Montrose Falls

After annual dinner I headed down to the lowveld with Adrian (a really old explorers member) and Brendan a kayaking mate. Thanks to the water release for the canoe race there was sufficient water to run Montrose falls on Sunday. Al and Chris met us there.

Me heading down first

Al styling the drop

Chris trying it out in a playboat

Adrian Vroom

Al jumping off the top of the 20m

Ash 3-4 October 2009

Pre Ash beers at the pig

Neil: Oh what's up Don
Don: Fine thanks and you
....(represents beer and general chit chat)
Neil: Stacey, do you know Don has a habit of swimming a lot
Stacey: (Nervous smile)
Don: I'm getting better
......
.....
Chevonne: stop talking about blumpies all the time
Everyone: Happy birthday Al
......
Al: I'm going to run bridge. Neil you must call me a pissy if I don't
Neil: sure thing
..........
...........
............
Chris: Dale do you want paddle on Sunday?
Dale: Sure
Chris: Ok so my plan is stay sober tonight, work tomorrow, go to the engagement party, leave early, pick up Dale from his party and drive to clarens.
Marco: (A huge rant which I will shorten to)Whatever!
Chris: Watch me!
Marco: fine the bet is six beers
.....
Neil: Later chaps off to get some sleep

So the plan as it stood on Friday afternoon; Jo and Jeremy are already on there way to Clarens. I would drive down at 4am the sat morning. I will do the 80km MTB race and Jeremy the 50km race. The rest will leave wits at 7 and paddle to bridge. Jeremy and I would meet them after the race. Chris, would drive down with Dale after the engagement party and join us for Sundays epically long paddle.

So, 4am comes, I wake up.... get in the car and start the drive. I turn back to get my wallet, and head off again. I arrived in Clarens and started the race. Since my race took a long time, somewhat due to the distance but mostly due to the fact that I am not very good at doing that distance at any great speed, I didn't run the river with the group on Sat morning. So basically I have no idea what happened until I met up with them later in the day at Alles rapid.

-------Enter don's report of what happened up to that point

-------


So I met up with the crew. The crew being Don, Stacey, Keren, Al, Nick, Jo, Pat, James and Colin. Stacey and Keren were sitting on the bank looking warm (no not really) but full of smiles. The rest were running alles a few times creating general chaos. Jeremy was supposed to be part of the crew, but due so miss communication (on my part) he ended up chilling at the backpackers.
Feeling like heman, I decided to go for a quick play in the stop wave at alles. Come on how tired can four and a half hours of mountain biking make you. After carrying my boat to the rapid I realised the answer, pretty damn tired. I had about three surf(none of which were any good) before throwing it in a heading down the rapid. We all paddled down to Bridge however no one really seemed to have the intention of running it. I was quite keen (since I really hate walking away from it) but realised it was probably a bad idea when I attempted to get out my boat. Apparently doing a long MTB race before cramming your legs into a tiny boat then paddling in cold water makes for a fantastic cramp mixture. A much entertained Jo helped me out out my kayak before I ran around in the mud for a while feeling and looking like a retard. So between the fact that my body was not working and that I wouldn't be able to get out my boat at the bottom I decided to give it a miss. Due to the cold and promise of tomorrow no one else was keen to run the rapid, so we opened some beers packed up, chilled and headed to Clarens.
At the trusty old backpackers we all set up camp. I, not having a tent (a situation I would regret later), passed the now freely flowing beer around. Nick and James made a fire and cooked the wors.
At this point I started to wonder about explorers. Good food, pretty girls.... what the hell is happening?

The Ladies looking warm

Thankfully the general discussions and banter haven't changed. With the beers, box wine and Heineken (apparently it is different to beer) we digressed into loud bunch who laugh at toilet humour and sexual innuendo (sometimes not so innuendoish). In drips and drabs we all headed off to the pub where much the same a happened.
Chris, who should have been driving to the Ash now, pissyed out (or came to his senses) and went to bed.

