Ula (Lower)
| Stretch: | From first bridge to the lake |
| Difficulty: | Class III- to III |
| Distance: | 1.7 miles |
| Flows: | 10 to 15 cms |
| Gradient: | 148 fpm average |
| Put-in: | First bridge over the river as you head up from the valley |
| Take-out: | Small lake before the final cascade |
| Shuttle: | 1.7 miles (5 minutes one-way) |
| Season: | May to June |
| Written: | © 2015 |
Norway 2015 - Day 11 Evening
The booked talked about how this run, although shadowed by its big sister the store Ula, is still great in its own right, with continuous fun rapids occasionally over bedrock and it should take ~2 hrs. Something must have changed since that was written. These days the run is continuous class II to III gravel bars with one rapid that felt like a solid class III+. The run took us maybe 15 minutes to run top to bottom as well. Driving up you can see what you are going to get, I decided to boat while the rest of the group's motivation waned. Diane however didn't want me to boat solo so she got suited up and joined. There is apparently another class IV from the next bridge up but the road pulls far away from the river and we knew literally nothing about it from a first-hand source, and our second hand source sounded doubtful as well. So we opted to just follow the book.
In total, I can't figure why this run made the book. We drove by so much quality class III and IV that was not mentioned... but this one made the cut. And it requires a toll to enter. And it was short. I just can't imagine even the local class III boaters coming here to fill their day. I always hate doing a write up that is fairly negative about a run since anyone reading this will likely go somewhere else... but I think this run deserves it. Non-descript rapids just added to the overall disappointment of the run. Oh well.
For the record, we had ~15 cms which felt like a great flow though made it more continuous (but less rocky as well). Also note, do not go past the small pond at take-out. The damn then drops into a gnar gorge that would not be a great idea to run.
Last: Norway 2015: Day 11 Morning - Jori (Lower)
Next: Norway 2015: Day 12 - Sjoa (Åsengjuvet)
Mi 0:
- Boogie...
- Bigger Rapid (III+). On a right hand bend there was a fun fluffy rapid that we ran down the right. Keep your boat straight and your nose up through the several tiers of holes.
Downstream there is more boogie...
Take-out: From the confluence of the Sjoa and the Lågen, head up the Sjoa on 257 for 12.8 km. Just after you drive past the obvious gorge section upstream of the rafting companies, look for a bridge on your left. This is take-out.
Put-in: Continue up 257 for 3.9 km. Just before the town of Heidal, turn left on Presgardsbruvegen and quickly hit the bridge over the river.
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