Winter Update

Winter Update:

At the Cabin, Golsfjellet

Another view from Cabin

I am sat here in the corner of the room, I remember this room from before. Another season in Futaleufu is being played out in a remote region of Patagonia. So how did I get here again?!

From my last entry I was sat in Sjoa, Norway. Not a bad place to finish off. And what a season I had there. Amazing country, scenery as scenic as here (Patagonia) but that’s the usual kind of stuff people have to say about places they visited.

If you are headed to Norway expect nothing to be cheap. Other than the Statoil coffee cup(200kroner) then after that free refills for the year. Spend at least two weeks there to see the Fjords, Geiranger being the most famous fjord (I think) but once there ENJOY. If you are taking public transport like the Train, Book in advance for the (minipris) discounted price. Or whether you are in Oslo do the tourist option that you can use all public transport and go to any museum for one day or multi day passes, that can be purchased in the tourist information office.

Flying into the country, apparently Norway has one of the Cheapest duty free in Europe. So that is the place to pick up your cheap booze and cigarettes. Try and be smart about it because if you are buying this stuff in the supermarket over the course of your trip, your bank account will definitely feel the pinch. Spending a few months there then think about brewing beer, you will become a better brewer over time.

Posing for the camera.

In Ireland, I was busy enough. As soon as I got home I was straight into family business. It was my nephews christening and my brother asked me to be godfather. So I have a godson to be looking after whenever I get home, if his parents need help that is.  I didn’t have a lot of time to hang out with my friends. I identified my first aid skills that were not up to scratch in Norway so I signed up for a Wilderness First Responder with Remote Medicine Ireland.

It was an exceptional course over nine days, for me it was pretty intense. The instructors were Ex-special forces paramedics and current Dublin fire brigade advanced paramedics. They taught us how to cope with casualties’ days away from help which is the perfect training for being in Patagonia. We learnt how to deal with Dislocations, current CPR, impaled objects in patients and cleaning wounds plus a lot more. For anybody in the outdoor industry looking for a course more than the standard Rec 3, this is the business.

Hot chocolate in Knutehytta, Kongsberg

After the course, Tora came over to Ireland to visit. Which was pretty sweet having her around and to do things with her. So we took the car and we went north to Donegal for a few days. There was a kayak competition on that weekend in Bun Crana. So it was even more motivation to go up and compete in the boater cross. The boater cross was on the Sunday so we cruised up Saturday late morning got a few laps in the section then headed for the hotel. The Course was pretty short for the advanced racers, racing a 20meters flat water section into class 2 water followed by a class 4 drop that required a clean left to right movement with a boof stroke at the lip cruise down then 20 meter flat sprint to the finish.

Sunday race day there were a lot of people competing, 40 competitors or so. The first two runs were time trails and the top six would race each other for the prize. I recall myself being second fastest on the course whooping some big mouths along the way. But the final didn’t really go to plan, I wasn’t that clean on the run into the drop and let Rob Coffey pass me before the drop(even to my shame because his boat was broken and full of water) so he came 3^rd and I finished in 4^th. Mickie Brennan cleaned the race from the start and took 1^st. Roll on the next Bun Crana weekend.

Soon after I went back with Tora to Norway for some cross country skiing. I was pretty excited to try some skiing as I never really had the chance to give it a good shot. We got two full days and we did 12km in those days. First day I fell countless times, especially going downhill shouting to myself “Pizza, pizza, pizza” a term I picked up for slowing down. The second day was better, I didn’t fall so much and was getting to grips with the slowing down problem.

Thats a whale shark

I said goodbye to Norway again until next year, looking forward to new prospects working for Heidal Rafting again. I arrived back in Ireland and I was almost immediately packing for my southern summer in Chile. Flying to Santiago via Atlanta, I had a 9 hour lay-over in the states so I decided to go into the city (first time in the states), advised to see the Georgia aquarium and the Coca-Cola museum. Surprised that there was security to enter but I guess that what happens to a country that is insecure and that has endured so much. The aquarium was mean, really good. Perfect place for a family day out, In the tanks there was Whale sharks, sting rays and all sorts of sharks. It was a multi species aquarium, a good way to waste some lay-over time.

