jueves, 20 de junio de 2013

Pyrenees stories!

As the season goes by I really take notice of how special this one is…. It’s June 20 and surprisingly there’s more snow In the mountains now than most winters.
Together with Aixas, Aleix & Marsal we been doing a few roadtrips around the Aragon area, levels there tend to be a little bit higher than in the Pallars.


A medida que pasa la temporada me doy cuenta de lo especial que esta va a ser… estamos en el 20 de Junio y sorprendentemente hay mas nieve ahora que en muchos inviernos!
Conjuntamente con Aixas, Aleix, Mikel & Marsal hemos estado haciendo varios viajes cortos a Aragón. Los niveles han estado mas altos por allí últimamente.

Myself running Virgen Blanca for the 2nd time this season!
We been running the Zinqueta a lot lately, mostly because it is easier to find good water levels there than anywhere else in the Pyrenees.  Had an awesome/crazy day running a solo upper upper Zinqueta, so similar to the Chilean 7 tazas!!! But a little bit more intense and dirty!
la joya de Aixas!!! Esta furgoneta es una pasada!
Hemos estado corriendo muchísimo el Zinqueta, mas que nada porque es de lo mejor que hay en España y uno de los mas fáciles a encontrar con buenos niveles de agua. Tuvimos un día genial en el canyon del gato, en el alto alto Cinqueta al final acabe solo yo corriendo los rápidos ya que el río iba bastante alto para esa sección!  Me recuerda mucho a las cascadas del río claro “7 tazas” aunque las de aquí son mas fuertes y sucias!

Few complete runs on Cinqueta de la Pez, wich has a beautiful 50 foot slide and a really cool 50 footer drop.
the biggest slide in the rio Cinqueta. so much fun!!

2 solo runs in the red gorge at high water! Normally people in Spain is always scared to get in there with a good flow because there’s a few holes where if you took a swim you would get screwed up hard.  But when you figure out where they are and how to get through them, running it at high flows is way more clean and fun!!

Seguimos con un par de rondas en el Cinqueta de la pez, que tiene una muy buena rampa de 15 metros y el bonito salto de la virgen (14-15 metros). 2 rondas mas en el canyon rojo solo y con buen nivel de agua! Normalmente la gente tiende a correr esta sección con muy poca agua ya que da miedo quedarse enganchado en alguno de los rulos donde si nadaras solo y con agua pillarías un montón… pero cuando sabes donde están y como atravesarlos correrlo con agua es incluso mas limpio y mucho mas divertido por supuesto!!

put-in drop for the cinqueta de la pea section!

Also saw some high water Ara !! The always fun Bujaruelo section was so scary high that nobody wanted to get in there, next time! La pasarela, chicane and the whole section of Torla-Broto was really fun with some good waves and fun moves all around!

De allí nos movimos al Ara!! El siempre divertido Bujaruelo bajaba tan a saco que nadie de nosotros tuvo el valor de darle, quien sabe si la próxima vez!!! Asi que nos fuimos a disfrutar de un Puente de los navarros – Broto con 2,40. La pasarela y chicane estaban espectaculares!!!
good times with the boys!
Competition season started off with the Pallars extreme race. Levels were as prime as they can be just a week before the competition started but somehow the cold came in and levels went down like crazy and we had a really shitty low level for the big day. We placed 1st on the team race with solid lines and pretty smooth paddling. Then we had the slalom wich I totally fucked up… touching 3 of 4 gates and not going fast at all… 
ready to go hard on the Noguera pallaresa extreme race!
Next day we had the sprint finals on the extasis rapid. I really like this place for a race because it’s technical and fun and there’s non flatwater. I placed 2nd  right behind Eric deguil and only at 0.20 sec.

Morning racers meeting!
on my way to fuck up the slalom race hard...
Second race of the Pyrenees cup was in the Ara. Levels again where super low… there were lots of flats where slalomers where going real fast and the rapids were way too easy.. anyway was a super fun event! Placed 2nd in the team race after a big mess between Aixas and myself and only 0,30 sec. after the first team.  Fourth in slalom and third in the sprint race!

running the biggest slide in the Bujaruelo!
always good times with my paddling compadre!!


got to enjoy some time with my little brothers!!
scouting mission of the best section in the pyrenees!




the entrance rapid before femur!