This spring, a big camper van and a little Skoda headed out on a whitewater road trip. With them they took 4 excitable kayakers -myself, Jake Holland, Luke Davies and Sam Gregory...Having never been to the Pyrenees before, it was a new adventure for all of us. The variety of whitewater was vast, including world-class read and run, committing gorges and clean waterfalls (and some comical rock bashing in Seix!).
We grouped up in Chamonix (France) where we had all spent the winter, swapped our skis for kayaks and headed south-west towards the Pyrenees mountains. The kayaking started around a French village called Seix, just as a paddling festival was about to take place. The main rivers here were Le Salat and L’Alet, with a few sections on each. Although a beautiful and welcoming place, we found the paddling a bit ditch-like and after 2 days of steep rock bashing we were all keen to move on. So the big camper van and the little Skoda worked hard driving up and down steep winding mountain passes in to Spain, trying not to overheat until we eventually saw cars with boats on their roofs and a slalom course in the middle of a town called Sort.
Sort is probably the most well-known paddling hub in the Spanish Pyrenees and we had been given a heads up from a couple of local boys (thanks Aleix and Mariano!) that temperatures were starting to rise, meaning snow was about to melt! The main river here, the Noguera Pallaresa, really is awesome and has something for every standard of paddler. The ‘Classico’ section is a super fun high-volume rafting run, rich in big wave trains and freestyle spots. Below this is an extremely scenic easy float through a beautiful gorge. The real highlight of the Noguera though is the upper stretch, offering a variety of steeper, more challenging rapids. Continuous 4/4+, with a short exciting gorge and a couple of bigger rapids. Big smiles guaranteed at the take out! After a huge amount of rain on one particular day, all the local paddlers appeared and we had an awesome day of running the river at juicy levels with a big group of super stylish boaters who knew the river like the back of their hand!
Once levels started to drop in Sort we made our way to the ‘Bassin Rio Gallego’. This was a chilled but pretty river that we included in our trip as we wanted to do some climbing in Riglos. We drove here in the morning and spent the afternoon paddling the river; followed by a hot day of climbing the impressive 300m orange towers (or at least trying to in mine and Jake’s case!), then cooling off in the river.
A stunning location!We then jumped back in the van and Skoda and headed for the Rio Ara. The local boys were pretty enthusiastic about this river, and it was obvious why! There is over 40km of paddle-able whitewater, with a variety of styles and the most interesting sections being high up.The top section from Bujaruelo was a real highlight for me, a continuous and fast, steep pool-drop style gorge; not to mention the stunning mountain-lined valley the river sits in. I definitely had some ‘interesting’ lines on our first run, including nearly missing the must-make portage eddie and briefly getting pinned against a wall! This section was so good though that we celebrated my birthday on it! Being (a little) more stylish the next time round and just having a great time with my friends was an amazing birthday present! Jake and Luke manned-up and paddled the more serious ‘les dalles’ section, which was packed with impressive slides and tough, low volume rapids. Below this is the ‘Classico’ section. A really great section of about 7km, jammed packed with quality grade 4 (4+) rapids and finishing in the town of Broto.
Just over the valley to the East of here, in the Bassin Rio Cinca is the Cinqueta. This river is surrounded by steep farmland and has lots of interesting rapids and waterfalls hidden away. The Classico section was varied and interesting, low volume style. It rained a LOT whilst we were here, so after a cold wet day on the river it was very nice to hide away in the van with the wood burner going and a few cups of vino tinto to warm back up! Be aware that you need to pick up a river permit from the tourist office in Ainsa to paddle the Cinqueta and Ara. We weren’t aware of this and were pulled over by some (fortunately very friendly) police officers!
It was then time to start our journey back to France, via a town called Cauterets (also the name of the river). There are a few ‘paddle-able’ sections on this river; the higher up parts being pretty extreme steep creeking! The waterfall was the highlight for us here and we ended up spending a whole morning having fun on it, trying both boofs and tucks (Luke must have racked up about 10 runs!). From here we had a long journey to meet kayaking friends in Argentiere and had a couple of days blasting some high Ubaye, Guil and Briancon classics before heading to Val Sesia for Italian steep creeping goodness! Of all the rivers we paddled in the Pyrenees the Rio Ara was the the true highlight for me. I found it fast-paced, challenging, exciting and very rewarding. This river, along with the Noguera Pallaresa definitely make the long journey to the Pyrenees worthwhile. Both are awesome and beautiful. Big thank you for all the super cool local paddlers we met and paddled with!
Thanks for reading! See you on the water soon!
Sal
Article: Sal Montgomery
Images: Jake Holland / Luke Davies