The Coca-cola museum wasn’t bad, it didn’t have a lot in it that was of interest to myself. Some of the cool things it did have was a “taste the world” style that was different soft drinks from all over the world. “Coca-cola freestyle” was recently introduced explained the guide, basically you could make your own drink. For example, mixing vanilla coke, Fanta and cherry coke. On the way out, there was a complementary bottle of coke (happy days!)

Two Whale sharks

Thats John, the fella that created Coke

Make your own drink

Pucon, Volcan Villarica

First ever thanks-giving. not bad

This year working for Expediciones Chile on the Rio Futaleufu and it is pretty exciting to be working on a world class river again. Before I cruised down to Futaleufu, I spent a week in the kayak destination of Pucon. Pucon was having a dry year in terms of water levels. I arrived at Pucon Kayak Hostel at night and david explained to myself that the next morning they were going to the Rio Fuy  (which was an amazing river to start my trip). We were paddling with the Go Huge kayak school for the day. It was sweet to see some of these kids styling the river with no fear, a lot of talented kids that are the future of this sport. In the morning we paddled the Lower Fuy, a nice biggish volume run that had some nice “S moves” behind some holes. It was a fun run that also kept you on toes because it had some meaty holes that could beat someone unexpectedly.

Salto Palguin 80footer

After the Lower Fuy run, we went back to a hostel to get some lunch, a three course meal (salad, cazuela and desert) for 3000 clp around €5. Cazuela is a traditional Chilean (maybe argentine aswell?!?) meal that is a soup dish that has chicken, vegetables and rice. The perfect after river meal! We headed out in the afternoon to run the Upper Fuy because the middle was too high to run. The Upper Fuy was probably the best river I have paddled in Chile. I knew the Fuy was one of those glems that I wanted to tick off my list of rivers to run here. It is a technical run full of boofs over pour overs (a small drop, where water goes cleanly over a rock and at the bottom is a hydrolic, hole which is washing machine effect at the bottom.) 

It also had a 25-30 foot waterfall that was clean with a super soft landing.After this drop the river got very continuous with more drops (3-4 meters). Let me put it this way, You would not want to swim this part of the section! Lucky enough we were being lead down by one of the Go Huge guys. The rest of the week, we basically lapped the upper Palguin (3 nice drops in a very short section). One of the days we paddled with the Bomb flow boys, where I saw Evan Garcia firing on all cyclinders and paddling the whole river without portaging. It was good to see these guys at the top of our sport dedicated to styling lines and also documenting their adventures.

Thanks to the Bomb flow guys for showing us down the Palguin!

And now I am here in Futaleufu, where the weather has been crap the whole week, down pour of rain. That has been my past 2months, some of it has been skimmed over but that is the winter Update. 

aqua-planning out after second drop

First drop on upper palguin

Boof to swim, upper/middle palguin

Evan Garcia on Boof to swim

20footer off the lip

All these photos were taken by my i-phone and gopro hd

Clean lines out there folks. 

Pura Vida

1AdventurousLife

Norwegian Days

Norwegian Days

So it is around 4 months that I have been living in Norway, And its nearly time to leave.

Time goes relatively fast when you are working seasons. I arrive in a place looking forward to hanging out, meeting new people, experiencing a new culture and at the end of it all make some money to continue living this lifestyle.

So what has happened in the last 4 months?!!?

If you haven’t noticed already, I have changed the name of the blog. Because some big American company said I had infringed copyright on their company name. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to splash some cash on going to court. So I took the easy option and changed the name, which is now “1Adventurous Life”.

I haven’t gotten fired working for Heidal Rafting, so things here are going well. There is a bit of a Laissez-faire style to the job here. It’s a good style here that suits the work that nobody is looking over your shoulder.

Tora looking on at the waterfall. Photo:Greig McColm

 Already the high part of the season has passed and we are back into the low season. The good thing about that is there can be a lot more kayaking to be had. The bad side of it is not working so much, mainly working weekends. So the costs will have to be low until I leave Sjoa.

Like many of the places I’ve been to since I started travelling and working in valleys is, you have to make your own scene! It’s pretty easy for me because I have been doing that since I stepped into this world, so no problems there. Surprisingly enough I have been living quite cheap here too. I go to the market maybe once a week, spend a couple of quid. In comparison to Ireland it is probably 2-3 euro more expensive. 