So, bed time. Sure sleeping under the stars will be fine. What the hell does the weather service know anyways.
A few things we where glad about
I was glad it didn't rain
I was glad I didn't check how big Don's tent was when opting to sleep on the floor in the pub when it started to not rain
Keren was happy that Don's tent didn't leak and her sleeping bag didn't get wet
Don was pretty happy he never left is shoes outside.

So in the morning it pretty much kept on raining. The kind of rain that you hope will stop, but you really know it won't.
Now the one thing about the Ash is this, it is cold. Not just a little but cold, proper cold. If it is nice a sunny out getting splashed is nice and refreshing, rolling gives you an ice cream headache while swimming knocks the wind out your chest. If, however, it is not nice and sunny.... Say windy and raining for instance... the Ash basically becomes complete misery.
The generally feeling one got in our morning camp was that paddling would be complete misery so needless to say no one was up early and into their wet kit. In fact we pretty much sat around looking at the rain thinking about our beds.
We all headed off for breakfast, pancakes and waffles at a local spot. Rejuvenated by food, warmth and banter we decided that we would give some paddling a bash. The general consensus was to head to bridge and run it.

We all headed up to Alles to get "warmed" up before hitting bridge. Al, who wasn't looking too keen on the idea of bridge was convinced when I told him I would run it. Bravely he asked me to run safety and without scouting again he headed into the drop. Al hadn't run it before so doing it in this weather was top notch move indeed. He styled through the entry but was knocked over in the drop, rolled and was shortly knocked over again. He rolled quickly just before hitting the shelf and made the window on the right. Nice one Alan.

Al Going for a crazy move down the drop. He was trying to style it for the ladies

Not really working out for him

Making it down the slide and hole, nice one AL

I headed down next without too much hassle this time.
Next the crocs came down one by one.
The infamous croc swim team pair, Don and Jo, headed down first. They styled it without too much hassle. I am a little worried that Don didn't swim at all this trip. It is completely against his nature.

Umko swim team captains, Jo and Don

Pat and Colin went next and tried a less orthodox approach, spinning the boat at the top, heading down the rest backward and hitting the hole sideways. Although they swam the hole didn't dish out much carnage due to the low Sunday level.

Pat and Colin trying it backward

Lastly Nick and James ran it, and made it without too much hassle.
In high spirits after doing some paddling we packed up and made lunch. Lunch turned into a Nick, Pat and Neil food fight. I think Nick ended up worst off.

Good trip, good times.

Nick after a food fight

What a great time, later!

Postscript: The tale of Chris.
Chris didn't stay sober on Friday night, not even a little bit. In fact he got so hammered he only woke up at 4pm on sat. Needless to say he didn't want to drive to the Ash on Sat night after a second party.

Umko

Umko, day1 swim scorecard:

No1 3 boats, 5 people
No2 1 boat 1 person

No3 2 boats 3 people

No5 1 boat 2 people

Arb rapid after lunch 1 boat 2 people

Arb rapid with playspot 3 boats 4 people


So after no planning, the trips sea-sawing between going and not going and even where we where going, we left for the umkomaas on Friday afternoon. Thanks to a general lack of experience of the trip on Thursday, taking beginners just wasn't possible. But in the end would have been ok.... 

The drive down is long as usual, we headed down in two cars. Chris Green, Chris Crogan, Don and Myself in one car and Jo, Rob and Paul in the other. We left a bit earlier and stopped in Mooi river for a beer and some supper. The other car met us there with not three but four people walking into the pub. The fourth, a rather boozed looking Alan grant, had decided at the last minute to come despite better judgement. Al had two test and and assignment the following week, he also didn't have any stuff. All he had was a dodgy sleeping bag he found in the storeroom. What a legend. 

So we got there late after some driving in the mist. Apon driving down the steep incline to the campsite the kayaks seal launched off the roof onto the bonnet then the ground. The entire roof rack had come off. After we finished pissing ourselves we decided to stash the boats in the bushes and get them in the morn. 

