A dry spell over the last few days left me with no excuse but to get on with some work, fortunately I was reminded about the Moriston, which is releasing every tuesday afternoon throughout the summer. Bumping into a group from Sheffield Uni at the put in, it’s quite apparent that this reliable run is a pot of gold between downfalls in the west.
The fun rapids are split between two sections, the upper and the lower, doing laps of both is the best way to go about the afternoon as it only takes ten minutes to walk back to the top… please don’t paddle between the sections as it’s longer than you think! Here’s a quick look at the rapids…
Trying hard not to get slotted on the first drop of the upper, river left of the island. The middle of the V shaped drop is quite shallow so best to avoid it by pushing left or boofing off the right.
River right of the island at the top of the upper is much cleaner with a short but sweet lead-in to a ledge, it has given out a few kickings over the years but offers a great boof and anyone who’s a bit nervous can have plenty of saftey cover right next to them.
Half way down the upper this ledge creates a sticky hole against an undercut on the right. Without a half decent boof you take a chance on this one, I’ve seen it just spit people out after a quick backloop and I’ve also seen it recirculate swimmers.
After the ledge a short continuous section leads to a shallow playhole right next to the take out. Load up the boats and head down to the lower!
Again you have two options at the start of this section. Put in river left for the trickier drop (above) which has a slow lead in, making a clean line a little bit harder than you first think… I’ve done my best rock splat ever, totally accidental, against the undercut wall at the bottom of the drop in a Nomad! Also since it’s summer and there’s a bridge right below the drop, count on a coach full of carnage hungry tourists having cameras at the ready, (Below), to escape potential embarrassment go for the cleaner river right put in.
The main event of the lower section is the slide, just around the corner from the bridge. Keep left and hold on, it’ll put a huge smile on your face.
Don’t forget your playboat! At the bottom of the lower a little hole which is awesome for working on your ends, loops and blunts.
All in all, not a bad guarantee when everything else is dried up! Looks wet this weekend though, speaking with Dave and Rich it’s going to be an exciting one!
See you on the water
Ed
At 6pm the other night when I answered the phone to Dave Martin, a fellow weegee boater, the best we were hoping for the following day was a nice mid level blast down the Etive and tribs. However, driving up the A82 we were delighted with the monsoon conditions which hit us as we rounded the point of Loch Lomond. Our aspirations for the day were instantly upgraded to a nice mid level blast down down the Falloch… until we pulled over to look at the gorge which had gone beyond unrunable and seemed to be entering apocolyptic levels. And so I felt the need to keep positive as Dave’s concerns of a day chasing unpredictable levels grew.
To kick off we opted for a high level Connonish, and as we started the walk in, rain stopped causing us to pick up pace and arrive at the put in to a slightly calmed, but never the less awesome level.
The first drop, always a menace due to the stream which enters from river right just above the drop and tries to push seemingly good lines astray although the considerable undercut and tow back below the drop on river right were enough to keep me online.
Some nice continuous read and run class three leads to a more ominous view above this drop, where first timers down the run should certainly have a look. The drop above, a fun little boof on river left, has a nasty sump two feet to the left of where you run it so keep an eye out.
Some great read and run makes it an amazing wee run. Don’t be put off by very high levels as when rain stops it’s as if someone has pulled the plug and the river looses volume very very quickly.
To keep our day on a roll we decided to take a gander at the Etive, which despite blue sky and fluffy clouds was very high indeed with very little room for error, although the lip of most drops cleaned up with no rock showing to catch you out.
The nicest surprise was the turbo boof which letter box seemed to give you, great fun!
Right angle had a more intimidating look than usual but some power and a late stroke gave a nice angle and satisfying kick through the towback.
Dave on a solid heading, but in for a fairly hefty beat down due to the kick at the bottom. Fair play he held on and made it out of the river left hand side and rolled up against the wall which is pretty much unheard of at good levels.
From the Etive we had hoped to fire up the Nevis but brilliant sunshine and a text from Dave Biggin informed us the extra drive wasn’t worth it, and so we hit the road home… with one quick stop for a run down the Falloch which had calmed to nice medium levels.
One of my favourite rapids due to the short but nippy lead in. I think the Falloch has also become one of my favourite rivers due to it having numerous sections, all of which hold some great rapids, and in all the times I’ve run it, the sun has been out for all but one!
The run in to ‘Twist and shout’.
All in all, an awesome day, I hope a lot of people are getting so jammy with the levels!
Ed
It’s that time of year where the Etive levels are a wee bit low, for more experienced boaters there is however a more challenging alternative. Pushy enough for a bit of excitement and short enough to do some ‘laps’ the Dallness Section is a saviour in drier times.
Starting off, the first drop has two obvious options, both are nice but watch out for the undercut on river left in slightly higher levels.
Just down from the here, a drop with both a tight intro and exit keep you on your toes, watch out for the holes tow back and have a live bait ready!
A nice section of rapid follows and although it looks quite rocky, you cruise around smoothly.
