Darin McQuoid Blog Reviews Tutorials River Directory

The Tysselva

It's rained every night, yet last night was special because it rained more than normal. We're finding the joke to be true about some summers in Norway; don't blink or you'll miss it. We must have blinked. It's another day of searching for something that isn't too high. We decide to drive up the Tiegdalselva and look at the infamous "double drop" that is supposed to go well with healthy flow.

Healthy flow indeed, too healthy for our taste.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

So we pull out the guidebook and drive around. How about the lake to lake drop? There couldn't be a more fitting name for it, a massive two tier slide that goes between two lakes. It's also very high and looks highly questionable.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

At least it's great scenery while driving around getting skunked.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Each corner reveals something new.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Stateside this would be an iconic location to photograph. Here just typical Norway. I don't think this slide has been run. It is the river we will paddle today, just a section much higher up. Between where we take out is a gorge full of slides and falls down to the one seen here. I wonder if any have attempted it? 
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

It's quite a drive up and around, by the time we get to put-in the river flows through surprisingly open terrain. Rok Sribar.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Looking downstream. It's supposed to be a class IV run but it seems like we may have a lot of water.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

The first class IV slide looks big. I guess we do have a lot of water because this doesn't feel like class IV. Manu Koehler.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Rok Sribar on the same, some of us make a big move to the left then back to the right.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Reiner Glanz heads left at the bottom.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

The above slide results in the only swim of our trip. The river is well padded and as we make our way downstream we paddle long pools and start portaging small slides with terminal hydraulics. Adventure kayaking is a good way to look at it.  At the end of a beautiful pond we're out scouting a big chunk of gradient.

At high flows the Tysselva is full of big holes. Too big for team silver fox, we portage again.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling

Oddly enough the mandatory portage of the run fills in and looks somewhat runnable. Somewhat. We portage again.
whitewater kayaking jora river norway photography paddling

We make the assumption we'll paddle down to the famous big slide. The river is just too high for this, and we end up hiking back upstream to a private driveway. Manu Koehler.


Just a touch too much water for our taste.
whitewater kayaking jora river norway photography paddling


Put In and Take out Via Google Maps.
whitewater kayaking driva river norway photography paddling






HTML Comment Box is loading comments...