Korpijaakko

– my personal views on all walks of outdoor life

Recommended read: Very white water and flying kayaks

2 Comments Posted by on 06/11/2011

There is not much to read this time but you’ll get cool videos instead!

The winter is closing in and at the moment we are living the twilight period between autumn and winter. Winter is a great season for adventure and one I am very comfortable with and I have also some cool plans for the snowy season but I have mixed feeling towards the forthcoming winter as I would like to packraft more. I didn’t get to packraft as much as I would have wished and I can still hear the call of the water nymphs at the Iso-Kurkkio that we didn’t run on the packrafting trip in the North.

Iso-Kurkkio (IV+) in Lätäseno. One of the few rapids we portaged.

So while preparing for the cold season I’ve been also planning packrafting trips for the next summer and happened to find a punch of very inspiring Finnish hard-shell paddlers and their cool videos. I can only dream about the stuff these guys do and I’m not sure if I even want to dream about it  but it is very inspiring none the less. It would be really cool to be on a same river with these guys at some point but I guess that first I have to reach a whole new level, or few, in white water paddling… But lets cut the crap and bring you some cool videos instead of dreaming:

A video by Tuomas Vaarala from the great white waters in the Northern Norway from 2010. There is some talking in Finnish but you don’t have to understand it to enjoy the flights:

And another video from Norway (Lönsdalelva and Rana rivers) from 2011 by Mikael Lantto:

Our ways of camping probably differ a lot but it seems that these guys know how to barbecue. The video (by Mikael Lantto) is one again in Finnish but you’ll get the point anyway 😉

Both Tuomas Vaarala and Mikael Lantto have more cool videos on their Vimeo sites so they are very much worth visiting if you like whiter water stuff. Tuomas Vaarala has also a white water kayaking blog but unfortunately it is only in Finnish.

So… Instead of upgrading my winter gear for the upcoming season I’ll probably need to save money and invest into a better paddle, a real white water helmet, better PFD and maybe get one of those cool GoPro HD HERO2 cameras… Hmm…

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2 responses to “Recommended read: Very white water and flying kayaks”

  1. Mikkel Bølstad 06/11/2011 at 19:13

    “So… Instead of upgrading my winter gear for the upcoming season I’ll probably need to save money and invest into a better paddle, a real white water helmet, better PFD”

    I second that. I could do with a full dry suit myself, but have a hard time deciding whether I should get a lightweight one, like the Ursuit MPS, or get something more heavy duty for packrafting.

    Cheers,
    Mikkel B

  2. korpijaakko 06/11/2011 at 23:39

    I’d say something more heavy duty. In my opinion MPS can’t take the abuse of packrafting if you’re not wearing clothing on top of it (suitable for icefiskers or skaters etc. but not for packrafters) and Jörgen’s experiences from Nahanni seem to verify this.

    I have the Ursuit AWS and I’ve been quite pleased with it though I’ve used it only for some 12 days by now… There might be some sort of an interview coming later.

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