The one thing you don’t buy in the market is beer and here in Norway the stop selling alcohol after 8(mid-week), 6(Saturdays) and usually on Sundays nothing is open. Maybe one shop but its usually pretty expensive. So back home don’t feel so hard done by with our drink curfew. I heard the reason behind alcohol being so expensive here in Norway was because a politician wanted to rid Norway of alcohol so he made it expensive (don’t take my word on that, it is what I heard).

Hoddevik, surf spot.

In June, I was training for the Gene 17 Sweet Rumble in the Amot gorge. So in a day that I had to work, it consists of Eat, Work, Eat, Kayak and Sleep. Or if I was pretty keen, I would get up early and walk 30mins with my boat to the put in and get on the water for a good session before work. After all that training I never even competed in the race because I flipped my raft that day and had to take a customer to hospital. Don’t worry he is fine! But there always is next year! I got some time to watch the finals on the Saturday, Good show while drinking a home brew. Nice!

Dropping in, Photo:Greig McColm

Wasn’t a lot to report on in July, that was our busiest month for work. So I got the head down and didn’t do a lot of paddling. The cousins came over on a recent visit. I invited Colm and Aife as part of Colms’ birthday present to come and do some rafting on the Sjoa. They never did anything like that before so I thought it was an awesome idea to bring them on one of the harder sections we do. I think they digged it.

Bhupi and Myself, Photo:Greig McColm

We headed down to Oslo for a few days before the jetted back to the Emerald Isle. It was nice to get out of the valley, I was getting a bit cabin feverish. So some A&R in Oslo was needed. We checked out all the Museums, Nobel peace museum, The Kon Tiki and Viking museums as well as just chilling and hanging out in Oslo. It’s a pretty “Small Town”. Not much of a city but a really cool vibe around the city.

Hanging out in Oslo with Colm, Photo: Myself

We went surfing on Norways western coast in a small place called hoddevik. And also to the most westerly point in Norway, Vestkapp. The weather wasn't that great. I haven't been graced with good weather when I have gone sight seeing.
We ran a big enough waterfall a while back called, "stuttgong fossen". Everybody was fired up to run it so all 7 of us got in down in an hour. It was around a 15 meter drop. I was pretty nervous running this, I haven't run alot of waterfalls. But I am keen to run some more and get the confidence up. This is reason why I am in Norway. On this drop I actually did a kickflip off the rooster tail but did land flat and thats why the deck popped.

Popped deck but on ecstasy, Photo: Greig McColm

And now to the present day, here in the Sjoa valley you can feel the valley slowing down, getting that little bit quieter. Just means more time for going boating! Happy Days.

1st drop on the Ridderspranget Section, Photo:Greig McColm

Photo:Greig McColm

In Flight, Photo:Greig McColm

Styling, Photo:Greig McColm

Photo: Greig McColm

Photo:Greig McColm

Meaty but Soft Hole, Photo:Greig McColm

A special thanks to Greig McColm for all the photos.

Stay tuned for some video action of the norwegian season!

Clean lines out there folks.

Pura Vida

1AdventurousLife

Amot Gorge Norway

Amot Gorge Norway

Welcome to Norway

Welcome to Norway.

view from my house

I’m sitting in my room in the Heidal Rafting guide house, when I look out my window I see hills woven into each other, thousands of evergreen trees covering these hills and above it all there’s a snow capped peak that I’ll be watching melting into the river just below. It wasn’t a long journey like most of my other journeys, but it was rewarding to come all this way and have these amazing views at my door.

first drop on Amot Run

Amot run 

The train from Oslo to Otta was very much similar to that of my view in my room. The journey was around 3 hours; it was convenient for me that the train station was in the airport so lugging a 40kg kayak around the place was a “pain in the ass” but not as bad as I thought. And a 40kg kayak that only cost me €15 for the flight.

From the moment the train left the station, it took an amazing route that the train passed through valleys with placid lakes and intertwined mountains. Every side burn/creek had flowing water in it that made me wonder, what the summer had in store for me?!?!?  I was picked up by “Tor” the owner/jefe of Heidal Rafting, my new boss. He showed me the guide house and I had a good pick of any room I wanted, which was a first for me as usually I arrive late in a season and get slim pickings.  

