Last time talk of 3 sections of river in one day was mentioned… Well. After driving up the Fora valley towards the Ena and Bua we found the rivers were very low and not worth getting on for. Setting up a gypsy camp in a layby was good for a laugh and the following day we headed to the Rauma. Upon arrival everyone bar the ‘one armed bandit’ jumped on the upper section for some good pool drop fun. The first twisting slide with a couple of small drops had Adam fighting to get out of a recirculating eddy. Rich then proceeded to do the same thing but fortunately for him only took one attempt to exit. The fun continued up until Mini Huka Falls and the slide above that. Eddie came down the slide and was promptly munched by the hole halfway down! Battling away he eventually succumbed to the waters power, capsizing and flushing out the hole and under an undercut rock. Down the next slide he went, rolling up just in time to have a party in the next hole. Able to work his way out of that one all was safe and our hearts returned to their normal pace! Mini Huka Falls themselves were entertaining with no problems to report.
Adam watches on whilst young Adie prepares for his burning man impression!
Matt was the next one to have some fun in a nasty eddy. Once the rest of the group realised no signal was forthcoming they promptly assisted in pulling him out of said eddy and away from the hole at the bottom of the drop. The next drop was a little sketchy perhaps. The line was left to right down a small shoot avoiding the rocky ledge at the bottom on the left. Matt ran it, messed his line up and went straight down the the shoot into the rocky ledge. Taking a roll he came out with only a bashed shoulder and a bruised ego (‘It wasn’t a roll!‘).
Matt pre high brace.
The next day saw the entrepid and dedicated team of Adam, Eddie and the Baron run the Ulvaa, a tributary of the Rauma. Within seconds of putting on Adam was battling the water to retain his pride as he was promptly invited to a couple of parties in the first rapid.
Adam enjoying a party on the Ulvaa. Caption?!
Adam then ran the rest of the rapid with some style (the right way up). After this the run was uneventful until reaching ‘the main attraction’, the Kabbebrua slide. This went without mishap although Eddie’s face told a different story.
Its O.K., honest…
The next part of the river was reletively easy until the last drop. This formidable rapid was run in heroic style by all three kayakers, much to their suprise.
The Baron running the last of the slide into a nice big blue pool.
The next task was to drive over the ridiculously steep Trollstigen pass, which was made by true Norwegian men of old (and probably their troll wives to). We pitched camp at the top of the pass in a beautiful setting. M.C. and the one armed bandit set off up a mountain for some reason, and this gave Adam ample time to himself in Matt’s tent. Eddie, Matt, Adam and the Baron eagerly awaited the next morning when Mr Buckley and Mr Williams would depart.
Waking up once again to drizzle the camp was slowly packed up and Adam and his copius amount of shit (a.k.a. luggage) were somehow fitted in to the amazing Skoda Felicia 1.6 GLX Estate.
The Skoda.
After some heartfelt goodbyes Bucko and Rich left the truly dedicated members of Team Durham to face the dangerous whitewater highways of Norway alone. The first river to be tackled by these intrepid whitewater warriors was the middle section of the Valldola. All went well on this pleasent river until Mr A. Lambert fell into a pourover (the triple Offerman) and decided to go for a wee swim, following in the illustrious footsteps of Volker Offerman. The Baron and M.C. Hammer laughed heartily at this. Adam ‘At one point it popped into my head that I might die here‘ Lambet did not.
The next day saw us tackle the Langedalselva. A steep grade IV to V river with plenty of slides, some good clean drops and a portage. The highlight of the run came near the end with a 3 meter boof and a twisting slide ending with a fruity towback. Matt went first, but within 3 seconds required rescuing by Eddie, right at the beginning of the rapid. In a foul mood he reattempted his line undetered by the complete failure of his first effort (please note this was a not a swim or roll, or even a high brace – edit by Matt). He boofed for England, but then had to be rescued again at the end of the rapid from a recirculating eddy by Adam and the Baron.
Corke enters Boof mode.
Eddie then ran this rapid with no problems (‘Hero‘, A. Lambert 2007).
Team Gypsy then set up camp on the banks of the Storeelva, with Matt and Adam pitching their tent on top of a pile of wood chips. The next day the river was tackled, with only the Baron and Lambert daring to attempt the chicken line on the first of the Grade V rapids, Adie claiming he was too tired after running the five mile shuttle (weak…). The Baron was less sucessful on the next rapid, with the rest of the team hitting their lines sweetly as he proceded to head into the biggest hole in the rapid for a party!! Flushing out, the rest of the run was uneventful, with a stunning finish in Breimsvatnet lake.
