ASIDE FROM DAMS , WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE BIGGEST THREAT TO RIVERS IN EUROPE AND THE WIDER WORLD ?
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Besides dams , it ’ s climate change for me , which is threatening rivers worldwide . During Bike2Boat , I hiked up to the source of the Oetz , which is a glacier . It was many kilometres before I could first lay eyes on the remaining glacier ; there were signs of where the glacier had reached , just 50 to 100 years ago . To see and experience the loss of the glacier system first-hand was eye-opening ! Other than that , I found myself in some of the most remote places on the planet where trash was still a problem . During an expedition in Tibet and Nepal , I was in the deep thick jungle , many miles away from civilization , but plastic was floating around the river everywhere .
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Being an international paddler and being environmentally friendly is a difficult balance . What steps do you take to support eco-friendly decisions both at home in Germany and when you are away on trips ? It ’ s super tricky to find a balance for that . I know that all my travels by plane or car put out a significant amount of C02 and are not necessarily sustainable . So I try to even out where I can : do C02 neutral trips like Bike2Boat and use the audience reach from that , raise money for organizations like the Free Rivers fund ( I ran an online raffle together with my sponsors with many prizes given from them ), use my reach on social media to stand up for the what I think are the essential things , do river clean-ups and such .
We have heard some horror stories about the current hydro construction plans in the Oetztal Valley in Austria . What do you know about this ? Are there any organizations that our readers can check out to help support this area ? There is a huge scandal in the Oetz Valley going on right now . It all started in 2020 when the dam company started building it without legal permission , and WET and Free Rivers Fund started campaigning against it and got support from the WWF . These three organizations would be ones to check out concerning the Oetz Valley damming and multiple rivers in the alps . that , I always get the itch when I spend too much time on well-known whitewater , and I need to do something which challenges me in a different way – and that ’ s where expedition kayaking comes in !
Figuring out possible areas to hit , learning about the water levels and doing research – dealing with logistics in your area of interest all takes a lot of time and creative ways to figure things out – not knowing whether you will find anything worth your time . But being in that place , in your kayak , and exploring the unknown is so special to me- and when you struck gold and find a new epic river or waterfall , life for me cannot get much better .
If you could go anywhere in the world to paddle , where would it be , and what appeals about that location ? I am very grateful and lucky to say that this is precisely what I do most of the year : figure out a place where I want to paddle and go there . I have a super sick project up my sleeve in northern Siberia , which I was going to go and do this May , but given the recent invasion of Russia into Ukraine , that will not happen anytime soon , unfortunately .
@ adrianmatternkayak
You started as a freestyle paddler – what drove you to pursue whitewater more heavily ? I came from freestyle which I think was super helpful for my career as a whitewater kayaker . Having orientation in a hole and knowing how to also tumble out of some big features helped me many times ! Saying that I was never outstanding in freestyle , I did it for fun , and it helped me meet fellow kayakers from around the world . When I was at worlds back in 2013 , it started to annoy me how little time on the water I could spend . Between training slots for each country and dam release times , it wasn ’ t that much time on the water every day – so I stole away to the Green River narrows one day to paddle some whitewater for myself , and what can I say , I loved it . Realizing that I function way better outside the world of rules made up by men , rather than dealing with rules set by nature , made me change and switch over to extreme whitewater kayaking completely .
Which do you prefer , white water trips to wellknown destinations or far-flung expeditions ? For me , it ’ s honestly the mix of both . It for sure is super nice just to rock up and bang down some classic runs , not much scouting required and just joy kayaking . Saying
Walking up the Devil ’ s Gorge of the Saalach River
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