Last thing we said was something about hucking some waterfall in Italy and then going to Switzerland. Well.. we did! And we had a run on the Verzasca, a really beautiful river. Class II with awesome scenery alternated with some nice class V rapids! Also in the same beautiful scenery.
In Switzerland we chilled a lot at Lago Maggiore. And because we missed Belgium so much we decided to do some Belgian style flat water training without any gates in our slalom boat.
After this session we realized we didn't miss Belgium at all and we left to Ivrea!
In Italy we also paddled the Ayasse. A crazy river full of Class X sections. We didn't know the river, nor did we have a guidebook. But we just went for it and did a lot of scouting. And well... It was one epic day! Beautiful river! We found a 5 meter drop, some 4 meter slide/drop thing and lots of rapids!
Later in Bourg-saint Maurice we met some frenchies. They told us it's normal for the Chiusella to have a low water level. But yeah, we were at Bourg! We did a couple of session on the slalom course. But the best memories are those with our french friends. They took us to Doron de bozel. More a volume river, also new for us. We didn't know what to expect from the river and we also didn't know what to expect of us, our paddling skills in high volume waters. Especially because it was high water and there are some class V sections on the Doron. The first kilometer was pretty epic, huge holes and big waves! And it al worked out pretty fine!
The first half was really big! Super big waves, holes you really didn't want to get trapped in and fast as hell. Second part was a little bit easier, which made it possible to play around a bit and do some freewheels and trowing kick flips!
We were all super fired up after this descent and we decided to paddle the gorge d'Avise section on the Dora Baltea. This part is at low water level Class IV+, at normal water level it's V+. We entered the gorge with flood! This section is without any doubt the biggest river we ever paddled! Everyone was a little stressed because we knew if you were in trouble, you would be on your own. The river did not allow to just make a stop and rescue, nor was it possible to provide security from shore.
Once on the river we all were super focused. Once you've made a chose you were commited to paddle that line and you needed to go for it 100%. It's really hard to describe the power of the water and the greatness of everything on that river. But it was EPIC.
This river was kind off the end of our 3 week stay in the Alps. needless to say it was the perfect way to end it.
And oow, ofcourse we did capture some of the moments on film! To bad, Axel lost his helmet sow we could'nt film from waterview anymore. Not that bad you would say, but for that same reason we couldn't film the Doron nor the Dora Baltea...
But we did capture a lot of other things!! The Pitzbach, Verzasca, Ayasse, AND our first 30 footer!!
Don't forget to watch it in HD, Enjoy!