and made me realize how much fun playboating is!
photo by Gerhard Stoebich
