Learn to Kayak | Kayaking in the Autumn 2022

Autumn Kayaking around Base Arlberg, Austria

Happy Faces at the take-out of the River Lech.

As we started to move from Summer to Autumn, we were making the most of the River Inn and Sanna.  With guests coming from across the pond in the United States and also from all over Europe we were still full on coaching and leading the rivers around Base Arlberg.  The Engadine Region of Switzerland is just over an hours drive to get to, which opens up 4 sections on the River Inn, including one of our favourite sections of river in the world - the Giarsun Gorge of the River Inn.

Though the levels were low, we still had water in the rivers here in this part of Austria.  In the rest of the Alps they had been struggling all season for water!  This is what makes this part of Austria so special, as we not only have guaranteed water, we also have the longest kayaking season in the Alps!

While we were busy coaching and guiding around Base Arlberg in Austria, we also had a kayaking expedition on the Tsarap Chu and Zanskar Gorge in Ladakh, northern India.  This is one of the best self-supported multi-day kayaking expeditions in the Himalayas and even the world!

It is situated up in Ladakh on the Tibetan Plateau in northern India.  Ladakh is known as little Tibet as the Ladakhi people are predominantly Tibetan Buddhists and though the language is slightly different to Tibet, the culture, monastery’s, gompas and food is very similar to Tibet. But here, the people are free to travel, talk and speak their minds - unlike in Tibet!

Stanzin is now based in Ladakh for the Summer and so we had THE perfect river guide to lead our guests not just down the 2 rivers but to show them some special places in and around the capitol of Leh.  On the expedition they even stayed in Stanzin’s home village of Lingshed some 4300m up in the Zanskar mountains!

We will be writing a separate blog about this adventure trip later this year and we will be posting a sweet little video that Kullu (the second guide) made of the trip.

Back at Base Arlberg, Austria it was moving into Autumn which means it is creeking time.  The steeper rivers such as the Oetz, Venterache and Rosanna provide plenty of action and are a great place to train and put into practice those creeking techniques such as boofing, boof strokes and catching air off the rocks and drops that are so prevalent at this time of year.

Of course the River Oetz sees a lot of kayakers at this time of year, not just because the river levels are more manageable but also the Oetz Trophy takes place on the Wellerbruecke section.  It is great to see so many kayakers there and we enjoying catching up with some of the competitors from all over the world that we have met and kayaked with!

We also spent a days river guiding and leading on an Arcteryx St.Anton outdoor session.

With a fair amount of rain over the Autumn the Rosanna came up and we were able to coach, lead and train on our home river.  It is a very quiet time of the year in St.Anton am Arlberg and so not only we did we have the river to ourselves but there was no need to book a table for dinner!

It was unbelievable that with such a poor snowpack from the previous Winter the Sanna had been at a low to medium level for the whole season and was still going even into November!

However, do not think it is all full on kayaking at this time of the year.  The Lech was back running providing the perfect training ground for Class 2 kayakers to improve their technique and understanding of whitewater plus enjoying some nice waves and fun rapids all set in some of the most beautiful scenery not in Tirol but in Austria.  The mellow sections of the Inn still provided us with plenty of places to work on our fundamental skills of white water kayaking such as: dynamic forward paddling, edging, carving and of course breaking in and out of eddys.

With the season coming to an end, we packed away all the kayaks and prepared all of our Peak PS kayaking equipment for the coming Spring in 2023.  What a season! We were now getting ready for the Winter season before we head out to Chile at the end of January for some Summer kayaking Latino style and to run a Pucon Kayak Mecca Trip in March.

Follow the link to find out more about our: Tsarap Chu and Zanskar Gorge Expeditions