I’m off to Georgia to explore the Greater Caucasus Mountains. See you at Pyranha Fest!

Chris Eastabrook coaching has just got back from Bovec, Slovenia and it was amazing fun! The weather was generally good with the occasional mountain thunderstorm to keep the Soĉa at a good level. The course took place over 6 days, starting with core principles and building to advanced river running concepts.

Canyon on the Upper Soca

The evenings saw some of the guys on the course hit the bar fairly hard each and every night. They were very pleased with themselves when it turned out they had drunk the town dry of the local stuff – Valter.

The Red Stuff

Tom, David and I managed a couple of sneaky runs down the Canyon section after sessions had finished, just to check it was still there you understand!

Leading the way!

Before the course started I was out in France with Bristol Uni, and before that Tom & I found time for a road trip to Switzerland and Italy. It’s been hard to believe the levels of the steeper regions of Europe this year. After driving past the Goldeneye Dam we got on the Verzasca in short cags surrounded by hot young ladies sunbathing. It was great to ‘graduate’ from New Skool Graduation Drop a year after my actual graduation from uni! I’m not sure which was is more important!
After a pizza a large beer and a night in the van we got up to paddle the Euga. The first drop is great but I never remembered it being so pushy, until Tom & I realised it was significantly bigger in volume than the last time we paddled it, at the beginning of May!

New Skool Graduation Drop

Tom 'firing it up'

Iced Cream!

More photos can be found here!

Scotland over Easter is a tradition. I have been going for a number of years and enjoying every minute of it, but last few have been not been the monster down pours that I’ve hoped for. This year was a little different.

Robb at the Seven Dwarfs

Tom ‘the’ Strongmand on the Falloch

After another epic National Students Rodeo, I headed up to Scotland with Robb (of Turkey fame) and Tom (of NZ) to hit some new runs. The continuous rain on the drive north gave me a level of excitement only equalled in everyday life by fine wine and cheese. Our stop overnight at Dave’s house meant that we got to the Falloch at lunchtime, with more than enough time to run the Seven Dwarfs! We had a good old scout, & whilst counting the rapids to check for seven we must have counted one as two because the Black Hole, directly underneath the A82 road bridge was a massive surprise! That section in general was technical, continuous, steep and committing, with little chance of help from your mates through the first 4. We paddled through to Twist & Shout and the last slide, making for a excellent jaunt which may have knocked the Nevis off the top run in Scotland.

Robb on the lead in to Dalness Falls

Tom firing it up in the Karnali

The next day was a complete write off after getting to the Nevis and decidingthat actually we all had something very wrong with ourselves, so we slept for about 18 hours. We were fired up for the next day, wanting to run the Dalness section of the Etive. We warmed up with two cracking runs down the middle Etive and then went to paddle the larger, less run waterfall on the mighty River. It didn’t disappoint, unlike like Robb’s photography skills – he failed to turn the camera on for my run! We all had sweet lines and Tom who was paddling the Karnali was impressed with it.

Robb’s up!

Chris Eastabrook coaching then had a 5 day progressive white water course and then the Student Safety Initiative. Both brilliant courses where students got to push their personal skills, run their first waterfalls and open the door to safe effective leadership. During the course I managed a cheeky trip down the Coe and an evening paddle down the Etive.

Since then I have moved house and now live in North Wales with my lovely girlfriend. Chris Eastabrook coaching is very busy, gearing up for the Alpine season featuring the Slovenia 09 trip and working on my research project for my Level 5 coach.

All photos CE.

*Quote from Blues Brothers, Curtis.