‘… There are some waterfalls up there. I don’t paddle waterfalls, but I think they look good to go…”It’s about 7AM when these words drift into my dew sprinkled sleeping bag. They come from a passing kayaker, keen to pass on some river info. Gratitude will come later, but for now all I can manage is a vaguely interested mumble. It’s been light since 4AM, and before that it was only dim, which is one of the issues with sleeping in the open when you’re this far north. Nobody likes to be woken early, and it seems that even being a thousand miles from anything you’d call civilisation doesn’t guarantee you a lie in.
We’d been on the road for a week, on a hastily assembled trip north to enjoy the last of the snowmelt. Although technically in Nord Norge (North Norway), Hattfjelldall is a mere 6 hours north of Trondheim and therefore considered a southern outpost by true northerners. The rivers however, are as good as anywhere in the world, and as well as top class paddling, we had enjoyed fine weather, fishing, lakeside camping, and freshly picked blueberry pancakes. Now nearing the end of our trip, we were sleeping peacefully on the pristine shore of the Unkervatnet, when aforementioned kayaker Pål strolled into camp, to share some info on a nearby river; yet to be fully explored.
The river in question is the Eiteraaga, which translates as something in English, if you also speak Norwegian. Although its lower stretches have seen many descents, there is a steep canyon high up the valley which we’re told it involves a short, steep hike, and some waterfalls. It is with hope more than expectation that we head up the valley. Hucking tips from those who ‘don’t paddle waterfalls’ are unreliable at best, however the weather is good, the berries are ripe, and the snow has all but melted, leaving us with limited paddling options.
Upon arrival at the take out we are presented with the following view, as we hike up the valley, things only get better …
A huge thanks must go to Pål Kalleberg for telling us about the waterfalls, and big love to Nini Bondhus, Tom Budd, and Nick Pearce for top paddling adventures.
If you like you can see my Go Pro footage from the trip here:
If you haven’t already been, the North of Norway is a must for any whitewater paddler. The documented rivers are some of the best anywhere, and there are still countless rivers yet to be discovered by paddlers. Go there!
I’m now looking forward to some autumn paddling in South West England, bring on the rain.
Happy paddling,
Nick
Hello all!
A few Palm Team Paddlers visited Chile this Christmas, so I’ve tried to keep this concise and insightful.
Viewers of the classic video magazine series LVM will be familiar with the ‘Tommy’s top ten concept, in which Eponymous whitewater hero Tommy Hilleke would enlighten the viewer his top 10 ‘Tips for survival in Norway’, or ‘Rivers of western North Carolina’. Either way, I’ve decided to shamelessly steal this concept, now called Nick’s Nine Notes-to-self, kicking off with what I have learned from my recent trip to Chile.
1. Dogs have better manners than US customs.
In Chile, the dogs are your friends. There are many street dogs in Chile’s towns, who are, as far as I can tell employed by the government to escort you safely home from the pub. Wonderful.
2. The Rio Palguin – Worth the flight alone?
There are some rivers which for the whitewater paddler are simply exceptional, and can make a trip worthwhile all by themselves. For me, the defining river of Chile was the Palguin. Spectacular waterfalls and rapids located deep in a stunning Basalt canyon, with crystal clear turquoise water. From clean, low consequence class 4, to freeride moves galore, to class 5 moves, and BIG waterfalls. No matter how many times you have seen the pictures and videos, it is even better once you’re there.
3. Empanadas – find recipe…
Like a cornish pasty, but made from pizza dough instead of pastry (read 50% less grease), usually with an olive and half a boiled egg thrown in. perfect fuel for hungry paddlers, and an absolute winner on a rainy day. Available
4. River running – Giant wave trains are not to be sniffed at…
Although the majority of pictures/videos you’ll see from Chile are of big waterfalls and technical creeks, Chile also boasts some of the biggest, bounciest, and most fun class 3-5 river running anywhere. Due to slightly epic rain-fed water levels, some of the most fun days we had were spent paddling super high water class 3-4. From kickflips galore to waves to surf on the fly, don’t make the mistake of thinking bouncy class 2-3 is only for beginners!
5. Patagonia – ‘They do move in herds!’
Perhaps surprisingly, one of the absolute highlights of the trip for me was the epically drive south through Patagonia. Our route took in 3 ferries, and many hours of untouched rainforest with snow capped, mountains, ominously smouldering volcanoes overshadowing towns buried in ash, Jurassic Park-esque foliage, and cascading waterfalls. To cap it off, in the middle of it all is the incomparable Rio Futalefu, famed for huge volume, blue water, and a stunning line up of class 2-5 whitewater to leave you grinning for weeks. There are few places in the world I have felt so constantly in awe of everything.
