Italian Alps Kayaking Including the Valsesia River Fest

Well, it is January and I am on a kayaking trip in Ecuador just now sitting down to write about some of my kayaking adventures and competitions in Europe from this past summer. Maybe my new years resolution should be writing blog posts a little sooner closer to the event? A little late is better than never right?

This past summer really was one for the books. Climbing in France, kayaking in France, Italy and Norway and guiding trips for Disney in Norway. I have already written about the amazing experiences I had on the Verdon Gorge and climbing the Calanques, but I have not even begun to tell you about the spectacular country that is Norway.

But before I move onto Norway, I really need to finish up the rest of my trip in mainland Europe and most specifically, attending the Valsesia festival and kayaking for a few days in the area.

We arrived into Valsesia just in time for the festival. With tons of kayakers in town for the event, it felt odd to be at a river with so many other boaters, but knowing so few of them. Within a day or so however, we had made tons of friends from all around the world. That's what I think is so great about the kayaking community, you can go knowing no one and come home with lots of new great friends.

The pre-race meeting

The festival consisted of a individual, team and boater-cross race. Since we paid the festival fee to participate we figured we might as well partake in all three! Due to high water, the race course was moved from the typically class 4 Alpine Sprint section of the Sesia to a lower, slightly easier section. This took the bite out of the race and made it all about just going super fast.

Looking upstream at part of the race course

This is the first race I have participated in that had a ramp start. While at first it actually made me a little nervous, after doing it a few times I started to really enjoy it. It added a little extra strategy to the race, figuring our the best approach to getting out of the gate with those most speed.

The starting ramp! (Photo by John Campell)

The day started off with the team race. David and I made a few new friends to make up our team of four, which we lovingly deemed Team Submarine.

Team Submarine on the ramp getting ready to launch

The team race went great and got all of us feeling good for the afternoon's individual race. My individual race went really well and I ended up taking first place amongst the six other female competitors. The individual race times set the brackets and placements for the final event; the boater-cross competition.

All of the women competing were awesome, and I can say we truly had a great time racing against each other. There was lots of chatting about lines and strategies and just generally supporting each other, even with the element of competition battling it out on the river. Due to the low number of female racers, we had only two semifinal heats before the finals.

After making it to the finals, I felt the pressure to go fast. These women were not slow by any means and I knew I couldn't let me guard down if I wanted to win. In order to finish the course, you had a tag a kayak that was hanging from the bridge over the water. The kayak was located in an eddy that had a somewhat tricky eddy line. I came in hot, too hot and ended up totally hitting the eddy too low which almost me the race. Thankfully, the two racers behind me had similar struggles and in the end I was able to fight my way up to the boat in time to claim first. This race was one of the most fun I have participated in, and I loved getting to meet so many awesome women in the process.

The ladies charging to the hanging kayak in the boater-cross finals (Photo by John Campbell)

After the festival, a bunch of friends from the states came into town to begin their Italian kayaking adventure, just as my time was coming to a close (I had to fly to Norway to start my work there). We did have three days of overlap where I was able to check out some of the other awesome runs in the Sesia area. Over those days, we paddled the Upper and Middle Sermenza, the Egua, and the Middle Chiusella.

The Upper Sermenza was a class 5 experience, with plenty of portages and must make moves but also some really fun rapids. The lower Sermenza was classic river running, with a sweet walled in gorge filled with quality whitewater. The Egua is the Valsesia area's classic steep creek. Low volume creeking at its best! And while the Chiusella was not exactly my favorite river, as the water was on the low side showing its many pins and sieves, it was still a beautiful place!

Kevin Smith sticks a tight line on the Upper Sermenza

Diane Gaydos coming through the first drop on the Egua

Reiner Glanz boofing his way down the Egua

Making our way down the Chiusella (Photo by Kevin Smith)

After the Chiusella, it was time to head back to Milan to catch my flight to Norway. We finished off with an amazing Italian meal filled with delicious cheese, meat and wine topped off with gelato!

If you want great whitewater filled with world-class eating, drinking and all around life-styling, look no further than the Italian Alps!