Saturdays paddle was good. The level was a lot lower than I was hoping for but still good. It was not all bad as Chris is new to kayaking and the river would be pushing his limits. 

I headed down to the eddy above no 1 with the two chris', who were in kayaks.  The rest where paddling crocs, even Al who's kayak was securely at home. 

I checked out the drop, and after a rye smile to the two in the eddy pissed down. Yes it was a big hole and I new Chris Green wouldn't have paddled anything this big. Crogan made it down with no hassle and gave Chris the thumbs up. He cam down and with big eyes hit the hole. He flipped and swam, but non the less had a massive smile. The crocs came down next; Al made it down no hassle, Don and Jo swam as did Rob and Paul. 

Don and Jo, swim 1 rapid 1

The rest of the rapids were filled with swim time and nice action. There are a few nice play spots along the way, which Crogan and I spent some time on. 

Chris styling No.4

Enter 5&6, which is one rapid, probably the biggest on the section. At this low level the rapid is quite easy however a little technical as one has to run the pinnacle (right) line. With more water a chicken line opens on the left, which for croc is a better option. I went first and headed left of the pinnacle, as despite looking more difficult proved to be not too much hassle. Crogan and Chris headed down the right and made it easily. Al, Rob and Paul made the right line in their crocs without an issue. So, Don and Jo..... Crogan and I thought it would be a good time to flash them as the paddled past, off with the pants and we were running safety. The headed down and manged to flip, in true team chaos style on the reaction wave on the pinnacle rock. So, jumping over rocks while trying to pull up my pants we scampered to our boats to pick up the pieces. Jo may have got a rock in the ass, which made a fantastic bruise. 

Me heading left of the pinnacle

Al cruising the right line

Apparently most of the trip never read my mail about the lunch plan, claiming they never got it. Most replied to said mail I would like to add. So the little lunch was split amongst the group, but we had a dry barrel of beer to look forward to come the take out. The rest of the river went along in similar fashion with the odd swim at unnumbered rapids. 

One rapid in particular caused much chaos. Seeing a few waves and not much of difficulty I stopped to play and sent the rest down expecting everyone one to make it. Well, when I turned around there where no less than 3 boats without paddlers and a bent paddle. Not entirely sure how that happened but there must have been some sneaky feature in the path. 

After some looking for the take out we, stopped paddling with time to spare. What was a cane field and a lapa is now a field due to a land claim on farm. So with the extra time we craked open our barrels of beer and started beering. In high spirits we climbed on the bukkie and started back, drinking more beer. What is generally a long cold shuttle turned into an epic party bus. We stopped in Richmond for more beer, where rob ripped apart a massive weed bush. The party bus continued with much urination during flight, except Crogan who stood most of the time at the back holding is pecker. The night proved to be a massive sleep fest. 

On Sunday we opted for a shorter section with a easier shuttle so we could head off earlier. We put in above highover and paddle to 3.5. With a slightly lower level and everyone knowing the river we made it down with a lot less hassle. 

Thanks guys and girl. Awesome trip, awesome mates, awesome times. 

Olifants

Penge (Or maybe the steelport) - Manoutsa



Are we Human or are we blumpie? ... Blumpie

On my drive back from Namibia, Chris while calling all the people in the world because he was home sick (or bored, one of the two), put Chevonne through to Al. "We're going to paddle the Olifants, you want to come?" she asked. "Any water?", I enquired, apparently there was, so a little paddle down the Olifants seemed like a great my to spend my newly found time and the last of my money.

Totally disconnected from all organisation, I happily headed off on this trip as one of the hanger-onners.
Haven't really been a hanger-onner on a WEES trip in quite some time, I quite enjoyed the experience. Don and Chevonne did a pretty damn good job at sorting out all the logistics. Chevonne also bought all the cans in the super market, which we had to pack into the crocs. While I gave her tons of abuse about the quantity of shit I did rather enjoy the meals.

