The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 128

ThePaddler 128

Next stop was the OetzValley
and a run on the lower section
from the village of Oetz down to the Inn and on to Haiming. The Oetz is an amazing river with so many
different sections and it is more for the harder end of the boating grades especially throughout the
Summer. In the Autumn when the river level drops, the Oetz is home to the famous Sickline Extreme
Kayaking event. It has been running now for over 5 years and its popularity has boomed with great
access to the site for spectators and media. It is now on prime time Austrian TV, which can only be good
for our sport! The Lower Oetz offers the Class IV kayaker a sample of its milder side to its character. The
continuous water that has a ‘pushy feel’ keeps everyone entertained but with the knowledge that if you
do make a mistake it will not punish you - well not too much! Half way down is a weir that needs to be
portaged, but do not worry as there is a rather entertaining sign post telling you that it is just 600m
away. Apart from the nuisance of a death trap on the river, the Lower Oetz is a great section of river.

We continued our journey. Originally we were heading
to the state of Salzburg but the area was devastated by
flooding and huge mud slides that washed away bridges
and took roads apart. The kayaking area of Lofer was
even cut off for a few days. Instead we headed further
east to Styria and made our base in the beautiful Enns
Valley and Gesäuse National Park. The first day we spent
running the Salza River – Austria’s equivalent to the
Soca in Slovenia. Turquoise blue river with views of
snow capped mountains and again great vegetation all
along the river gave us another remote feeling. It is a
slightly milder river than what we had been paddling
earlier but was great to get to grips with advanced skills
such as paddle placement throughout the day.

Again the Koppentraun had not been spared the
flooding this Spring. Just downstream of the put-in the
local residents had the water in the gardens and cellars.
The shuttle had also been lengthened due to the huge
landslide on the Koppen-Pass that went into the river
and again changed the rapids. Chris Strobl – a strong
local kayaker – had run it the week before and
explained the changes that had taken place. What we
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