ULTIMATE CANYONING

ULTIMATE CANYONING

 

The Chli Schliere Canyon in central Switzerland is for sure the best Canyon we do, and most likely one of the most intense commercially run canyons in the world…. But then there’s Ticino! Situated on the south side of the Alps, Ticino is the Italian part of Switzerland and is also home to countless beautiful granite canyons. Good friend and co-guide Manu spent some good hours during this past winter putting together a new canyoning programme for Outdoor Interlaken  where  travellers could get the opportunity to experience two full days of extreme canyoning. And so on a clear sunny morning in mid july myself, Manu, legend explorer extraordinaire Pete Meredith, and photographer Michael Nebiker met bright and early at the base and packed 120 metres of static rope for a mission to Ticino. Crossing from North Alps to south Alps is like changing countries, or even continents! A super scenic drive down through central Switzerland  along the shores of lake Lucern brings one to the 17km ‘Gotthard’ tunnel,  after which one emerges in the lush , almost tropical chestnut forests of the Ticino region. Our plan was to scout out and set up our systems for Project ‘Ultimate Canyoning’, but the proposed canyon, ‘Lodrino’,  on inspection at the take out bridge was a tad too high, making some of the wet rappels too dangerous. Plan ‘B’, another of Manus proposed routes required a lengthy shuttle, so we scratched hard for plan ‘C’ and it was decided to attempt an upper section of ‘Iragna’ that neither of us had done before. A few phone calls later to the weather station, and other experts who knew the area well, found us embarking on an hour and a halfs up hill hike through dense chestnut forest, past mini chapels and ancient stone villages. We followed a trail using a photocopied topo map that Manu had, and eventually found ourselves standing on an old stone arch bridge, looking about 60 metres straight down the entry rappel. We were under the impression that this ‘upper’ section of the Iragna canyon would take about 2 to 3 hours, and we knew that we could get through the bottom section in under an hour as we knew it well, so we’d opted to leave lunch in the vehicle as we’d be out by 2pm…….. NOT!! As it turned out we only got back to the vehicle at 17h30 after 6 and a half hours of unbelievable canyoning conditions. The water in Ticino is crystal clear and together with the polished granite,  ranging through colours of white , black , and grey makes for the most beautiful pools and waterfalls! Making ones way down  a steep canyon without  any detailed info is quite challenging,  as most of the rappels were ‘wet’, requiring that we  lowered ourselves through the cascading waterfalls, with limited visibility of what lay below. This really tested everything that we’ve  learned  in ten seasons of canyoning in the Alps. By the end of the day we had rappelled atleast 10 big ones, and jumped about 20 classic jumps in the 10 to 12 metre range, some maybe higher. With the clear water we were often able to spot the deep landing zone from above, which saved a lot of time as normally one team member would rappel down first and swim around the pool to check the depth.  From a 10 m jump you only need 2 m’s of water to land in, and in some cases the pools would be way deeper, but only 2 m’s wide!! All in all a classic day out, we were  super stoked, exhausted and ravenous by the time we arrived back at the van, and we can’t wait for the first trip to book out  so we can head back down there and share this canyoning wonderland with adventurous travellers.  Big thanks to Outdoor Interlaken for providing us with the transport and gear, and to Michael Nebiker for all the cool pictures. As Pete used to say… ‘Come on’!!

 

Summer Time, and the Living is Busy !

Summer Time, and the Living is Busy !!

