Experiencing Kayaking in Sjoa, Norway with Gene17

Four paddlers from Greece, Yiannis, Nikos, George and Christina, decided to visit Norway for kayaking this summer each one having their personal reasons. However, we all had two good common reasons for joining the kayaking program; the 1st is Norway itself, THE place for white water kayaking and the 2nd is Gene17, THE team of kayakers who are charismatic personalities inside and outside the water.

We had heard and red a lot about the rivers of Norway and their hard white water terrains. So, when arriving at Sjoa valley we were hesitating setting high goals especially when we learned that the last three days had rained heavily and most rivers were almost flooded.

In the first paddling day we all realized very well that we were indeed paddling in Norway due to the huge waves, big holes and the incredible speed of the water that really impressed us especially when we attempted to compare it with the lower volume Greek rivers. That was the Sjoa play run section with 200-250 cumecs water level !!!

The next couple of days we found the opportunity to practice our paddling skills in the big volume Lågan, in the middle section of Atna which offers two completely different paddling sections and in the lower Ula which is short but is actually a continuous rapid. So, at the end of the week we could run harder rivers like the famous Store Ula, a typical highland creek with the ‘Against the Wall’ rapid, Lora with the athletic rapids, and the Sjoa slalom course with the awesome ‘Washing Machine’ rapid.

We all enjoyed the program very much inside and outside the river. The program had something for everyone with easier and harder sections offering different paddling styles and at the end made us think that we wanted to come back next year to run some of the drops that we ‘left behind’ or even repeat the hard rapids and choose better lines.

The Sjoa valley and particularly the Amot village where we stayed is a beautiful place nearby the Otta river and the Sjoa slalom course. We had the chance to meet the rest of the paddlers and realize for one more time how proud we are for being part of the kayakers community.

So, we had in the team James, Andrew, Ed, Louise, David, Diedra, from the UK, John from Scotland, and Allan from Canada, Holland and South Africa! From Gene17’s side we had with us, or actually in front of us, the world class kayaking leaders Simon, Matt, Nick, Lowri and Sean.

We thank you all for this life time kayaking experience during the week and we wish you happy paddling.

Until we meet again….

Team Hellas.