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A postcard from Tim, and his shiny shiny shiny (no longer) blue LL Jefe.
Don't panic, he's about to leave this place..
A quick update now I’m back from my trip to Northern Sweden. The trip involved an immense amount of driving. We arrived in Stockholm and were out of the airport building by 10.30pm. In our rent-a-wreck car we drove north throughout the night to our first destination of the Renforsen rapids on the Vindelälven. We arrived about 5pm.
Theo (our Swedish friend, who’s brainchild this trip was) had assumed that it would be best to catch the rivers at their peak flows during the annual summer melt. A week before we left he mailed us to say that it had started heating up lots in Sweden and that we may miss the melt. Upon arrival at Renforsen we could see there was no chance of that. Reports on the radio indicated that people were being forced to leave their homes further upstream as the water levels were so high. What was described in the guide as 700m grade 4 section with many routes and eddies, had turned into an express train of big water with some monstrous holes and no eddies. Not wanting to appear utterly defeated we put near the bottom for a quick blast down and ran the last 200m of the section a couple of times.
One of the smaller holes Renforsen had to offer
Forced grins anyone?
The next day we experienced some trouble with the car – the key refusing to turn in the ignition. Maybe there was a reason that the car hire company was called rent-a-wreck. With 18 hours drive from their nearest office, and no mechanics we could find that could offer a decent suggestion, we decided that, as engineering students, we should have the knowledge to hotwire it. An hour later (we’re not experienced thieves - yet) the engine roared into life and we were off.
Don't try this at home kids. These people may look amateur, but they are some of the brightest young engineering minds today. honest.
Next stop Mårdseleforsen, again on the Vindelälven. Four huge channels thundered between islands – conveniently linked by foot-bridges for the tourists. The river level was so high that water was lapping at the duckboards as we inspected. The second largest channel was selected as good to go – so we went for it. All but Glyn that is, who wrenched some muscles in his shoulder on the lead-in, fortunately making it to the bank before hitting the meat of the rapid. A repeat injury of an old shoulder dislocation meant he was demoted to shuttle bunny for the rest of the trip.
Ummm. The lead-in...
...and the meat.
The Piteälven was next on the list. A "creeking delta" section proved fun, and a more manageable volume. This was ended by me testing the exit-in-emergency properties of my new LL Jefe that DM had kindly managed to get through in time for the trip.
Imagine a sport when you can be happily going about your business ... when suddenly a huge stopper jumps up and grabs you ... beats you, plays with you, tries to drown you ... then calls you rude names ... and finally spits you out with no remenants of your pride. Its called paddling.
More driving took us north of the Arctic circle for a trip down the Kalixälven. We arrived at about 8pm at night, so after some deliberation over dinner, it was decided to put on straight away – If you’re given 24 hours of sunlight, you may aswell use it! As with the Vindelälven, this was much higher than the levels for which the guide was written and the seven distinct rapids mentioned had somehow merged into two.
No trip to the area is complete without a visit to Storforsen. Allegedly the biggest whitewater in Europe, the gradient at which a river of such volume drops puts stuff I’ve seen on the Nile and Zambezi to shame.
Its looks easier to put-in over there, at the bottom..
Quite a sight.
A few more rivers saw us driving back down south to Theo’s family home where we joined their mid-summer celebrations – taken very seriously in Sweden. Now then, bring on Kyrgyzstan!
A video is available to accompany this report.