Poks at Gausta & Hattfjelldal

The PoksAdventure summer main trip  headed to Gausta. We were hoping to see Gausta as it had been for a few stable days: 15 cumecs. But no, it dropped into nine and below. The place where to look at the gauge is Ankarvattnet, just search the place from https://login.vattenreglering.se/vattenforing_pub.asp?screen_height=768.  Too dry now for most of places, but of course few highlights had to be run…

Just had to put this here...thanks for Aapo Halonen Photography!

Grand old man pushing the limits. Photo: Tommi Lyttinen

...And on and on. Photo: Aapo Halonen

Kayaking is such a great sport: you drive 1000+ kilometres by car, check the gauge, may be huck a few places, and by the campfire the group will have to make some hard decisions on what to do next day, and finally after well slept night the plan is perfectly clear: let`s move the camp 300 km, one river out there seems to be on fine level! 

After driving it´s good to have a dinner, and afterwards...Photo: Jyrki Kuisma

For us the river was Susna, lower, or middle.Well, anyway the leg that is printed in the guidebook. Powerful class 4.  It somehow seemed in the evening that gauge was quite near the 20, which would have been perfect level according to guidebook (link), but after we started the day at work it seemed a bit bigger (the oracle from western part of Finland was the very first person to doubt the matter…props!). And yes, after nine hours of kayaking and portaging we checked it up: almost 30. Ok, it seemed hard enough for us flatwater finns. Gauge can be checked here, find Nervoll (great website by the way!). This river really has the potential to blow your mind,  and you must not forget the upper part, which would have been too dry at these levels. Wonderful package! We paddled from the put-in to the first take out, can be seen from the very helpful guide above.

...you can find the treats of middle Susna. Photo: Aapo Halonen

Fine line. Photo: J. Luomala

Power is on! Photo: Aapo Halonen

Roughness and beauty. Susna. Photo: J. Luomala

Sometimes the river gods are favourable, sometimes not, sometimes they are bearing a  two-folded face. Stavasselva was at good level (no known gauge, but again great help from the guide), and off we went to have a real adventure, mostly read and run-style rapids but a lots of different style also... And for the brave and for those who are having a healthy young back there`s a real treat at the take out bridge. Not this time for us, bro, not this time. But yea, at what point did the rivergods let us down? Perhaps when some odd force moved one of our kayaks to the moving water while inspecting a curious spot? Beware of the mighty kayak thrower of Stavasselva!

This time not read and run. Photo: Aapo Halonen

Artistic view. Photo: J. Luomala

Sea kayaker training to boof. Photo: Aapo Halonen

One can have fun under the bridge, no matter where the bridge is. Photo: Jyrki Kuisma

Krutåga was a run that we just had to do. There were two reasons: double drop and triple drop. For some reason last time being here at this powderlike river we were in a mood of not so eager to run these gems. Well, ok, this time waterlevel was low, but we just had to…a few cumecs would have made it a bit more faster. Again, no known gauge but the guide helps you a lot! 

The first one of the triple. Photo: Aapo Halonen

The last one of the double. Photo: Aapo Halonen

Meanwhile, under the bridge. Photo: J. Luomala

And, finally, the second one of the triple. Photo: Janne Varonen

Trollforsen & Vouvosjokk

The first days of summer holiday, Trollforsen, a bunch of kayak hippies - that's all you need for happiness really. Pite river in northern Sweden offered four days of sun, campfire, sunburned noses, intimidating horizon lines, good lines, exciting lines, rope work and staring animals.

Thank you Mark Hirst and Lapin Koskikoulu for WRT courses! River safety and rescue skills needed on this trip!

This is where it all starts. PoksAdventure team doctor running "The Pillow" on the left channel of Creecking delta. Creecking delta is about two kms long section of class III-IV creecking in a beautiful open bedrock surroundings. The water is crystal clear and drinkable.

 

Downstream view to the only portage on the left channel of Creecking delta. The president of the Jyväskylä kayak club in the red kayak did an amazing job leading the group and bringing new people to see the miracles of Trollforsen!

The right channel of Creecking delta is slightly more demanding - a carnival of class IV slides and holes. Poks master of Jyväskylä styling the last hole of the first rapid.

 

Not everywhere can you see horizon lines like this! Not super steep, but the open landscape creates an unreal view when staring the treetops down there... Approaching the "Number two" on the right channel of Creecking delta.

 

Fätnafallet a.k.a. "The Autoboof"

Sometimes the autoboof button might be hidden, but the hair didn't get wet anyway... (because of the kayaker being bold...?) In this rapid going too far right might turn your good line into a more exciting one!

Millions of lines to choose between on the Creecking delta. The grand old man from Jyväskylä running a smooth line on "The Double drop".

 

The final slide of the Creecking delta

The Zik-zak slide. Only grand masters of kayaking are able to perform a combat roll on this line. Never seen one, but heard stories...

Lines like this lead to...

 

...swims like this lead to...

...rope work like this lead to...

...nights like this...

...start the spark in my bonfire heart.

White water kayaking is all about spending hour after hour in the car, day after day on the road... But the campfire pics are simply more fun to watch!

Always sunny, always dry kit at Trollforsen. Just beware of the mosquitos if trying later in the summer...

A nice little side creeck to avoid "Labyrinten", a rapid where you don't want to get lost.

Boofing for the first time ever!

The final hole on the Creecking delta. You'd better have a loooooong rope to catch a swimmer in this one.

