B ON THE MISH: Lower Rauma

Anyone who has been to Norway for paddling knows about this run. An ultra classic. Everything is BIG, intimidating but pretty clean. It also has the opportunity for those brave souls wishing to fire-up something off the Richter with Flemmingfossen, a burly 20m waterfall at the end of the run. Joining us for our float were Ron, Marianne, Rafael, and new addition to the kiwi camp Maxi Siech. We had a very healthy flow, which made some things pretty intimidating, but everything went. At this flow it’s also a lot easier on the hull of your boat.

The Lower Rauma is a short run, and if you’d done it a few times you might bomb down it, but as newbies we took our time to scout, film and photograph the impressive drops. 3 and a half hours and we were down to the takeout, super stoked on what we had just experienced in our kayaks.

Maxi Siech on no.2. Ulvaa river coming from the other side. Photo - Sam Sutton.

Myself on no.2 in the distance. Pretty cool setting. Photo - Sam Sutton

Marianne boofing onto the slide, high tech film crew in place. Photo - Max Siech.

Jamie dropping in. Photo - Max Siech

Jamie and I truck and trailer. Photo Max Siech.

Waiting for us at the take out was Flemmingfossen. These falls have more than enough horror stories to make you twice about running it, and to be honest, after running everything on your way down you’re actually pretty satisfied and not too worried if you miss out on a waterfall with a big hit at the bottom.

Contemplating.

Sam was the only one of us keen for it to begin with, he had been since the start of the day, but with more and more inspection he decided for preservation of the body. Good call. Leave it for another day we thought. Maybe come back just for Flemmingfossen.