28th of February 2004
For one more time, we managed to hassle around for 6 hours, putting in 5 hours before total darkness and still make it through those quite unknown, 12 difficult kms, proving the theory, that the time factor add to the paddlers decisiveness in the river. The most difficult part, is to keep evacuation voices down, untill we enter the no-way-out gorge...he he he!
We put in at the bridge of Mikrolivado. The flow was high. We had realised that before, when we had driven to the take out, below the village of Spileo, where the river was flooding the entrance of the unrunnable gorge, at Portitsa's arced bridge.
The day's paddling, seriously endangered by retreating voices, had been saved once more, thanks to the friendly guy who runs the restaurant-cafe at Spileo square. He informed us, that the local rafting company would run the river, which is definetely
worth it, when it's in high flow. So, when locals agree with the guidebook, what more, to finally put away our second thoughts...
That's why I always say: "When in doubt, scout. Still in doubt... stop by the local cafe. The locals always know!
The river was fast and cold. Riding the wave trains all the way from the top to the bottom, it was fun at first, pretty cold later, in a while we let ourselves slide to the side, riding a wave only to avoid another major hole in front of us.
Most of the rapids could be judged from the boat, without the need of safety settings. There were mostly extended class III stretches of big water, where you should boof over some 1m high ledges, sneak around some 1m deep holes, ordinary paddling class III+ to -IV.
At the first really powerful rapid, a rocky crest was pushing the water to drop into a river-left, 20m long corridor. Having eddy out on the left, while Konidis and Pavlos were taking their time, studying the rapid and comparing possible lines, on the right shore, I opted to run first.
They didn't tell me that they had already decided to portage the rapid, until later. What a better chance for them, to test their theoritic lines, make bets, keep my expencive digicam, even my boat, if it would come through the whirlpool... alone!
The thumbs up were on, I approached my entrance point...I can't remember if I concluded my boofing stroke, when lights went out. I managed to roll away on my third attempt, before the last ledge.
Pavlos ran to congratulate me, possibly because he didn't have to throw me a rope (meaning that he would be anxious for his aiming - I can't recall the last time I have seen him throwing a rope...), or he had win the bet.
The rapid can be easily portaged on the right, trust me I've seen it...twice!
In a while it was my time to take photographic position. We had reached a sharp left bend, where all the water was dropping an almost river-wide ledge and through a whitewater chaos, ended to squeeze in a small gap between boulders. That rapid has been named Achilleas heel, for its L shape possibly, or maybe it has to do something with immortality?
After my last beating, I was pretty sure, not to try that one. But I wouldn't say anything, not yet, as I would really like to have the human element or at least a colorful spot in my photo. (A photographer's mind!)
Dimitris and Pavlos were closely scouting the rapid, studying possible lines and throwing a few glances to my side every other minute. Soon they realised that they wouldn't have a standman available this time. Eventually, Pavlos started walking towards the boats and Dimitris "smiling", told me that we should carry our boats downstream, to be ready for Pavlos, just in case.
Thumbs up again, Pavlos started paddling...but where is he going? The normal line whould be far right, around the big boulder and then diagonally, all the way to the exit. Pavlos instead, paddles straight to the big river wide stopper, he lands inside and starts drifting to the left. Suddenly he went upside down and rocked all the way down. Thankfully the pressure pussed him quickly away, through the exit gap, where eventually he rolled up. What a footage that would be, if only I had my videocamera...
Above: In Achillea's heel rapid, Pavlos Georgilas experiencing the power of the river wide stopper, which should normally be avoided.
Below: The pyramid rapid
The guide book, reffered to at least three rapids around class V in high flow, so Konidis was entitled to try the third. He was not happy with the prospect and he deliberetely stayed as far back as he could. I hoped that in time, he would change his mind, as we needed all the footage we could get!
A few rock alleys, some more extended rapids and a big pyramid boulder, appeared in the end of a big pumpy stretch (see photo on the right). The water pile on its face, seemed huge, as I was paddling my way up and down the wave train towards it. I spotted a small eddy just before it and I managed to stop somehow. There was a clean S-line to avoid it, so alarm off and instructions were given to the others waiting further up.
A rock garden, featuring a big black boulder in the middle and a few logs around it, was the next problem to be solved. Fortunately, we managed to bypass this dangerous spot, via a small corridor to the far left.
A few more class III+ rapids and the gorge started to losen up and in a few minutes we spotted Spileo, high on the left mountain ridge. It was a matter of minutes now, to reach our take out point, the concrete slab, used as a road across the river in the summer, where some wave surfing would be the perfect desert.
A few photos of the trip:
More pages:
Meleopotamos report
