An Indian Summer
Our final trip of 2017 was with Tom on the Alaknanda and Ganges River. It was mid-November and the mornings and evenings were getting chilly up in Shivanandi on the banks of the Alaknanda River. However, the days were sunny and the whitewater was still good!
We spent the majority of the time up at the Shivanandi Lodge, kayaking different sections of the Alaknanda, eating and chilling out. We have known Tom for a few years now, he first came to us for an intensive Beginners course in Austria and after just 6 days he kayaked the Imst Gorge section of the River Inn with Steve.
Since then he has paddled some great whitewater in Austria specialising in the big water of the River Inn and this was now proving to be a fantastic training ground for his adventures on the Alaknanda River and the Ganges.
India was quite a culture shock for Tom, not just everyday life but as he works at the front end of car design and reliability for Toyota Europe the Indian vehicles certainly left an impression on him. Be it the ride quality, the fuel efficiency and the fact that apart from Puran, our drivers jeep, absolutely every vehicle was overloaded!
A final paddle for us all in 2017 down the Ganges to the town of Rishikesh was a great way to finish an amazing trip and a fantastic year for us here in the Kayak School. The mountains of the Arlberg in Austria were calling and with a good amount of snow already fallen it was time to head home to ski.