Vouvosjokk is a five kms long class IV creeck, two hours drive from Trollforsen. Nowadays it's a hike in destination, in the picture you can see why.

Carrying the kayaks on the night before turned out to be a good idea. Five kms walk with the rest of the kit was a good warm up in the morning.

15 cumecs on Vouvosjokk offered a few really exciting slides and two portages.

The final rapid on Vouvosjokk makes you stay alert until the very last strokes.

In Finland we have this thing called staring animals.

In Sweden they have this thing called staring wooden animals.

Endurotykitystä ja ehjät etuhampaat

Jos tykittää liian kovaa, niin tulos saattaa olla tämä.

#otb

#fullfacehelmet

Se on siinä- PoksEnduro 2016

Nyt se on sitten ohi. Tapahtuma, jota aloitettiin Varosen toimesta pohtimaan jo pari vuotta sitten ja joka alkoi saada lihaa luiden ympärille Sonan ja Forran jälkeisissä illanvietoissa kesällä 2015.

Man behind the vision. Photo: A.Halonen

Tavoitteena oli saada aikaiseksi kisat, jonne olisivat tervetulleita myös sellaiset alan harrastajat, jotka eivät ole kiinnostuneita maksamaan urheilijan lisenssiä kokeakseen jotain sellaista,  mihin ei joka sunnuntai pääse käsiksi omassa kotikoskessaan: kisatunnelmaa kilpailussa, jossa mukana Suomen huippumelojia  kisaamassa, jännitystä, joka kohoaa kun huomaa itselleen ennestään tuntemattoman kosken kohisevan huipputulvassa…ah, adrenaliinia! Tätä mahdollisimman matalalla kynnyksellä, sitä tavoittelimme.

In the mood. Photo: A. Halonen

Jälkikäteen katsottuna uskomme, että sitä pääasiassa saatiin, mitä tilattiin. Kolmisenkymmentä melojaa lähti hakemaan omaa parasta aikaansa neljältä erikoiskokeelta tulvivalle Kuusaankoskelle. Kelit olivat kohdallaan, paidat löysivät suurinpiirtein omistajansa, parhaat ajat löysivät melojansa, Varjolan tilan sauna antoi lempeät löylyt…itsellemme jäi hyvä fiilis, toivottavasti kisaajillekin. Järjestelyt vakuutuksen ottamisineen sujuivat kohtalaisen vaivattomasti, toki suunnittelutiimi oli Poksmaisen jämäkkä ; )..! 

Sellainen fiilis tuli, että tämäntyyppisiä kokoontumisia, missä melojat monelta tasolta tapaavat toisiaan, tulisi tavoitteellisemmin järjestää: se mahdollistaisi mielestämme  kisakulttuurin kehittymisen..hmm..avoimempaan ja melojaläheisempään suuntaan?  Toki järjestäjiä kaivataan, paljon ja monipuolisesti.

Onnea Kokkolaan, paikkaan, jossa asuu hämmästyttävän paljon koskimelontaa harrastavia merimelojia, ja onnea Helsinkiin, paikkaan, jossa asuu paljon hyviä (entisiä) slalom-melojia!

Training in action. Photo: A.Halonen

Under the bridge. Photo: M. Kortesalo

Kiitos kaikille osallistuneille ja tukijoukoille, kuten esimerkiksi Poksin nuorisojäsenille makkaranpaistosta ja Varjolan tilan väelle! Formaattia saa tosiaan ottaa haltuun muutkin, eli lisää matalan kynnyksen kisoja Suomeen!

Waiting for the prizes. Photo: A.Halonen

Tulokset, results: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B50RBKG825wHWXJ0YTctRmxYVzQ/view?usp=sharing

Lisäksi palkittiin 

Päivän nuori yrittäjä: Riina Aho, upeaa melontaa 14-vuotiaalta nuorelta.

Päivän jämäkin linja ja suoritus: Mirja Väliahdet, linja suoraan pelättyyn keskihonttoon- huutia tuli mutta tyylikkäästi melomalla ja eskimolla pois.

Päivän draivi: Kalervo Mäkelä, hyvähenkistä yritystä loppuun asti.

Briefly in english: Over and out, first ever PoksEnduro has been paddled! Almost thirty kayakers dared to enter flooding Kuusaa rapids. Especially we were glad to see those kayakers participating who haven`t participated many competitions before: that was one of our aims, to have a common get together with all levels of kayakers. Thank you all, we at PoksAdventure hope that this type of competition culture will be nurtured more goal-directly in the future!

Myllykoski BigWater & IceBreak 2016

The traditional mid April racing weekend in Helsinki. Not a big flood this year, but still lots of fun and some carnage. PoksAdventure SRC Racing team dominating the seniors category, but Jalostajat and Team ProKei setting high standards in the boys' classes.

Myllykoski BigWater Festival 2016 is about to start.
(photo Mika Sipura)

Team Jalostajat on the warm up run
(photo Jussi Lehtonen)

Not everyone needs two blades or a spray deck. Jouni Turunen styling the main drop of Myllykoski rapid.
(photo Tomi Kallio-Könnö)

Team PoksAdventure giving it all
(photo Mika Sipura)

Team ProKei going strong. The less weight, the higher you float...
(photo Sami Mutanen)

This might be a bit painful...
(photo Tomi Kallio-Könnö)

The rope of hope to the room of doom
(photo Mika Sipura)

The E.G. of JKL doing the jalostus
(photo Tomi Kallio-Könnö)

Happy days! Myllykoski BW is a tradition to maintain!
(photo Sami Mutanen)