Together they read the water, checking out eddies and flow directions behind the key areas.
“It’s important to estimate the eddies correctly, know how to paddle towards them and how to use them to get to the next passage” Paulina remarks, after her first attempt sees her crashing. Pulling her board upstream, she walks back to her starting point along the bank to try the passage again, unsuccessfully. The third attempt is a result!
Trips on rivers and difficult passages are Valentin’s speciality. As a kid and teenager he did a lot of climbing, he was in the German climbing team.
Familiar with a variety of abseil and safeguard techniques, he is eager explore testing passages close to the Kuhflucht waterfalls – an influx of the Loisach River. Fixing his rope to a six meter high rock, he hooks his 15kg board with a snap-hook onto his climbing harness and starts roping. Paulina directs him and calls out the areas under the waterfall that are safe to step on. The potential for the board or pilot to get pulled under the ledge makes it a risky business. But Valentin is philosophical. “It doesn’t matter. Sometimes it’s part of the game if you want to reach your goal”. SUP
