Austria & More 2016: Day 9 Afternoon
After running the Biote, we headed over to find camping near the Reinbach. With time to kill, Jim and I decided to also go look at the falls to verify that there was a enough flow for the following day. We had promised Harry that we wouldn't run it without him, so arriving in rain and finding a nice medium flow… it was hard to resist the temptation to run it. I was nervous if I ran it once I wouldn't want to run it a second time with Harry. Jim was less nervous about that as Jim is always game. As we get sight of the falls though I see some kayakers at the base, and another taking pictures. I walk over and it turns out I know the guys. The previous year in Norway I met a group of Italians who were with a mutual friend of ours. One of them, Francesco, had actually noticed on facebook that I was in Austria and had sent me a note, it was the day that we were leaving Austria though and I hadn't had wifi to check back on facebook to see where they were going. As it turns out, they path took crossed ours and there they were after having just run the falls. After catching up a little, they invited us for an afternoon run on the Aurino (Ahrnbach to German speakers). It was close by, short, and supposedly fun and really pushy right now with high flow. Sounded like a fun alternative to breaking our promise to Harry.
Driving back down to Schloss we finally get our first view of the river. A non-stop rollarcoaster is a friendly way of putting it. There were no eddies. It was obviously a high flow for it. Swimming would be horrible for sure, and that was before we found out that there is a weir at take-out just downstream of the slackwater eddy that you take out on just upstream of it. Luckily for us though, Francesco and Ludwig had done the run recently so Jim and I were just able to follow them down the section. There were a few holes to avoid, a few that you had to run through, but all told it was surprisingly user friendly. I actually walked away with a big smile on my face, one of the more fun sections that we ran on the trip although super short.
That night, we went back to the Reinbach to set up camp and said goodbye to our Italian friends. Harry showed up just as we began to try to call him which was fortuitus so we didnt have to try to drive around to find him. Very similar to what happened the previous year in Norway at the Jordalselvi camp!
Also, A day later, after actually running the Reinbach, we came back to this section and found a fraction of the water. It was much slower, many more eddies to catch, and the take out eddy was an actually eddy. It is also good to know, that running the weir down the middle if it came to it would also be ok.
This run is literally all one rapid… but there are a few highlights to know. Also, none of the moves are individually harder than class IV or so. But it is non-stop and all class IV moves so being out of control would be dangerous!
Thanks to Harald and Reiner Glanz for sharing photos and for making the trip possible!
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Mi 0.00:
- Flat. It begins with flat water to warm-up on
- Begins. The beginning is abrupt. It goes from flat to steep in a matter of a few feet. The first part is generally just boogie. As you round the bend to the left, it picks up.
Pre-Bridge. The section upstream of the wooden bridge is one of the crux's. There is a big hole on the right at the top. So we moved back to the left cutting behind one of the few exposed rocks. At low flow, this section was substantially easier. After that cut, the water converges together and goes down into a fluffy but not sticky hole. There are a couple more smaller holes just downstream that we punched straight through.
Bridge. It then mellowed out for a bit to less class IV. From this point forward we went down the left. There were a few little holes to punch directly under the bridge. We as I said stayed far left.
Post Bridge. As you round the corner to the left it again picks up. We stayed far left or left of center throughout. This ends with a broken ledge that we stayed far left on. This marks the end of the crux paddling. But don't get me wrong, there are still holes to avoid and it is still non-stop. It is just a little easier.
Take-out Approach. We approached take-out on the far right and then ferried to the left shore. This was to avoid some rocks and holes out in the middle.
Weir (V). Just below the take-out there is a weir. Note, there is a water inlet on the left shore just above the bridge, do not go into that! If you find your elf running the weir, at high flow do not go far right. Center was best as it was a two part drop. At low flow the center didn't look as good and the right looked a little more on the good side of marginal.
Take-out: On the northern side of Campo Tures San in Taufers SS621 crosses the Aurino. Just after it crosses, there is a small road with a handful of parking spots immediately on the right. That is take-out
Put-in: Continue up SS621 1.6 km to the very large turn out on the right. There was a carnival the day we were there.
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