On the first Saturday after I arrived, the guides got invited to breakfast by “Tor” before the trip that morning. It was a traditional Norwegian breakfast with the usual cereals, bread and tea’s and coffee’s. But very much unusual for me in the morning cheeses, hams and salami’s along with spreads. There was a brown type of cheese that I heard of before I came here. It was quite good with a jam on the bread.

going deep.

Over the last week or so, we’ve been training on the river and on land. We’ve been spending a day on most all the activities covering what needs to be known. The Company sells not just rafting and canyoning but also bridge-swinging, climbing, rappelling and a good BBQ feast in the evening for any clients willing to fork out more kroners (NK). Besides training, we’ve also been working around the base and doing odd jobs here and there.

The Amot run, this is the new homerun this summer. The put in is a 30 mins walk from the base and a 5min drive. It is a nice gorge that is sporty run that keeps you happy but also on your toes in some parts, it’s only a 20-30 minute spin depending if you take your time or not.  At low water levels we raft the gorge.

boof over pour over

Yesterday, I went kayaking on the Upper Rauma with guys from my company and other guys from the other companies. It was the first time we were paddling together on a sporty enough roadside run. It was interested to see how we reacted as a group and who was keen to fire stuff up. I think everybody was cautious of this and nobody wanted to put other people in danger this early in the season.  So people portaged whatever they weren’t fired up to run, which is good to know. 

On the road to the Upper Rauma

Last drop on the Upper Rauma

I was nervous getting onto the river, even though we scouted everything. It was the first “bearly” (what the guys from NZ called a difficult or sporty rapid) run of the season. But once I got in my boat and fired up the first drop, I felt pretty good and settled. The Upper Rauma is a nice pool drop run, Easy to scout everything and also to portage (walk around a rapid).  After the run, we drove down to the famous Lower Rauma. It is an end of season run, which consists of a lot of must make lines that are technical and incredibly steep. Full of drops and at the end Flemmings drop (20 meters). And yesterday I saw this run with tons of water going down it. It will be fun to run that in August.

Ready to go off the ledge on the last drop

Little Huka Falls. Upper Rauma

Good things to known about Norway. Yes it is crazy expensive. The language is kinda funny sounding but I’ll give it a go. Well so far that isn’t great to know.

Because drink is the juice that we all crave but hurts our pockets too much when we drink too much of, we have already begun brewing our beer. The first batch is maturing in its bottle and two other batches are close to being bottled soon enough.

Slide on the last drop

Well that’s all I’ve got to Report for now.

Next time I should have lots of rivers to report on.

All photos were shot with my GoPro HD.

Live Unbound folks.

Pura Vida

1Adventure Life

Home

Home,
Home is Home. There is always the sense of excitement I get when I come home. Anxiousness to get home and have that famed cup of tea. See them familiar faces that makes coming home even more better every time.
But there is one thing I dont understand, it's that people in this country don't realise what an amazing country they live in. Of course it is good to take breaks, get focused, re-energised. But this country has got so much to offer, all it involves it getting out of your house. Going hiking in the Wicklow mountains, Surfing in Lahinch, Sea Kayaking around Ireland's eye, a revitalising swim in the Irish sea. Even nights out in Dublin are some of the best around. Hitting up templebar for a wild night and waking up without any cash. Visiting landmarks like New Grange in Meath.
It's all about discovering and finding a means to enjoy this life as you only got one life. Enjoy it!

Surfing Infusion wave, at Mundaca

Paddle guiding Puente a Puente

So I finally arrived home on the 26^th of March after a strenuous journey but happy to be home. I’ve been doing some editing on the footage I accumulated over the course of the futaleufu season. Finding work here so I’m occupied doing some freelance work here and there. So times are good. Also some house work, cleaning the windows of the house which was some of my most constructive work in the first week.

I got a little working holiday back in the emerald Alps of Slovenia for a week. Coaching and guiding the Shackleton guys, which was good fun because they were so motivated and keen to get out kayaking that it was super enjoyable on the river. This was the course I came through and to see the standard and interest in kayaking was incredible. These guys were charging and good times were had.

I love the Soca, It’s an incredible place and river.  I spent two seasons there and every season I spent away from that valley and I loath to go back. But as a wise man once said never dwell on the past. But its good to return and see good friends and paddle a quality river.

