Now with added video courtesy of Jeannine
Alps 2012 with LUCC - Part One France from Stuart Earnshaw on Vimeo.
Saturday
After a long overnight drive we arrived at the campsite to
glorious sunshine around lunchtime. Following a trip to supermarket and tent
assembly we decided was time to go paddling. The first river was the gyronde
which helpfully ran down to the campsite. After a short drive we arrived at the
get on, a slightly intimidating fast and bouldery introduction to alpine
paddling. The shuttle was run and groups we formed. Me, Chris Sam, Kim, Jeannine
and a random ex Bangor person formed the second group.
We went off to a great start with the river being easier
than it looked. A few sharp corners
difficult to see around and a swim in the front group presented the only real
problems. Once the weir was found and
portaged by some (me and Spud) the river became easier and we could relax a bit
more. We passed through the town before
we reached the slalom course and campsite.
Crowds lined the banks eager to welcome our return (that or they were
watching student boater x). On getting
to the bottom I discovered the other two groups had had minor epics but after
some driving faff everyone returned safe and well (and helpful Earnie blacked
out most of his swim so can still not remember swimming in a while).
Sunday
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| Happy Paddlers on Slalom course |
We decided to start the next day with some training on the
slalom course. Most of us ran it a few
times practicing eddying in and out. I
experienced my first alpine roll whilst doing some poor ferry gliding. The group then split with some staying for
more coaching and the rest went to paddle the Guisane.
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| Happy Paddlers actually paddling |
After a quick snack (and drive) we got
started. This had a nicer get on and
aside from lack of reasonable sized eddies was a friendly river. The whole paddling and not being cold thing
was still surprising me. Soon S bend the hardest rapid of the section appeared. We got out but decided it didn’t need
scouting properly so went down with a few others going first to set up some
safety. A fun 200m later is was finished
without incident. The gradient eased
slightly but river was still fun. We
soon reached the get out/ start of lower section. Me, Emma and Penny got out here and after a
short sunbath whilst Penny retrieved her car we met the others at the bottom
(van on French road = horrible). After
more lunch we decided to paddle the Briancon gorge in the afternoon. Some epically failing at running the shuttle
later we all got on. A short paddle led
to a dam with a handy paddle shoot to go down.
The river then descended to a gorge. There may have been many eddys but with
Haywood in lead little were made. At the
end of the gorge there was a nice corner where someone had helpfully built a
series of concrete walls heading into the river. After a rather unsuccessful attempt at
eddying out above I ended up following Emma down taking here exact line as we
hit said wall and both went over. I
managed to roll up just fast enough to see myself in eddy above wall heading
straight back into the wall. Over again
I felt a rather hard hit on my head and decided to bail. A short put shallow and rocky swim later I
was on the bank and discovered I had managed to cut my eyebrow. Penny’s boat then appeared making it in fact
3 simultaneous swims. A second swim avec
throw line returned me to the correct side of the river which has a path. Then a rather long walk/jog later through
some sort of fair found Squirrel and Chris helpfully retrieving my boat. Emma’s been pinned higher up. A further walk took me to the top of the weir
and my boat (squirrel had paddled it out after an impromptu abseil to get to
it). Everyone was now reunited with kit
and weir was suitably inspected we all paddled down. Emma managed to swim without me noticing and
we call ended up at the same get out we had been several hours earlier.
Monday
In search of some more paddling suitable for the entire
group we headed to the lower Guil. The
drive there was described as a class 5 for trailers and I certainly didn’t
fancy taking the wheel at this point. No
accidents occurred and after the shuttle we all got on. This river was noticeably bigger than
previous ones and also quite a bit easier.
Little happened other than one or two swims and a first impromptu white
water roll for Gareth. We got off after
a very short section but decided we hadn’t paddled enough so were going to
carry on. The following section was even
bigger and flatter. We reached a slalom
course and the get out soon.
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| Lower Guil |
We then decided to paddle the upper section of the same
river which is slightly harder section but still suitable for all. After quite a picturesque drive going past
several harder sections in between we reached the get on and met up with the
olds (not sure if was by chance or design).
We then split into groups since would be going through a (fairly open)
gorge section so would not be loads of space on river. I was with Gareth, Penny, Liam, Fred and
Haywood. We set off along a reasonably
easy but fast flowing river with the usual lack of decent eddies. The river soon became more difficult as the
gorge section was reached. Things
became rather crowed in the gorge as we went down one at a time through various
more difficult bits. My group did it
without incident and managed to overtake an entirely unconnected group. We got a bit stuck at one point as Fred and
Penny had held back and presumably got involved with another groups rescue
efforts. Eventually an unoccupied boat
came down (which we hauled out) shortly followed by Fred and Penny.
The gorge then opened up and the river became easier
again. Eventually the castle at Chateau
Q became visible signally the get out for those of us not wishing to run the
Chateau Q gorge (a bit like getting flushed down the toilet according to the
guide book). Those of us not paddling it
got out and went to various bridges to watch their progress. Fred left the decision of not paddling it
rather late but managed to climb up a rather steep bank to the bridge and leave
it for another day. After a very quick
wait the others soon reappeared telling us all how fun it was. We then headed home all satisfied with a good
days paddling (I think).
