Closing the 2024 kayaking season

CW: contains extensive discussion of the finer points of whitewater paddling. Probably boring to non-kayakers. You´ve been warned.

Autumn is now definitely here. The mornings are misty, and most days we don´t see the mountains in the distance until the fog has burned off. The trees wear their most glorious fall colors. It´s beautiful! But it´s still time to declare the end of this year´s kayaking season.

For the season finale, our club traditionally puts on an outing on one of our home stretches: a lower section of the Saalach, just over the border in Austria. This is a grade II-III stretch, so low to medium difficulty. If you´re new to kayaking, and you´ve been training all summer, you could probably handle this, albeit maybe with a swim here and there. We had a fairly typical water level, between low and medium.

The section starts near the village of Au. There´s a big put-in point for rafts. The operators had already closed up shop for the year, so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. After a few strokes on quiet water, we go down a rock slide. After another easy 500m or so, the river turns left. Now comes the section I love best: A relatively short, steep stretch, with lots of boulders and eddies. If you´re comfortable in grade III water, this is where you start dancing down the river: Down the big waves, a quick tight turn into an eddy, then maybe go out again and try to surf a bit.

This part ends all too soon with a large eddy to catch your breath, and then comes the “Auer Hole”. It´s no longer a hole, ie. a water feature that, when big enough, might actually hold and swallow a boat and its occupant. But it´s still a good idea to take a proper look at this rapid before running it: a couple of somewhat bigger steps, with big boulders in the way.

In the end, the hole is no problem. There are several clean lines available. So we do a quick route check, then head out of the eddy, read and run. In any case, the water section below is quiet, and great for fishing out padders that might have tipped over - though that way, you miss some of the best play spots on this stretch. Too bad, because those are fun. In several places, you can use the current to pull you back up again, so you can do the same turn, jump our pirouette over and over again.

This past weekend, this wasn´t an issue. Our group was over 20 people, and mostly composed of kayaking veterans who could handle this section easily before breakfast. So it was super relaxed and enjoyable. A few less experienced kayakers did take a swim now and then, but the overall atmosphere was that of a chill time with friends, not white-knuckle adrenalin adventure.

After the exciting start, the river quiets down a lot. Depending on your point of view, it´s either boring, or a chance to enjoy the sunshine and the spectacular views of the Alps, with the river lined in fall colours, and the mountain peaks covered in snow. Time to relax and have a chat. Or maybe get in some practice on basic techniques like eddy turns. (Good for me, because I wasn´t feeling 100% fit that day.)

A couple of easy rapids here and there, and eventually we reach the put-out. Or almost: There´s another play spot at the end of the section near the town of Unken. After the easy last hour or so, this one is almost startlingly juicy: The river gets narrow and does an S-bend, first left, then right. Underneath the middle bend of that S, there´s lots of fun to be had in a fairly big wave. In particular, the eddy on the river left has a nasty countercurrent. It often grabs your stern and flips you right as you´re trying to pull in after managing to surf the wave.

And then it was time to paddle the last 100m or so to the put-out point, load the boats, and change back into civvies. A good day!

It might have been the official season closing. But with weather patterns shifting due to climate change, and better gear, there´s often a chance to go paddling later in the year, too. (And if it gets cold, many people switch seamlessly to ski tours.)

The day reminded me that one of the reasons I like whitewater kayaking so much is the people who do it. Yes, you´re alone in your boat; but you always, always run in groups. Everyone trains rescue techniques, and most people carry first aid. Cooperation is assumed, and there isn´t really any competition – just friendly rivalry about who can pull off the coolest tricks.

Let´s hope we can get a few runs in over the fall and winter!