Soča is amazing in springtime!

 

 

A quick wrap up: I have been in the White Salmon, Washington State, for ten days now and I have yet to see a single cloud. I hit a big jackpot this time. Well, I have been on a roll for quite some time now I guess. I spent a winter in Slovenia, which had one of the longest coldest and snowiest winters in a long time. I spent a lot of the time skiing, but in the end I just couldn’t wait for the kayaking season to start. Prospects were just amazing and when that one rainy and warmer day came in March, the season started big straight away. My first run of the season was the elusive Učja creek, which felt like a gift from above. Ever since then Soča has been running on high flows and I presume it will continue to run high well into June. If you’re around the place, now it is time to go!

I have been so lucky to live in Bovec for the last two years, but it felt like a time for a change. To make it short, me and my girlfriend moved out and we are moving to Squamish for the summer. It has been amazingly hard to move in the middle of the great season, so I really wanted to do as much paddling in Slovenia as possible, before I left. Everyone who has ever done the Soča knows how magical that place can be.  Of course it is a lot more than just a place that I was leaving. All my kayaking buddies and other friends made it that much harder.

Slovenian Times from François Hemidy on Vimeo.

Except for an annual SRT course where I teach, I was lucky to be able to go kayak once or twice almost every day. I am posting some pictures from the last week I spent in that amazing valley. Thanks to Fabian A. Bonnano and Francois Hemidy for the photos. Thanks to Francois for a great video memoir of that week as well. He really caught the atmosphere of it and I’m so happy to have such a good reminder of how things were that perfect springtime. Thanks to all the friends for all great time we spent together. You know who you are.

Now… I guess I really am still on a roll. I’m doing laps on the Little White Salmon and White Salmon rivers and I met so many good people. Thanks especially to Max Blackburn for taking care of me. This place is amazing and really helps me do the transition with a smile on my face.

Photos by Fabian A. Bonanno and Andraž Krpič.

Video by Francois Hemidy.