6.Volcanoes – spectacular, if unnerving…
They’re brilliant, and spectacular, and there are loads of them. The Rio Turbio even flows down a (now cold thankfully) lava channel. Watch out – they are mostly a bit active, and it’s quite unsettling eating a steak whilst grey smoke belches ominously from the nearest hill…
7. Maverick Paddles – best value whitewater paddle ever?
A shameless plug here, but I’ve used my Maverick G5s throughout the autumn, and in Chile, and they’re still going strong. Powerful blades, solid shaft, and a good weight, what more could you want from a paddle for £130?
8. 23 metres, it turns out, is really big.
Since the dawn of Bomb Flow TV, and the ever impressive work of a new generation of waterfall experts, 20+ metre waterfalls might not seem that much of a big deal anymore. One particular waterfall, the middle Palguin has seen a huge number of descents in recent years, but standing at 23m, of uninterrupted freefall, no number of videos or photos can prepare you for how big this looks from standing on the lip. 23m is really, really big. Arguably more terrifying than the waterfall itself however are the Indiana Jones style bridge with most of its planks missing, and the choice of ‘burly as hell’ entrance drop or ‘sketchy as you like’ seal launch just above the lip. Despite what videos suggest, well over 50% of paddlers swim at the base of this fall. The day we went it was high water, and I wanted to keep my bow up to avoid the standard deck implosion + beating in the base. Coming off a little too flat, I threw my paddle, and managed to get my bow down to 45 degrees, making for a super soft almost head dry landing right next to my paddles. Lovely job.
9. 3 weeks is probably not enough…
What with other commitments, my Chilean adventure had to be crammed into a non stop 3 week mission. I managed to get some true classics in, but the to-do list remains significant, and I’ll definately be heading back at some point. No matter what your preferred paddling style, Chile has more than you could wish for. As vagabond poet F.Burrows so eloquently put it: Go there, do the things, have the times.
Here’s a short video diary of my trip, enjoy!
See you on the water!
Nick
Indeed they may be a notorious as soap dodging, daytime television watching scroungers, but student canoe clubs make up perhaps the most active and adventurous paddling community in the UK. The annual Student Safety Symposium took place last weekend at the beautiful Plas Y Brenin National Mountain Centre in Snowdonia, and as an ex student paddler myself, I was keen to join in the fun and get involved with the new batch…
The SSS has been running every autumn for many years now, and offers any student canoe clubs the opportunity to come along and receive heavily discounted training on how to go paddling safely, have lots of fun, and generally get a new generation involved in our excellent sport.
Saturday morning kicks off with some truly exciting lectures on the legal aspects of running a club, but once the nitty gritty of keeping people safe, not crashing minibuses, and not getting sued has been covered, it’s straight on to the water for practical advice on running trips, coaching beginners, and a bit of personal development too…
Saturday evening saw some rope based action in the form of the Palm Olympic Throwbag University Challenge. The event is designed to test speed and accuracy of deployment in arange of situations, and was hard fought, with only one student allowed to enter per university. Crowds of spectators cheered on their brave throwbag heroes, with Aberystwyth eventually coming out on top.
Sunday morning saw more glorious sunshine, and with the Tryweryn river releasing, it was an opportunity to work on whitewater skills and coaching. An excellent day was had by all, mastering eddying techniques, and thinking about tactics for coaching and guiding in a river environment.
All in all the BCU SSS is a great event, and it’s really exciting to see a new generation of student paddlers taking over their clubs and sharing the love of all things paddling.
I’ll leave you with one final thought, courtesy of Plas Y Brenin’s Pete Catterall (paraphrased):
‘Nobody’s good at safety and rescue, if you’re doing enough of one, then the other probably isn’t happening.’
An interesting thought, and perhaps one we all need to consider from time to time…
That’s all for now.
See you on the river,
Nick
Hello all,
I’ve just returned from a beautiful week in Valsesia, filled with smooth bedrock paddling, wine, pizza & pasta. My top 7 highlights were (in no particular order):
1. HRH the Queen’s epic boof on the the Sorba Slides. – See picture below!
2. The take out of the lower Cervo - We accidentally put on at the take out, and with dogged determination paddled about 10km of shallow, scrapey, sieved out choss and nasty weirs – The take out was a blessed relief.