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| The lead in to Chateau Q gorge |
Tuesday
Today was a day for some harder paddling for some. Having driven past it twice yesterday people
were keen to paddle the middle Guil. The
guidebook said it was often under estimated and wasn’t unusual for 6 to get on
and only 2 to finish so I decided it wasn’t for me. The first rapid on the river was triple step
one of the harder parts of the section.
We all hung around to watch ppl run it.
Rach decided to go out on a wire above the river to get a better spot
for photos. Watching people run it
certainly didn’t make it look easy. Only
Flic (I think) managed to get a line making it look easy. Most of the others went over and some came
rather close to ending up in the undercut.
Having watched the others do it Chris decided that since you could
clearly mess the rapid up and come out fine he wanted to paddle it. He did the first drop and like many others
before him went over at the bottom of it.
He then executed the eddy out when failing to roll manoeuvre and ended
up in a small channel on right avoiding second drop. After about 50 more attempts he finally
managed to get up and looked around slightly confused where he was. A sneaky seal launch later he was at the
bottom having avoided the 2nd drop.
The group then paddled off into the distance whilst me, Emma, Gareth,
Penny and Jeannine headed to the Chateux Queyras via ferrate. This worked its
way along the gorge giving us a great view of the river (and is probably the
only way to inspect that section well).
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| Chris demonstrating the upside down paddling technique |
We then drove down to meet the others, we caught up them at
le tunnel and found Fred looking around despondently for his lost paddles and a
rather beaten up looking Kim limping along after a rather long swim after she
had snapped her paddles. Earnie had also
got out at this point making the books prediction that not everyone would
finish true and me sure I had made the correct decision not to paddle this
river. We drove down to meet up with the
rest and had lunch.
In the afternoon after some deliberation we decided to
proceed with the original plan to paddle the Sunshine Run despite the lack of
Sun. Haywood and Dave decided to do some
crazy cycling over a pass instead. We
got on where we had got off the Lower Guil the previous day and set off down
the river. It was again big and easy and
lacking in Sun slightly cold. We stopped
for some seal launching fun where Emma and Spud did a demonstration of how
difficult carrying boats can be. We
carried on down the river without incident until we reached the Rab wave rather
suddenly. Apparently another group had signaled us to stop and most of the group was scattering for little eddies at
the side of the river. I missed the signal
and followed Penny down deciding it was better than clinging to a rock above
it. Seeing Penny getting pushed into
hole on right and went left and came through to see Penny swimming and another
group having a line all the way across the river. I got out to help with boat rescue but the
other group managed to sort everything for us.
Everyone else made it down without incident except Rach who got stuck on
a rock above and walked out and Emma who had managed to lose a rivet while seal
launching so was slowly sinking. This
was the get out and I left to run the shuttle while the rest stayed to play.
Wednesday
On Wednesday we headed over to the Ubaye. This was a bit of a drive over a high pass
then left me feeling rather sick. Some
faff getting lunch later we were at the get on where we met Manchester Uni. They beat us on the river and it began to
rain as we started. The first section we
paddled was the upper; it was fast and continuous but not particularly
difficult. We split into groups Me,
Penny, Haywood, Gareth and Fred set off in the first group. Haywood was still hungover so I started
leading the section. This didn’t last
long as Gareth soon ended up in a large hole; he rolled up once but was pulled
back in and swam. He got to the side
without too much difficulty his boat however had a longer trip, I jumped out
and ran along the bank while Stu and Fred followed in the river. I was unable to run fast enough to reach the
boat and they soon pulled ahead. Fred
decided chasing one boat was too easy a task so decided to swim to make the
rescue more exciting. The boats were
eventually pinned and I joined another group to paddle that section.
The rest of the river was paddled without incident. I quite enjoyed it but got the impression
some of the others were tiring somewhat in a reasonably long section without
any hard rapids to keep them occupied.
We reached the get out in time for some more heavy rain. The group then split with Haywood taking his
car back to camp while some of the rest of us went on to paddle the race course
section of the Ubaye.
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| The Ubaye racecourse |
The race course was a harder section lower down the
river. A higher volume river than ones
we had paddled so far in the trip. We
got on just below a bridge, the group was me, Kim, Earnie, Liam, Squirrel, Sam
and Chris. I managed to get rather
scared especially since I was the worst paddler on the river. The river started without incident until we
reached the first major rapid. We eddied
out above and then paddled down the left hand channel. I got flipped at the bottom when rejoining
the main flow and took a swim after my roll failed. I was still near the side so managed to swim
to safety easily and the others quickly retrieved my kit. We started off again, I was slightly
reassured to hear that where I had swam was apparently the most difficult bit
of the section. The river was reasonably
wide, not that steep but containing lots of large holes to avoid paddling
through. After a bit longer we saw an
old bridge across the river at the start of a small gorge. The others not paddling the section were
waiting for us on top of the bridge. A
short while later we reached the get out where we met the “olds” who had
paddled the section just ahead of us. It
was now warm and sunny in contrast to the rain earlier on in the day.
