Alpine Whitewater Française

TRIP REPORTS

Vive La France!

Who: Bruce Berman, Mykl Messer, Dave Berry, and Diane Owens

When: July 1- July 9, 2002

Where: French Alps (Barcelonnette, Bourg St. Maurice, Briançon)

Courtesy of Diane Owens

"Combine France and the French Alps, great whitewater, beautiful scenery, and of course French wines and cuisine to create the most memorable whitewater experience of your life," says the Alpine Whitewater Française web site.   Now, here was my kind of vacation – good food, good wine and paddling.  The fee for the trip covered lodging, food and boat rental but did not cover the airline tickets or alcohol.   I thought, "What an excellent way to celebrate my 40^th birthday!"  Very soon I convinced myself that I would go, despite the fact that a) I could not speak a lick of French, b) I did not know anyone who was going, and c) I had never been out of the country.  Bruce Berman of Pittsburgh, PA and Mykl Messer of Albright, WV run Alpine Whitewater Française.  Both are expert paddlers with over 50 years of paddling experience between them.  Mykl is fluent in French, so we relied heavily on him for translations throughout the trip.  Otherwise I might have inadvertently ordered duck tongues or some other … novelty.

I left RDU on June 30^th and arrived in Lyon on July 1 where Mykl picked me up, and we drove south to Grenoble to pick up Bruce and David.  From there we went on to Embrun to pick up boats.  I had requested a Phat thinking that we would be paddling creeky streams.  Unfortunately, the Phat had been rented the day before and had not yet been returned.  So with some trepidation I chose an InaZone 230 for the following day’s paddle.  I paddle boats with displacement hulls, and here I was climbing into a planing hull.  I just knew I was going to be the entertainment.   We then went on to Barcelonnette where we were staying for the next few days.

Barcelonnette means "little Barcelona".  The town has a definitive Mexican flavor.  Spaniards who made their money from textiles in Mexico, and then came to the Alps in the summer to build stucco homes built many of the structures.   They soon learned that stucco homes were not warm in the winter, and abandoned the buildings.  The bed & breakfast we stayed in was called "La Mexicaine" and is a renovated Spanish house.  The owners are Marie-Hélène and Alain Orru.   Anyone who knows me knows I enjoy food, so bear with me or skip over the descriptions of the food, about which I cannot say enough good things!  Remember that food is included in the price of the trip, so for anyone considering this trip, I’ve included detailed descriptions.  Besides, I just like talking about food.   Dinner is an all evening affair in France.  It is not uncommon to sit down for an apéritif at 8:00 P.M. and finish dinner at midnight.  Marie-Hélène is an awesome cook, and she started us with a cucumber salad with a yogurt and Dijon dressing.   Then we were served chicken in a tomato-based herb sauce and potatoes au gratin.   After the main course came a simple salad of homegrown leaf lettuce with Dijon vinaigrette dressing as well as a cheese tray.  Dessert was a pear torte – an egg custard dish with nutmeg and pears – served with espresso, and home made Génépy liqueur.  To me, Génépy tastes the way juniper bushes smell.  Génépy is unique to the Ubaye area, growing at elevations above 2500 meters.  People have been known to lose their lives trying to harvest the plant, as the Alps are rather vertical.

July 2. One thing to note about paddling in France: the fishing lobby is very strong, and thus you are only allowed to boat between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 P.M.   This greatly influenced the structure of our days.

We hit the road around 9:00 a.m. and paddled the Ubaye race course known as the "Four a Chaux."  This was a nice Class III-IV section.  All the rapids were boat scoutable and mainly boulder strewn.  As predicted, I was, on occasion the entertainment.  Having heard all about how well these planing hulls boats surf, I tried to hop on a wave and immediately found myself eye-to-eye with some French fish.  They look amazingly similar to American ones.  The scenery above water was stunning.  There came a point at which the canyon walls came together and were spanned by "the Roman Bridge."  Just before the Bridge was a rapid similar to Double Pencil Sharpener on the Upper Yough, and once again I was familiarizing myself with the aquatic life in the Ubaye.

We then moved to the Durance, which was an easy Class II paddle down oddly milky green-blue water.  It’s typical of the alpine rivers, which are clean but opaque due to erosion and sediment.  We were off the river well within the time limits, and headed out to eat at one of the delightful restaurants in town, Le Passe-Montagne.   Dinner started with an apéritif and something to nibble on (in this case sliced baguette with goat cheese and fresh herbs, toasted).  Then it progressed to an appetizer - shrimp and polenta in a delicate sauce with pine nuts.  The main entrée for me was roasted lamb over Swiss Chard sautéed with whole cloves of garlic.  Salad and cheese followed, and dessert was a crispy pastry rolled like a crepe with fresh peaches and marzipan, topped with a fresh blueberry sauce and a scoop of blueberry sorbet.   Dinner was accompanied by a couple of bottles of red wine; Beaujolais and Bordeaux.   French wine has no sulfites, so you don’t wake up feeling fuzzy.   That’s a good thing.

July 3: We headed back over to Embrun to see if the Phat had been returned.   No such luck; it had been lost on a creek.   Fortunately, a RPM showed up, which was my second choice and which turned out to be the most appropriate boat for the type of water we were to paddle.  We returned to the Ubaye to paddle two more sections.  The first one was a relatively easy Class II-III section.  The second section was Class III-IV with a couple of Class V’s thrown in.  This section was reminiscent of the Middle Prong and Big Creek in the Smokies, but with longer rapids, more volume and big boulders.  I got trashed in a couple of rapids.  We scouted one of the last Class V rapids, and I decided after my earlier performance that I would portage.  My energy and confidence were flagging.  My spirits were revived by another delicious dinner prepared by Marie-Hélène consisting of pork chops, lamb chops, locally made sausage along with ratatouille, and copious amounts of a dry rosé wine.