3. Luke’s shoulder being put back into its socket. Luke ‘Background’ Farrington was unlucky enough to pop out his shoulder whilst paddling on the Egua, however his future paddling recovery prospects have been hugely improved thanks to the quick, expect actions of Mr Tom Parker who managed to reassemble Luke within minutes of the dislocation.
4. Il Gatto e la Volpe – Although the paddling is world class, it is Alberto’s sublime restaurant/pizzeria which makes Valsesia my favourite paddling destination in the world. Enjoy fresh game papardelle, pizza, olive oil, grappa, espresso, and if you’re really lucky, some local donkey sausage.
5. The Egua – Whether throwing outrageous freewheels on the waterfalls, swimming down the cylinder, or doing laps of your favourite drop, this remains one of the best rivers in the world for steep, technical paddling and general fun.
6. The Valsesia River Festival Party – Amazing Dj sets from Wokka Wokkie and Cheese, and massive fun had by all. Good work by Gene17 on organising this excellent event once again.
7. My car not exploding – Somewhat optimistically, we made the trip this year with 5 people & boats. Despite some minor overheating issues, severely cramped conditions, and very little ground clearance, my trusty 306 Harriet did sterling work getting us all there and back. Long may she continue!
Check out the images below!
After one week back in the UK we’ve been lucky enough to have a pile of rain, and had the chance yesterday to paddle the Mawddach in west Wales. A classic rain fed run, it features some excellent (& some filthy) class 4 & 5 rapids, and halfway down, the infamous Rhaeadr Mawddach waterfall. I’d seen pictures and a couple of videos of the falls being run in relatively low flows, and it’s pretty full on. A river wide ledge hole at the top, immediately followed by an awkward 5m drop into a narrow cauldron, which then spits directly out into a 7-8m steep slide with a ramp and a kicker to send you flying the remaining 6 or so metres into the pool. Oh, and the optimum line has you coming within a couple of feet of an abandoned mineshaft…
Despite being pretty high (90 on the gauge downstream), I was feeling confident to paddle the drop, with a new line, starting from river left. Although The entrance did not go exactly according to plan, with some downtime in the cauldron requiring a speedy recovery, the second two drops went perfectly, finishing on an enormous boof into the landing pool.
With plans for a quick, efficient, faff free trip I’d left all of my cameras in the car, and therefore have absoulutely no footage or evidence of my descent, however I plan to go back before too long, so watch this space…
For now though here’s a stitched together screen grab from the video of Jo Rea Dickins’ descent earlier this winter. this gives a good idea of the scale and complexity of the waterfall!
Huge thanks to Matt Tidy, Sara James, Dan, and Tom for sorting safety on this one!
More soon, see you on the river!
Nick
A few shots from a lovely evening session at Hurley weir, featuring Finn Burrows, Cheese, Seppi, Adam D, and Me.
Having hardly run this winter, it was pretty special to get a warm spring Hurley session in. Check out the Superego – still going huge, Cheese and Seppi’s Harlequin crossovers, and of course my hilarious mid-helix face. Nice. Thanks to Finn for the photos I’m in.
Off to Italy soon, so stay tuned for some freeride action from the Gene17 Valsesia River Festival.
See you in the pizzeria
Nick
With the first real rain we’ve had since January, Easter Monday proved to be an epic day out in South Wales. I Joined Hugh Graham, as well as Paula and Sam for their first trip down the classic Mellte, and Hugh and I went for a cheeky mission of our own. Here are a few video stills Hugh sent over from the day’s fun…
The Mellte put on; three paddle strokes, and a glorious boof!
BE WARNED: This centre line (above) seems to have something solid in its landing. I landed at approx 45 degrees, and glanced off something hard.
Sgwyd Gwladys (Lady Falls) on the Pryddin. Only a short hike up from the Nedd Fechan Confluence – be careful with this one, it’s not amazingly deep (you might notice a pattern emerging here…).
Sgwyd Gwladys from below – Hugh Graham making it look easy.
Spring is here now, and with the light evenings I’m hoping for some more rain, at least until the snow starts to melt elsewhere…
See you on the river!
Nick.
It’s here at last!
Vaniljesaus – A Norwegian Odyssey, taking you from the rivers of Valdal, North to Hattfjelldal, and even inside the Arctic Circle in search of adventures by kayak.
Enjoy!
