Summer 2019
We had another fantastic Summer of 2019. At the beginning there was still high water with the River Inn pumping throughout those hot early Summer sunny days!! Stanzin had now arrived and it was great for him to get to know one of the reasons why kayaking in this part of Austria is so good!
Our courses were going great, the BIG water of the Inn was proving to be something very different to what most kayakers have to paddle back at home. At this time of the season the river Inn provides a fantastic training ground for those post monsoon levels at the beginning of October in the Himalayas.
Locally we have changed the lake on our beginners kayaking course to Lake Verwall in St.Anton am Arlberg. A bigger lake than our previous one, the views are just as stunning and with the Rosanna flowing into it gives us a nice little feature for our beginners to get used to the flow of the river!
We also took Connie down her first run of the Rosanna from Pettneu. It has been amazing to see Connie develop her kayaking and to see another local girl kayak on her home river!!
We also took the local kids kayaking on the lake on one of their Sommer Sesch’n activities. A warm sunny day, kayaking and playing around on the lake throughout the day and a fantastic Austrian style lunch provide by Skiing Buddha restaurant in St.Anton am Arlberg made for a memorable time.
However, it was not all work this season. Steve got to finally show Stanzin the Lower Lech Gorge at quite a high level, the Inn Shoot above the Landeck Gorge was also pumping and Stanzin likened it to his home river of the Indus in Ladakh. We also had a visit from Jorge and Fredy from Chile. We have known Fredy for a few years now as we stay at his place on the side of the lake when we kayak the Rio Petrohue. Jorge is from the Futaleufu and it was great to talk about that amazing river, stunning location and of course our friends who live there or return every Summer.
The boys were both impressed with the Sanna river and who would not be? It maybe the shortest river in the Alps but is one of the best to kayak. The Inn was good fun and we are looking forward to the boys showing us some of their favourite rivers in Chile next year!! Base Arlberg is turning into a bit of a place to come to visit and kayak with the Chileans! David and his family were with us last year and of course Jesu was with us this year in the Spring as well!
The Summer was in full swing and with the Inn turning into this beautiful turquoise colour it was a dream to paddle. It had still kept some of its power from early Summer and the hits of the crashing waves were still going strong! The Oetz had now turned to its usual brown, with a lot of glacier sediment this heavy type of water reminded us of a mini Rio Maipo in Santiago, Chile. The Lower Oetz was a great with its longer and more continuous rapids keeping everyone focused throughout the run. The days were nice and hot and the glacier water was a good way to cool down!! We spent some time kayaking up in the Engadine Region of Switzerland on the Swiss Inn and with a bit of rain at night the Loisach in Germany was good to go, so we had to make a trip to Bavaria.
2019 was certainly a Summer to remember and with Autumn around the corner we were looking forward to days kayaking on the Upper Oetz and Venterache high up in the Oetz Valley and the low water runs on the Sanna and River Inn and of course our Class 4 Himalaya Whitewater Trip to India.
Our 2020 season dates are up online with courses already getting booked. If you have every thought about coming to kayak with us in Europe then now is a great time to plan your Summer kayaking adventure/holiday/trip!!
If you would like more information about our courses and trips to Austria, Slovenia, Peru, India Himalayas or Chile then just get in touch. We can send you a pdf with more information about our destinations, courses/trips and with stunning photos to show just why we love kayaking there!!
Steve