The team then made camp in an electricity substation, with the aim of running the triple waterfall combo of the Sogndalselva. However twelve hours of continous rain saw the river rise too high even for our heros, who instead headed back to Lom. Upon reaching the Statoil in Lom, the team were dismayed to see a familiar lankey figure striding across the car park. Genge had returned!!
Delayed by the painfully long faffing of the Genge, the paddling options were becoming limited. So back to the Ostri, a river previously dominated twice in a row by the team. This however, was Genge and The Gun Lambert’s first descent. A rollercoaster of a ride followed, during which The Gun Lambert only thought he was going to die once.
After saying goodbye to the Genge who still had important discoveries to make in the world of Physical Geography (rock measuring), the team made the journey of 50m across the bridge at the get out to pitch up camp.
Another master of tarpery (putting the tarp up) was made and we settled down for another installment of pasta, mmmm. Probably the highlight of the entire trip for Eddie was the wake up he received the next morning. As he sleepily opened his beautiful green eyes he found within reaching distance the most beautiful piece of ass he’d ever seen in the form of Daisy the cow.
Young Daisy spies her prey.
The campsite had been over run by 10 massive pieces of walking T-bone steak. The Gun Lambert appreciated the increased level of female attention received – “Do you do semi skimmed baby.”
A quick pack up, as usual, and the team set off 2 hours later (the Baron being ready to leave at exactly six hundred hours). The river Skojli was next in line for the team to throw their finely toned bodies down. This proved to be a more strenuous experience than first anticipated. With the gauge reading just below 1.5 the water level was on the sportingly high side of a good level. As we set off from the river gauge to the get on we noticed that the road was very steep. The mighty Skoda, which had previously laughed at Norwegian inclines, was struggling in second gear. We ‘promptly’ put on to the river and were thrown in to a steep, exciting and chaotic world of whitewater. Eddies were few and far between, holes numerous and large and pinning potentials frequent. It was inevitable that sooner or later somebody was going to come off the rails. This was unfortunately Mr E. G. Adie BSc (hons, Dunelm.) P.G.C.E. In his own words;
‘Whilst firing down the river I suddenly found myself pinned against a small rock invisible to the eye’s of mere mortals. No problem I thought, a shuffle forwards and I will be off down in to the meat of the next rapid. Unfortunately this shove forward was infact a shove backwards. This left me travelling in reverse towards a large boulder; again no problem, I will simply bounce off of the cushion wave and continue down the rapid. The next thing I know I am pinned against the aforementioned boulder underwater. This I realise is not good. After a couple of attempts to move and get my head above water (that were not sucsessful) the mightly and loyal Kober paddles are snatched from my grasp. I then manage to shift the boat somehow and end up in a worse position. I am not entirely sure of what happened but a piece of rock ended up being thrust between my legs popping my deck. The swim was not pleasant. All I could think about was the quote from the guidebook – “Swimming here can have grave consequences (in every sense of the word)” – but I managed to self rescue and the Baron rescued the Habitat (which had been given a nose job by the river).’
After this incident we carried on down the river with a little more caution. The river remained fast and furious digging itself deep into a gorge which made scouting difficult, with only the Baron keeping a dry head throughout. Four hours after putting on we finally reached the get out, all with big smiles on our faces. Eddie’s faded when he took a closer look at his boat and then remembered that he still had to run the shuttle.
The Habitat after attempt number 1 of fixing it!
The next day, our heros went to inspect the Tora Bora, a section of river 800m in length, with a height drop of, er, a lot. Unfortunately, the Norwegian weather was to play its part again, as the high water levels rendered any attempted decent suicidal. Determimed to make the most of his last day boating, Adam put on to the Skjak play wave, accompanied by Rich. Sadly the playing abilties of the Burn and H3 255 did not match the quality of the wave, although a few cheeky blunts and flat spins were thrown down.
The Baron carving it up.
Tomorrow sees the departure of The Scot and the final day of paddling for Eddie and Rich. What trials await the remaining paddlers? Will Guy ever finish his field work? Stay tuned, avid reader, for the latest developments…
all good fun!