Vaniljesaus – The Movie!
Nick & Finn.
As the good(ish) weather officially comes to an end here in Europe, I thought i’d put up a post with some of my favourite pictures of the spring/summer season. I managed to squeeze in two trips to the Piemonte/Ticino regions, before heading north, as ever, to Norway. This season we did some more exploration, both in central Norway, and further north, as well as paddling a number of rivers which have been secretly documented in some detail over the past few years, and since the publication of this online guidebook are set to become classics.
These are some of my favourite shots, huge thanks go to the photographers, as well as the people in them!
First up – I finally caught the Devil’s slide at the perfect level, in the right mood. Huge thanks to Adam Dumolo for taking this photo whilst simultaneously doing safety for this one.
Next, an excellent shot from Tom Parker of a sweet boof in the Lower Sermenza Gorge. I’ve been absoulutely loving my Harlequin Fuse Jacket, definately the comfiest shell garment ever, and coloured to match everything!
Lakeside camping in Hattfjelldal, Norway. Is this the best paddling destination in Europe?
Next up a shot by Hugh Graham, of Finn Burrows lining up for a rinsing. Dusj-boof (Shower-boof in Norsk)on the Susna. One of the most fun rapids anywhere, especially in high water, when it becomes Wipeout-boof.
This shot was taken by a friendly local, who regularly fishes the pool below this fall. Yours truly, on the first descent of Storfossen, on the Herdalselva, near Valdal.
Due to the trees being harvested on the right hand bank of the Mikkemus-elva, there was excellent light for photos for the first time tis year. Here Hugh Graham hits the perfect line. Watch out for Hugh, he’s one of those people who makes everything look a bit too easy.
Finally, a shot of Finn I took on the incredible Tverraga, another first descent and a true gem of a river way up inside the Arctic Circle.
I’m now back in the UK for a while, waiting for storm fronts to roll in and dump their goods in the hills. The new Mambas will be arriving soon and I can’t wait to get mine out and flying.
See you on the river!
Nick
Hi all. We’re back in the UK and work has begun on the film we’re making of this summer’s Norwegian Odyssey.
It’s called Vaniljesaus (Pronounced Vanilla Jesus), and will be released online here on the Palm Blog within the next few weeks. For now here’s a sneak peek….
Vaniljesaus – Trailer from Nick Horwood on Vimeo.
Vaniljesaus – Trailer
More coming soon…
Finn & Nick
Hello all!
I’ve been on a mission to the north of Norway!
We’ve had an epic trip involving Lemmings, stitches, hiking, driving, and of course, lots of paddling!
We’ve enjoyed first descents in the Baieraaga, Tverraaga, and Graataaga (the rivers up north are called aaga, not elva), and lots more!
The above photo is of Jasper Polak on the first descent of a big slide on the Tverraaga.
We camped for several nights on the shores of lake Krutvatn:
This year was a lemming year; every 3-4 years the population explodes leading to mass panic and bizarre confrontational behaviour from the lemming population. This means regular hilarious standoffs with a brown furry ball the size of a hamster.
One of the highlights of the Hattfjelldal (Hat-mountain-valley) area of Norway was the Upper Susna, with its classic pool drop fun.
It features one of the most fun drops in the world, the Dusj boof (shower boof) which involves boofing and disappearing completely into a white curtain. here Hugh Graham prepares to take a rinsing…
After a few days in Hattfjelldal we headed further north to Beiardalen in search of new adventures and first descents…
First up was a river called the Graataaga, which involved a beautiful clean, bouldery class 3 – 4 gorge, a perfect warm up.
After some further scouting, and a couple of projects to save for higher/lower water, Hugh and Jasper stumbled across an absolute gem, in the form of the Tverraaga. This involved a steep hike in the baking sunshine, but we were rewarded with a steep continuous selection of amazingly fun slides, boofs, and a picturesque swimming pool at the takeout!
A super clean, fast slide – I claimed 1st run on this baby.
A bouncy number – some carnage on this one, but nothing major!
My run of the big slide!
Catching some air off a kicker half way down. This one is pretty fast!
Finn Burrows at the exit of a tight gorge:
Stay posted for more pictures to come soon! There will also be a mini movie with footage of all of our adventures!
Big thanks to the team, which was Finn Burrows, Hugh Graham, Jasper Polak, Tom Parker, Sarah Nash, Yours Truly (and shuttle bunies/chefs Em and Tebb).
Big love, see you on the water!
Nick
