Summer 2018 at our home base in the Arlberg
And what a Summer it was! The weather was unbelievable, long hot sunny days with very little rain! While the higher tributaries were drying up, the Sanna was at a fantastic level giving us plenty of places to teach on, making some sweet moves and working on creeking techniques. The River Inn was just a dream to kayak with BIG waves, bouncy rapids and pretty much the river to ourselves made for some memorable days kayaking around our Home Base in the Arlberg Region.
The Arlberg is world renowned for its snow and skiing, with steep slopes and deep powder. Whereas in the Winter it can be pretty crowded, throughout the Summer it has a far more relaxed feel. The warm evenings were just perfect to sit outside, enjoy a traditional plate of Tiroler Gröstl and wash it down with a refreshing beer or glass of red while watching the sun dipping behind the mountains!
The cool glacier melt waters of the River Inn, which has the biggest volume of whitewater on any river within the Alps is the perfect place to see the area from a very different perspective, being at the lowest point of the valley in the river, makes the Austrian mountains even more impressive.
We were also kayaking and guiding a lot on the river Inn in the Engadine Region of Switzerland. The Giarsun George is one of our favourites there! Just over an hour away from basecamp Arlberg, it is set in a beautiful gorge away from the road and you really do get a feeling of being alone with just the rapids and the flow of the river. Everyone who comes down the Giarsun Gorge with us says it is one of THE best stretches of whitewater they have kayaked - and we agree!
In the meantime, Stanzin had to head back to his home of Ladakh and the Zanskar River on the Tibetan plateau in Northern India. It was very sad to see him leave but we were so happy that he had enjoyed his time with us immensely and he had really made the most out of his 3 months with us.
Our local team of kayakers were really coming on! All of them had caught the kayaking bug and had bought their own kayaking apparel from Peak UK. With a few Wave Sport kayaks hanging around in our Kayak School, the team borrowed the boats for the season and got them back where they belonged - on the river! It was so good to see Connie, Jacob and Alina going out together kayaking on some nice Class 2 rivers here. Once Nick got back from Africa he was now getting Sparky back into his kayak. Bo was also back in St. Anton and so Harry was making the most of the whitewater, they were even dragging Egon out from hibernation! For us it was great to see everyone enjoying the sport. The more locals on our home rivers the better!
We met Lu for the first time this year when she came on one of our Intensive Class 2 Improver Kayaking Courses. She was heading back home to Argentina to work in her local ski school and both Ute and I promised we would make a road trip into Argentina to kayak and visit her in San Martin de los Andes in November when we are out in Chile.
Our courses were going from strength to strength and like we said, what a Summer 2018 was!
For more information about our courses and dates for 2019 please take a look through our website.