Erstellt am: 21. 8. 2013 - 08:02 Uhr
Paddling Like A Viking
Reluctantly, I waded into the dark waters of the Strandaselva river near Voss in Norway and flung myself feet first into the current.
Floating on my back, buoyed up by the life jacket, I was sucked into the white foam of the torrent and quickly engulfed by the churning water that spun me around like a washing machine. I`d been warned of the sharp rocks hidden under the river surface beneath some raids so I concentrated on keeping my body flat and my toes up. The icy water bit into my exposed cheeks and ran into my nose but I managed to right myself and spot the bank, crawling towards a flat rock and, with relief, clambering up to safety.
chris cummins
“Well done!” said Chris Dickens, a rafting guide from Queensland in Australia, with an approving nod. Chris, his lips smeared bright white with chap-stick, had promised to take me in a team of inexperienced paddlers down the fearsome white rapids of the Strandaselva, but only after I`d proved I could swim adequately.
The rivers that riddle south-western Norway can be fearsome. “The ones that we raft here in Voss are supposed to be the best in Europe,” Gry Bystøl, a local who rafts for the Norwegian national team had told me. “They are quite tough. Some are grade 4. You don`t raft anything harder commercially in any other place in the world.”
As we had driven up to the launch spot, the Strandaselva certainly looked intimidating. 24 hours of hard rain had swelled the river and its drop-pool profile made the rapids appear even extreme. But I knew what I´d let myself in for. This was a region renowned across the world as a centre of thrills.
It was Ekstremsportveko, a weeklong orgy of extreme sports and music that put the small town of Voss on the map for most adrenaline junkies. For the past 15 years, during one heady week in late June, the sedate looking huddle of wooden buildings along Vangsvatnet lake becomes home to the world`s elite in a host of extreme sports. The rafters are joined by kayakers in races down its rivers, while kite surfers who pull tricks on the lake, mountainbikers tear down its slopes and skydivers, taking off from the nearby airstrip, plunge from the heavens. I`d even been to the spot near Gudvangen on the Aurslandsfjord where intrepid base jumpers throw themselves off the towering rocks in wingsuits.
voss rafting centre
Voss, which contributes more athletes to the Norwegian Olympic team than any other community, has always been a sporty place, but Ekstremsportveko has helped engrain adventure culture in the atmosphere of town.
Nestled at the foot of brown-green mountains that are dotted with granite and where the last pools have snow, Voss has a cosmopolitan feel but also the edge of a frontier town.
“Ekstremsportveko started back in 1997 so we got in early on the extreme sports thing and it has just taken off,” said Voss local Breda Abasinan. “People have moved here from all over the world to work as rafting guides or paragliding guides.” So the reputation has grown and long after the elite have left, you`ll see an international crowd fit looking, ruddy-faced men and women in hoodies and weatherproof jackets, wandering under the wooden awnings of town looking for kicks.
voss rafting centre
I certainly found adventure on the Strandaselva. The head guide Nathan had warned me that I would: "The rapids will get more intense as we head down the river, and bigger and bigger splashes will come over the boat. You`ll have to help paddle hard to manoeuvre the raft so that no-one gets tipped out and the boat doesn`t flip over."
We headed down the river in a flotilla of five rafts. Chris made an excellent captain of our team - barked out orders in drawling Aussie. We had a little technical lesson on the calmer upper slopes that showed a great apppreciation for local history: "Ok paddle forward in time, pulling with your bottom hand, pushing with your top hand and making a noise like a Viking as we move forward: URGGH"
voss rafting center
So we grunted in unison eagerly towards the entrance of the rock-lined rapids like a crew of warring Norsemen, then hit the edge of a drop and Chris shouted “Get down”. We plunged into the swirling water in a huge explosion of white foam. The boat compressed as hit the trough of a waves, jolting me forwards, and then popped out again, all sense of direction lost in the fog of spray as Chris ordered us to spring up again onto the sides of the boat and start paddling again. I opened my mouth to let out a big laugh of exhileration and got a healthy gulp of Norway`s pristine glacial water, thrown up by a broken wave, was swept down my throat.
chris cummins
There were nine rapids to negotiate in all - including several pool-drop profiles and a section that was alarmingly nicknamed “graveyard”. On the raft a Frenchman toppled out. Quick as a flash the Zimbawean guide Tabuya Sibanda had grabbed a flailing leg and then pulled him up by the shoulders of his wetsuit back on board. If you grow up on the Zambesi, such rescue manoeuvres must come as second nature.
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The late rays of the Nordic afternoon sun sparkled on the rocks, made rainbows in the spray and illuminated the red-painted wooded farmhouses beside the river. I arrived at the bottom of the eight kilometre run soaked but thoroughly exhilarated and slightly confused about what exactly had just happened and how I`d managed to stay in the boat.
Voss Rafting Centre
That evening I sat with a warming coffee on the terrace of white-aited wooden Fleischer's Hotel. It had started to drizzle but I could see paragliders circling in the thermals like multicoloured birds of prey.
"The people around here adventurous", said Breda Abasinan. "They like to go out. They don`t look at the weather, they just look at what they want to do and jump into it."
The next stop for me was trip ice-climbing on the Folgefonna glacier. With the North Sea throwing some serious weather in our direction, I`d need some of that Voss spirit.
To be continued...