We spent a day in Venice, Italy. The choice was to stay in a hostel or sleep in the airport. Some of the hard core folk spent it in the airport. While I, Rob and Pat roughed it in a tiny hotel room. But it was probably the cheapest accommodation in Venice at €25. I was here before with my folks and relations a good few years ago, so it was good to refresh the memory of this ancient town. It was a Saturday so we went out on the lash that was an expensive affair. Surprisingly enough there isn’t a lot of places to hit up in Venice. We talked up the chicks that were there to be talked up to no joy but good night and a fair few good stories. Good thing about hitting it up the night before we were wrecked on the plane so slept right through. 

Few things to remember while visiting Venice. Its Expensive. So it helps to be absolutely loaded in this place with nothing but money to throw away. The average price of a beer is between 6-7 quid. This is definitely a town for the rich.  And you can’t sit down in St. Marks’ square for 5 minutes without being told to stand up. I think they don’t like the idea of people sitting around like rubbish on the ground. Which is understandable because who does want to see and kind of wasters’ hanging around a fairly big tourist attraction. And enjoy the local scenery!!   

So with Slovenia out of the way, I got back to working back home and the rain has come.

And Norway just around the corner I can feel a summer filled with work to make some wedge and get some amazing kayaking done in the Creeking paradise of Norway.

Here's just some late photos I never got around to putting up. 

Pura Vida

1Adventure Life

Portaging Zeta

Chris Spelius leading the instructing, with a mysterious brown?!

Milton and myself

About to get eaten by Mundaca

Racing at Futafest

Myself and Julio, good times

Thanks to everyone that took these photos!!
Muchas gracias!!

The Beginning of the End.

Like everything in life, there is an end to everything good and bad. Which makes us stronger, more wise and more ready to face more of life's challenges.
This season has been a rollercoaster, to say the least!

So I have changed companies at the last hurdle, I am no longer working for "Futaleufu Explore" and now I am on a trial run for the forth coming Futa season with Chris Spelius's "Expedeciones Chile".

Looking back, I am glad of the experience and knowledge I have gained from working with Josh on the Futaleufu river. Being thrown into the deep end in safety cata-rafting and guiding almost from the get go.
Some people crumble under that kind of pressure and some people strive under it. Which I think I strove under this. Which is what Chris Spelius described myself as "Rough and hard" coming from the river and circumstances I came from. And a "Drunk bar fighting Irish man" which is what he also mentioned.

After the whole "Futa X" scene, I hung around and we went south to Cara del Indio for the "futafest".
Good party, good times. There was some competitions such as Rodeo, boatercross, sprint, long distance(Puente a Puente).
I competed in the Boatercross and Sprint, which started up above "Toro" and finished below "Mundaca". There were some big name paddlers in there too, with the likes of Ian Garcia, Tino Specht and Jakub Sedivy along with some solid peruvians and local kayakers too.
In the sprint I was against Ian Garcia and some local guys. Along with Pedro my friend from working in Mendoza last year. Was a good race. I was last until the guys hit Mundaca hole and some flipped which I took advantage of and passed them by for second place.

 Once the "FutaFest" was over I started working for Chris to prove myself for the following season. As an Interim, I work getting room and board for the two weeks, I was there. It all went well. I have a promising season coming up. For the first time in my guiding work, I have two season lined up before I even start them.
Working in Norway this coming May/June. Followed closely by another Futaleufu season.

When there's highs, there's also LOW'S!!!
Towards the end of my time there in Futa, I started booking future flights to go and visit my sister in Germany. With the knowledge that my Flight out from Buenos Aires was on the 21st of March(my mam's birthday) which is why I remembered.
Word of warning when your flight is really cheap and it seems to good to be true, IT IS. I booked with Edreams and for sure they changed my flight when I booked way back in october. They never gave me anyway notification a week or days before the flight. Which my return flight was last year in december.
If I was made aware of this by the company, this mess up would never have happened and I would be in around London now. I believe it is a money making scheme by the company and I am not the only Muppet it has happened too.
So now, I had to pay a new flight!! Fantastic. Now I am in debt and all the plans I had or was thinking of, have gone out the window. Oh well life goes on.

Now I am sitting in the Airport in Buenos Aires, after leaving Futaleufu on Monday evening and getting a 25 hour bus ride. Im kinda tired.