July 4: This was a non-paddling day, as we were leaving Barcelonnette and taking the scenic route north through the Alps to Bourg St. Maurice, our next destination.   The summer season in the Alps is very short, so all the wildflowers bloom at one time creating a cacophony of color on the sides of the roads.  We went over the mountains, stopping to admire and photograph the actual sources of the rivers below – snow and glaciers melting in the summer sun.  This year there had not been much snow, and our paddling options were somewhat diminished.  No matter, though, as it was all new to me and I was enjoying the adventure.  We arrived at "Le Penuel," our next B&B that was a converted barn.  Our hostess was Bernadette Michel.  Le Penuel is on the alpine equivalent of the Appalachian Trail, so it is not uncommon for hikers to stop there unannounced for the night.  Bernadette served poached salmon with squash and onions, potatoes, salad, and bread.

July 5. In the morning we hopped on the racecourse on the Isére, the site of this year’s slalom World Championships.  It was very Ocoee-like, and short.  The racecourse is man-modified, and the rocks forming eddies also form sieves.  Right out of the gate you were in fast pushy water. Bruce, the consummate teacher, worked with David and me on jet ferries.  We stopped for lunch, and then Bruce and I paddled the section below the racecourse.  It was an easy Class I-II similar to the Nantahala with beautiful scenery.  We headed back to the B&B for a shower, then to dinner at another hotel/restaurant.  This time we were able to eat outside on the covered patio.  The restaurant was located high enough on the mountain that we were treated to the twinkling lights of the town below us.  Lamb, potatoes au gratin, salad, cheese … it was heavenly.

July 6. Saturday was a cold, rainy morning, and the last thing I wanted to do was pull on damp, smelly polypro and go paddling.  My residual shoulder/neck problem acted up, and I was feeling tight and achy.  I was also starting to get homesick, so my mood matched the gloomy weather.  I opted out of running the racecourse, and Bruce, David and I ran the Nanty section below it.  My shoulder quickly loosened up, as did my attitude.  Mykl ran shuttle, rode back to the top with one of the raft companies and, after paddling like a banshee, caught up with us.  David took out, and the rest of us continued to the next section of the river.  This was heavy Class III water with holes to maneuver around.  It reminded me somewhat of Middle Keeny in the New River gorge at intermediate levels with slightly less gradient.  Bruce said it was like running parts of the Lower Gauley, and so I kept waiting to come upon Upper Mash’s equivalent.  Nothing like that appeared.  What did appear were gorge walls that formed a slot about twelve feet wide.  The scenery was gorgeous.

When we got back to the B&B we were joined by a number of hikers who had stopped for the evening.  Bernadette served fresh carrot and cabbage salads, a cheese and potato casserole, leaf salad and fresh apricots for dessert.

July 7. We said good-bye to Bernadette and headed to Briançon, our final destination.  Briançon is the highest town in Europe.  We stopped in a small village to look at the Guisanne River.  My eyes lit up and I started to salivate.   Here was my kind of paddling!!  I was pulling on stinky gear before anyone said we were going to run it.  David decided he was just fine watching, and Mykl didn’t feel well, so Bruce and I hopped in our boats and went down river.  It started out like the Middle Prong, but quickly settled down to boogie water.  Too soon, that section was over.  Bruce checked the guidebook regarding the next section, which he had never run, and we decided to go exploring.  This next section was nice Class III water, with two dams that we portaged.

Our next stay, "Gîte Altitude 1515,"  was high up in the hills in the small village of  Puy St. André.  Stefan Mentens was our host, and he prepared roast pork with roasted vegetables that evening.  I stuffed myself and waddled off to bed.

July 8. On our last paddling day, we ran the Gyronde to the Durance.  It, too, was like the runs in the Smokies, but low.  Several times we ran into shallow gravel bars that took some maneuvering to get through, but all in all it was delightful, and as usual, the scenery made up for the lack of water.  The Gyronde ran into the Durance, which has a racecourse that we ran several times.  Bruce continued to work with David and I on big water moves.

Mykl and I said goodbye to Bruce and David at the train station in Embrun.  That evening we went into the old fortified section of Briançon for dinner at a crêperie.

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Just a few notes about France and international traveling:

You can drink the water in France.

The French are fit, tanned, friendly people.  They love to bicycle, so you must watch out for them on the roads.  Motorcycles are a big part of their recreation, and you have to watch out for them, too!

Travelers’ checks are a thing of the past; take your credit card and ATM card.   You can get Euro dollars right out of the teller machine, and everyone accepts credit cards.

I packed too many street clothes and not enough paddling clothes.  Just like Week of Rivers, you’re in your paddling gear most of the time.  A pair of black jeans, a couple of shorts along with a few tee shirts and a nice sweater top for dinner out would have been sufficient.  I would recommend at least two sets of polypro of medium to heavy weight.  The water was cold, and I wore my drytop the entire time despite it being summertime.

Make sure you have about two hours in between flights to and from the international airports as you will have to stand in long lines to go through customs.  I missed one of my connecting flights due to a tight flight schedule.

If you can rent a paddle when you get there, do it and leave yours at home.   Several airlines have size restrictions, and you will be charged for oversized baggage (Midway charged $35, whereas Delta/Air France charged nothing, but I only had two checked bags including the paddle bag).  Check to see how many bags you can check/carry on; some airlines allow two bags, and others allow three.

SYOR

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