So after making the trip late thanks to some police admin, Laura and I headed up in my car to meet Chevonne, Don, Al and Nick on the road. Thereafter, we headed off to find our trusty driver, Juugh, or something like that. Five or six U turns later and we found the man, all piled into his vehicle and headed to "Penge". "Penge" turned out to be the confluence with the Steelport, which is 20 km downstream from where we planned on putting in. The first thing that struck me was that the river was flowing the wrong direction, it also seemed to be smaller than was I was expecting. I initially suspected we where on the banks of the Steelport. Jugh assured me that with was the Olifants, feeling a little disoriented I took his word for it. He also commented my Flirt (play boat) was not a great choice of boat for this river. I thought we may have some interesting times on our hands.

He packed all the stuff in the world into the crocs, our supplies included many many cans, 20L of drinking water and no tents. These croc were not light. After an entertaining mating display from some donkeys we headed down the river.

Since we putin at about 4pm we decided to camp as soon as we found a good spot, which as it happened was about 15 minutes later. Our first camp site was under a large fig tree, between two rock fall spots. We erected our shelter and headed off to do some bouldering on the nearby cliff. It started to rain hard, so we all piled under the shelter and drank good olde OBS. Thankfully it stopped raining and we were able to get a good nights rest.

The following morning we all packed the gear in the boats and set off on the river, which we had now figured out was in fact the Steelport, ready for a day of big rapids brought on by the evenings rain. These rapids never came, basically we drifted down the fast flowing flat water admiring the scenery. After some paddling we decided to head up to a cave on a nearby cliff. After a dodgy scramble we made it, it wasn't the opening to a massive cave system we had hoped for. But the view was well worth the walk. A bit more flat water, some lunch, more flat water and we were looking for the next nights camp site. We stopped at one spot, which was nice but could have proved lethal if it rained. So with much objection from Chevonne we moved on.
The campsite we found was nice, a few trees to and some sand. We set up a shelter in preparation for the rain that Chevonne was adamant would miss us. After watching Nick eat some way too hot for him mild curry we all turned in for what was to be a moist night. At about 10pm the rain started. I climbed in my survival bag, Al in his bivvy and the rest in the not quite big enough shelter. At first the rain was soft and the only interruption in slumber was Chevonne trying to wake the gates of hades with chit chat about Don's newly formed bed lakes. The rain did not stop after it got harder nor did it get more cumfortable in my now cold and wet too-short plastic survival bag. No, it didn't stop raining in the morning either, so we had to pack up in the morning downpour worried that river would flood.


After some paddling the rapids arrived. The first section of rapids are caused by a narrowing in the gorge. They weren't too difficult and we pretty much bombed down without too much hassle. The next drop was a little more interesting, with a large pour-over at the bottom of the rapid, we scouted this one and ran it without too much hassle. Nick swam, but thanks to his black plastic bag top was able to get back in the boat mid rapid and captain his boat away from the retentive feature.



The best action is at the end of the section after the putin for the single day section. However, the scenery isn't quite as good as the upper flatter bit. The first rapid looked at first like a nice wave train. However, suspecting something "interesting" at the bottom, so I told Al and the crocs to stay in the eddy above the drop. It started off nicely but about half way down I could see things were getting interesting. I went right, should have gone left, and plugged into a rather large hole, almost got back-flipped and plugged into the smaller one below. First little bit of excitement for the morning. The spectacle from above had the rest of the group head down to check out the rapid. They all went left and missed the holes, how boring. The rest of the drops to the take out were nice read and run grade 3s and one long one pushing grade4. After some more paddling we arrived at the weir, which is the take out for the section. We paddled down the canal to the Manoutsa campsite where we spent the night and drank some beer. Below the weir is a nice looking grade 4 rapid, we gave it a miss due to the calling of cold beer and a cold nights sleep.

In the morning packed up and headed off to get our cars. Great trip, great section of water, good level, incredible scenery.