The next drop which looks slightly precarious with a hole pilling up against the bank directly in front of it, is actually a beautiful move.
And then to finish off the section, Dallness falls itself provides quite a horizon line and at slightly higher levels the little hole just above the lip is not to be underestimated (as I did on this occasion). Either way be sure you have plenty of safety cover for the undercut at the base of the drop on river right.
Take care and enjoy it!
Ed
Photographs courtesy of Graeme Cowan
I’ve been very excited since hearing we were re-launching the Kingpin fresh out of molds in the UK, on my way to Nottingham for the NSR and Paddle Fest I dropped into the factory to see the first two set for the oven. Unloading the van to set up shop in the HPP car park I quickly grabbed and outfitted a 6.2 for the weekend and wasn’t to be seen again!
They were certainly the hype of the event with peoples reactions on a similar scale to if they’d just seen a long lost relative or friend… ‘Ohhhhhh, I loved my Kingpin’… well now you can have another one!
Check out the photo sequence below which pretty much sums up how fun and easy the Kingpin is to paddle! Images courtesy of Ian Davidson.
Catch you on the water!
Ed
p.s. Not an April fool! They’ll be in the shops soon!
I just managed to head up home for a few days to get some of Mum’s cooking, steal Dad’s car and most of his gear as rain flooded up the western gems, leaving Dad on a solo mission with the decorating, ah well… at least I got some pics!
I’ve not had the best of luck with water levels lately as Scotland was iced over for most of my Christmas holidays and an odd mixture of warm weather and snow down in south west England (my new home) has kept the Dart low. Four rivers in two days between Glasgow and Glencoe was enough to make up some of a lost winter.
It kicked off on a high level Etive (higher than the pic above) with Dave Biggin. Unfortunately we didn’t get the stills camera out although Dave had a new little HD video cam he was playing with, maybe some of the footage will appear up here soon although obviously both a bit rusty it was more of a survival fest but I’m sure will be never the less entertaining.
Some Etive trib action is always fun for extra banter when levels are high around the area. Although slightly on the low side – meaning the second slab had two undercuts at the bottom – it was nice to have a blast down the Allt Ceitlein which for some reason I’d never paddled before!
The second day on the water put me in heaven on one of my favorite rivers in the world… The Falloch. It’s not the longest of runs but it certainly gets you fired up on a morning, providing you get the lines right! The 35 footer at the start is nice and for some reason is the main focus of peoples fears when they should just enjoy it and worry more about the holes lurking at the bottom of the rapids and drops which follow. It keeps the adrenaline going right to the take out as a classic should… you haven’t done Scotland without it.
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Just over a week since we arrived back from Norway, I’m still in awe of the place and if it wasn’t for the fact that airlines don’t take bookings a year in advance I’d have my next ticket to Voss in the bag.
I love the Scottish highlands and having similar geographical characteristics (except on a generally larger scale) Voss and Sjoa felt very much like home turf… just with out the unpredictable river levels. The fjords, valleys, mountains and rivers give an amazing sense of freedom as you wild camp on your tour of the abundant white water. It was two weeks in heaven!
Our crew of 6 consisting of Bled Lloyd, Lyndsey Evans, Ant Ing, Pete Wood, Dave Martin and Myself hit a different river everyday bar one. We were lucky enough to have local knowledge from friend Sam Hughes on the incredible Finna Gorge which goes into my top 10 list of great places to be. Without someone who knows the way for the first run down we’d have spent hours scouting so thank you Sam!
On other rivers some knowledge from Bled, Lyndsey and Pete’s previous trips was useful, but with a good crew we managed to keep the faf factor under control… apart from the necessary Statoil coffee stops!
In the middle of the trip we found ourselves at the legendary Sjoa Fest and Sweet Rumble event on the Amot Gorge. It was a great opportunity to catch up with good friends from previous travels and also a great opportunity to go head to head with some of the local boys on proper boaterX turf. Time trials laid out the top 16 boaters and heats they would compete in the next day. A roll or even a moment of hesitation at this point meant an early departure, as was the case for a couple of previous winners. Despite a couple of unlucky waves breaking over me I made it through in 9th which put me straight into a challenging heat the next afternoon. Being fast off the mark I busted myself through to the finals where some paddle scrapping off the start line meant the four of us were on top of one another into the first rapid which didn’t seem to have much effect on opening up the pack. The short stretch of calm between rapids saw us all aiming for our race lines and it was only at the last rapid where the race was won or lost. For me a tired boof punished me with a back loop and beat down on the eddy line meaning a respectable 4th place. A great event finished as always with a great party.
For our crew it was back on the road, now heading south back towards the Bergen ferry but not before completing the upper section of the Sogndal where we had retreated the previous week due to quickly rising levels. 
The ferry home gave chance to shower and recuperate in time for bingo and disco fever where Max and Luke from Leeds uni taught everyone a move or two. Unfortunately DFDS ferries are stopping their service from Newcastle to Bergen on the 1st of September this year so we’ll have to find another way to migrate!
See you on the water
Ed
Thanks to Dave and Tao for the pics!