Thursday
Today the plan was to paddle the Onde, the Gyr and then the
Gyronde. Following thunderstorms the
previous night and a hot day however water levels were slightly higher than
ideal. Following a rather too twisty drive
to the get on it was decided than levels were indeed not suitable for
everyone. Some quick decisions later we
decided to paddle it anyway and do the Briancon gorge later which would be more
suitable. A slightly reduced number then
got on. The river itself was quite small
but very fast and continuous with a fair number of rocks in it (making swimming
really non ideal). Emma did a quick
demonstration on the difficulties at the start in case any of the others were
wishing they had got on too. The river
wasn’t actually as hard as it had first looked and we had a fairly rapid and
event free descent (I say we as in my group Spud decided to test her roll out
repeatedly but it did pass the test every time). There was a rather serious weir below the get
out and no good eddies in the entire river so when we reached the end there was
a slightly disorganised scramble to get out as quickly as possible. This passed without incident.
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| The Chute |
When we reached the bottom Penny was sent up to do the
shuttle on foot whilst a few people headed off to paddle the much harder
Gyr. A leisurely lunch later and we
headed to Briancon gorge this time remembering to actually run the
shuttle. The entire groups reassembled and
we decided to send a safety team down to pick up the pieces at the bottom in
case we had a repeat of previous time we paddled it. For some reason my previous swim on the river
did not rule me out from this group. Me,
Haywood and Sam (I think) headed off first quickly reaching the barrage. This time is was open so water was lower
above it. Photographers got in position
and then we all headed down the chute.
At the bottom of the dam team safety quickly set off to be
at the bottom of the gorge first. I
actually noticed it being more gorgy than my first memory of it, luckily I
remembered the concrete walls and paddled well clear of them second time lucky
for me. Me and Haywood got out there and
decided to set up live bait ready to pick up any pieces. I ended up on the end of the line
unsurprisingly. We did not have to wait
long for the first piece, Gareth’s empty boat appearing around the corner. I briefly remembered being told never to live
bait for kit on WWSR course before jumping in and rescuing boat. With enough time for me to get out and Gareth
to appear to reclaim his boat the others appeared. Emma remember as I did the horrible wall
paddled hard away from it went sideways into an annoyingly position rock. A short swim later I got to practice my first
live bait rescue of a person. It all
went fine (minus some knee dislocation issue from Emma) we all got back in and
paddled on down.
Reaching the broken weir in town I was slightly less willing
to follow Sam and Haywood down it on memory only and got out with other to
inspect. The produced a reasonably about
of carnage when first Dave, then Gareth swam, I followed rolled on weir and
then promptly swam trying to eddy out. I
believe Rach was also claimed by the weir.
We eventually reunited everyone and all there kit in time to see an
unattended boat float down which we rescued too. It was then decided to paddle the next section
also. Since the river had joined the
Guissane just below Briancon it was now much bigger and fairly flat. My swim on virtually flat water had dented my
confidence slightly (I’m blaming the rock my head hit on the weir) so I was
quite glad when we reached the get out. Then
after some minor me driving on the left incidents we all got back to the
campsite safely in time for some restaurant fun with the olds.
Friday
The last day for in France for all and of holiday for some
Friday was a day destined for great things.
Following a late and slightly hungover start we headed to paddle the
Upper Guil again. On reaching there it
was nice and sunny so we ended up doing some unscheduled sunbathing whilst Liam
and Spud toured the local home for the mentally ill. We eventually decided we were here to paddle
the river and so got on the Guil slightly higher up than the section we did
last time.
The river was similar to when we paddled it before. We split into two groups this time Dave and
Haywood taking the lead with the rest of us following (not everyone was
paddling as some had gone to do the via ferrata). My group went through the more gorgy bit
without major incident (I think Penny racked up another swim/ roll). It went much faster with less people than
when we ran it before and soon we saw the chateau ahead indicating the get out
for some. Haywood decided he wanted to
Hydrospeed Chateau Q and a few of the others wanted to run it again. It turns out that Chateau Q does go in a
hydrospeed. We then lounged about eating
ice cream in the car park long enough for Pete Knowles (author of guide book) to
drop by and present our captain with a free book as consolation prize for the
epic swim a few days earlier.
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| Haywood swimming again |
Back at the campsite attempts at running the slalom course
in rubber ring and an attempt at king of the wave in hydorspeed gave me ample
opportunity to demonstrate my lack of skill at throw line rescues. (Who puts wires about rivers that ropes can
get caught on)
Saturday
On Saturday I headed home with the rest in the seven
seater. The long drive home gave us ample
time to reflect on the great trip that was had by all.
Thanks to all those involved in organising trip and rescuing
me when I swam. Thanks also to the
others for just being there.
Thus ends my tale.
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