Melezza, Zwitserland

Rumour went that water was released on the Centovalli schlucht of the Melezza due to dam repairs, apparently a very rare event. This gorge is mentioned amongst the most beautiful of Europe, offering grade IV-V (VI-X) interspersed with more open sections. Problem was that the release was at 20m3/sec, quoted as the maximum level in the Spilker guidebook , longboats only. A message from Scheuer that the river was easier than lower Verzasca at 20m3/sec did not really inspire much confidence as we had our hands full with the way easier middle Verzasca the day before. In the end we decided to go for it as the guidebook also says that everything can be portaged.

At the put in we were greeted by some quite professionally looking boaters, big ?O? and the like, with shiny new gear and Adidas written all over. The contrast with our team, featuring vintage Topo and some original Schlegell paddles was quite hilarious. High above the put-in we had a first glimpse at the entrance rapid to the gorge, looking furious and no portage line to be spotted. This put the stress factor immediately quite high but luckily with a lot of scrambling and sweating we were able to portage the entrance. This routine would be repeated at most of the grade V rapids but we also paddled some very nice and pushy grade IV cataracts. Due to the strong flow and the imminent presenc of more difficult rapids we had to scout a lot, very time and energy consuming. Jo managed to break his faithfull Eskimo paddle and had to resort to the splits while Stef managed to loose his boat just above an ugly siphon. The rescue action involved some rope work but mainly big balls from Stef. At this point and about 1km from the take out, Stef and Jo were sufficiently wasted to consider carrying out their boats from the gorge. I nearly joined them but finally opted for the easier way out following a team that knew the river to the take out. Paddling the last km based on verbal beta with some guys that came from the Teva challenge was still quite exciting.

The gorge is indeed very beautiful but we were probably too focused on the WW to really notice. A slightly lower flow for a first run would have served us better but still a great and probably once-in-a-lifetime experience (unless they bomb the dam).

Medevaarders