 Well it seems that since summer finally kicked in she sure has scored good points for effort. With a full week of blissfully hot days and not even a thunderstorm in sight, I feel blessed to be living the dream ;-)). The question often arises, “Where did all the time go?, and such is life here in Interlaken. When the heat is on , so to speak,  it’s always a braai somewhere after work,  fulfilling days in Chli Schliere Canyon, and big nights at the annual Trucker and Country Festival. This weekend I got lucky and scored two days in a row in ‘schliere’, every guides dream. With the water warming up ( a little…) it was great fun hurling ourselves like human lemmings into the fresh mountain pools. Schliere is composed mainly of bedrock limestone, and the character  of the canyon is such like a series of pot holes, with the river pouring itself from one to the next in a stunning array of cascades and waterslides. Guiding through the schliere has to be likened to a controlled lemming march. At times we have two full groups running back to back, that’s 25 guests and 5 staff. Now imagine a train of thirty people clad in wetsuits and helmets, lifejackets and harnesses, lining up on the edge of a 10 metre cliff above a waterfall,  and jumping into the refreshing waters below. As a guide you can sometimes be at one ‘station’ when 25 excited participants line up one by one. Feeling slightly repetitive one deals out the same instruction to every guest, “Put your left foot here, your right hand on my shoulder, and jump just right of where the waterfall lands…. Ready…3-2-1- JUMP!” Somehow though it never get’s boring as everyday it’s meeting new people, and everyone has their own little moment in the canyon which is always funny for the rest of us ;-)). Weather it’s botched jumps, or perfect backflips, everybody has something to add to the trip. We had some classic ‘sky divers’ on Sunday, jumpers who tend to lean too far forward as they jump, adopting the sky diving pose as they plunge towards the pool, and score 10/10 from the guides for ‘bellyflop’ of the day! Bellyflops can also be of benefit, as they help out with a full sinus flush, although they also encourage the stunned beaver look, and definitely bear the brunt of a rather bruised ego! But hey, the amount of humour ( after the initial gasps of shock), by far out-rule any concern for the discomfort of captain skydiver. These photos I took with a 10mm lens, so it picks up an almost 180 degree perspective. Pretty sweet I thought, if I may say so myself.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since the big Greenfields Rock Festival was in town, so what good timing for the Annual Trucker and Country to hit the same venue, the old airfield just on the edge of town. And word on the street is that town and country rocks the hell out of the greenfields gothic freak show. Well one things for sure though and that’s that there was no shortage of freaks walking around the T&C festival either.  Tight cowboy outfits, mullets, tattoos, big bellies and bountiful boobies were out in full force, along with an incredible selection of beautiful machines, from motorbikes to massive trucks, classic cars and countless cranes.  It’s a people watching paradise as all the motor-heads strut their stuff with an air of freakish eccentricity ,  and then there’s line dancing! Jeesh I tell ya, you got to see it to believe it. With bars by the dozen and of course the bumper-car  arena, it’s all round humour, good clean fun some say.

Summer time, too good.

Surfs up in Interlaken!

Surfs up in Interlaken!

 

If the local council here in Interlaken had a few kayakers on their board, then this place would be surf city! Come on Simon, you’d make great Gemeinde material  ;-))

Interlaken,  contrary to popular belief, does not mean  ‘inbetween the sheets’ as one would imagine with all the shenanigans that go on here, but rather  ‘inbetween the Lakes’,  as it is a town that  sits on the flood plain between the Lakes of Brienz and Thun ! The name Thun might ring a bell for some of you as the location for the 2009 World Championship Freestyle Kayaking event.  Well, almost exactly the same set up occurs here in Interlaken. With at least 50 cumecs  squeezing through control gates down man made canals,  it’s not hard to let the imagination wander into the potential of artificial  surf waves.  At certain times of the year,  in spring and autumn usually, when the rivers are low and the lakes reach a particular level,  an epic wave  forms bang slap in the middle of town about a minutes walk from the post office and just upstream from the infamous Anker Bar. Well, with the summer solstice  having just ticked over you may be wandering  why I would be able to write about this amazing phenomenon now ,  but with the weather  we’ve  been having here in the Alps this year, it’s not far off feeling like winter is already approaching!

 In any case,  local swiss guns Simon, Marc and Phil  were heading through town to paddle a secret creek on the weekend when they spotted the ‘Anker Wave’ absolutely going off.  A quick detour to switch their quiver of creek boats for play boats found them back in action and big smiles all around. The following day conditions were still good and Outdoor Interlaken guide extraordinaire  Timmy Flowers joined in the big air carnival  where the boyz were throwing down some pretty stout moves.

The wave is super fast, being squeezed out from under a set of wooden gates down a concrete ramp, and just where the concrete ends into deep water a massive wave kicks up with a testing entry diagonal and a very fast and bumpy ride on an ever changing face. There was just enough foam pile on top of the wave to keep you in the pocket and no shortage of speed and bounce to get some good air.

 It was bloody cold though I must say, and with a consistent slight drizzle it wasn’t exactly the best conditions to take action photos,  but I reckon they came out alright. The sun came out briefly just at the right time to warm up and refuel with sandwiches and tea,  big thanks to Annie,  and the session continued.

Looks we might have to wait till September before we can surf this beauty again because as I write this it’s blue skies above and the big orange faced guy in the sky is smiling his radiant waves upon us. Yay, summer is finally here!!