The definate plans are to fly to London. Then to Dusseldorf for a few days and eventually fly home to Dublin for a well deserved pint of Guinness that has been waiting for me for over 3 and a half months now. If I can afford it.

Photos are coming soon.... bare with my folks.

Also I will have alot of time at home so eventually we will see some footage my futa season..

Until next time.
Pura Vida
1Adventure Life!!

Patagonian Times....

There is a few things I love about living in Futaleufu, Chile.
I like the way the town is only 4 blocks wide and around 8 blocks long. Nothing is really too far away to walk. That sounds a bit lazy but its good when it comes to looking for people to go rafting on the street. Because its pretty obvious most of the time that there is no tourists.

I like the completos (Hotdogs) because its not just full of crap that you would find in a typical american fast food place or at home in Ireland. If they even sell hotdogs in any place at home. The completos are yes, a typical german "Frankfurter". But the completo is made up of fresh avocados, tomatoes, americana salsa which is a nice chopped up lettuce and onion in some nice sauce really(not sure of all the details but its pretty darn good). And the usual Mayonnaise, a nice savoury mustard and ketchup. Made by a really nice old lady for a thousand chilean pesos. Thats around 1euro 30.
And for a Six pack of beer its 2 thousand pesos. Although it is small, a little of over size cans its pretty good.
Coming from a company like "Splash whitewater rafting" that we had clients always coming in the door and we concentrated on the numbers to a company here in Futaleufu that we have to go and find clients and persuade them to go is another thing. Which I dont mind looking for people but depending on it in the town isnt the best business idea. As there is quite alot of competition for a town this size.

Looking for Clients. 

So I think the season has being going pretty well for us, Futaleufu Explore. Alot of guides have left, not wanting to work anymore with certain people within the company but despite this I've kept going as I believe I can tolerate alot of shit from people which is patience, right?
So I have been working alot. Since the start of January almost every single day, bar 3 or 4 days up til now. It started out with alot of safety kayaking and now I am mainly Safety kayak and a good bit of Rafting guiding aswell.

Action Shot at Pillow

Watching the flip and ready to work at Mundaca

Surfing the Cata Raft on Magic Carpet. 

There's never been a dull moment working for Futaleufu Explore. It keeps things interesting in a way most raft guides dont like. But sometimes you just gotta try and make it work. And to a certain extent it has, more or less. But the river is incredible. You just simply can not get bored of this river. Because it is something different everytime. Some times anticipating flips to happen and other flips suspiciously happening. Its good because Josh my boss doesnt condemn flips. He thinks they are great. Because most of the time people want to flip then tell everyone which brings us more business.
Here in Futa, I like that there is no rush for doing things. Most of the time we make clients wait which isnt good in my books, especially coming from Scotland and my boss there Muzza saying specifically "Clients dont wait, as they've paid money." So we should be on time. But things here happen differently, Patagonian style. As usually a round trip to and from Futaleufu takes around 5-6 hours. And we usually provide a quality trip but its vertically impossible not to on this river. And not have any client smiling from ear to ear.

Scouting Throne room

Running Throne Room

In Futaleufu its good because there always seems to be something happening in the town. 2 weeks ago there was a weekend of Rodeo. So bull riding and so on. Lots of gauchos getting drunk and trying to lasoo a bull. .
There was a really good vibe to the Rodeo. Not like your typical American Bull riding show. Where the guy riding the bull is only on for 5-10 seconds.

Rodeo in futaleufu

Some fella giving it socks on the bull

This guy got a standing ovation for his ride. 

Future plans are that I have secured a job in Norway for the next European summer which I'm well happy to get and looking forward to kayaking alot in Norway and getting to know the people and culture.
Then for here in South America, the plans seem to be after Futafest that there is a group of us heading to the Rio Baker. So Im trying to find a boat for the excursion which is interesting because this river is about to be dammed in the next year or two.
After the Baker trip I think I'll probably go to Mendoza and see some friends and then on the Buenas Aires to fly to Germany to visit my sister in Dusseldorf.
So alot planned, so I'll see if that actually materialises.

Thats all for now on valentines day. Enjoy some more photos
Pura Vida
1 Adventure Life

Entrance rapid in Canyon del Infierno

Take out at Puente a Puente section

Scouting the Entrance Rapid to Canyon Del Infierno

The Futaleufu Explore crew with some Clients