Morning run: 2hrs for this lap.

Weather: 2 °C, hailing initially and pretty miserably cold at first.

Group: Me, Andy, Maddy, Fin

Vibes

Incredibly fun and pleasant. A bouncy ride with boils and one stand-out feature (constriction). Devoid of the scrape and portaging that are present at lower levels.

Features

1. Fairy Steps - Largely washed out. Two distinct steps, both predominately right lines.
2. Headbanger - Washed out and no longer grade 5 at all. A nice tongue on the right. Make sure to go right after the wave to avoid the central hole.
3. Constriction - A big loud drop around the corner. The main flow is split in two. Go left to avoid a munchy time, ideally aim for the left shoulder. There are eddies on either side. So much fun, and it looks worse than it is. The flow does go into a wall pretty quickly after the drop, so do make an effort to paddle into the eddies relatively quickly if you can.
4. Toxic Masculinity - Washed out and just a boily run.

Other Notes

Plenty of boils just randomly around. It was a miserably cold start in the heavy hail.

Afternoon run: 2hr50 for this lap.

Weather: 2 °C, with spells of sun, rain, and cloud.

Group: Me, Andy, Maddy, Fin, Ayla

Vibes

Another very pleasant lap! However, a swim just after head banger added some faff due to being in a gorge.

Features

The features were the same in this afternoon lap as the morning lap. Copied below for completeness:

1. Fairy Steps - Largely washed out. Two distinct steps, both predominately right lines.
2. Headbanger - Washed out and no longer grade 5 at all. A nice tongue on the right. Make sure to go right after the wave to avoid the central hole.
3. Constriction - A big loud drop around the corner. The main flow is split in two. Go left to avoid a munchy time, ideally aim for the left shoulder. There are eddies on either side. So much fun, and it looks worse than it is. The flow does go into a wall pretty quickly after the drop, so do make an effort to paddle into the eddies relatively quickly if you can.
4. Toxic Masculinity - Washed out and just a boily run.

Other Notes

We had a swim on the hole of the exit of headbanger, and used a throwline to get them out swiftly. The boat chase continued down to constriction. While it was possible to climb up to the path on river right from headbanger, there was no way down to constriction, and so the swimmer walked off from there. Towing the boat was fine, apart from trying to get the boat across the flow at constriction. Helpfully, there was phone signal (SMS, but patchy mobile data) along a lot of the gorge, which made communicating a fair bit easier.

Level: 1.6 m on Caminsky gauge

Weather: 5-8 °C, cloudy

Group: Me, Josh, Jacob, Abi, Fin, Cartwheel

Vibes

We ran this as a speedy lap and it was both enjoyable and uneventful. This was made more worthwhile by its proximity to our accommodation.

Features

1. Fairy Steps - Some fun bounce, but largely washed out. Enjoyable, and read and run with a solid group.
2. Head Banger - Largely washed out and now dominated by a wave further downstream. Quite boily!
3. Constriction - A fun grade 4 drop at this level. Worth having bank based safety and signals on the river right. It's a bit boily immediately above the drop if you're starting from the eddy on the right. The line is definitely left!
4. Toxic Masculinity - Boil, boil, and boil. Rocks here are washed out.

Other Notes

This was done quickly to facilitate a Garry lap in the afternoon and could be paired with a second river for those keen (or as a follow up to the Upper Spean).

Weather: 7-8 °C, no wind, changeable rain/sun

Group: Me, Max, Nat, Paddy, Vi, Amy J.

Time: ~ 4 hours

Vibes

Good vibes, boily in places, but features mostly quite nice. Bit of something for everyone. Scrapey entry, long lead out.

Features

1. Fairy Steps - Tongue, boof (left line), elbow, elbow. Worst bit was the first elbow, throwing you into rocks, also somewhat likely to flip. I did a naff run on my first attempt and took a roll.
2. Headbanger - Definitley a grade 5, two required boofs and plenty of ways to go wrong.
3. Constriction - Almost runnable, but not actually runnable lol. It required it's signature portage/pump situation

Other Notes

1. Plenty of blind corners precluding ideal scouting, but follow good practice and you'll be fine. Two of note: the first is between headbanger and constriction that throws you against a wall and is boily - you may find youself needing an offhand roll if flipped - this may have been "the cave", watch for undercuts. The second is near the end of the gorge, with two paths around a rocky island, not too tricky, but definitley some pin oppourtunities.

Level: ~ 0.64 m

Weather: 3 - 13 °C with sun

Group: Me, Ed, Jacob, Ayla, Aaron

Vibes

Not a whole lot of paddle-able named features, but definitely enough on to keep you entertained, if a bit portage and scrape heavy.

Features

1. Fairy Steps - A nice sequence of 3 (ish?) drops, all quite small for some read and run fun. There are more serious things on this river without a name.
2. Headbanger - Mandatory portage at this level. There's a few fake headbangers before you actually get to the real one. Portage on river left and seal launch in afterwards.
3. The Cave - Named in the guidebook, but we're not entirely sure what it refers to. Probably not a grade 4 - maybe just a little tight s-bend.
4. Constriction - Impassable in a boat, a fun out of boat jumpy portage.
5. Toxic Masculinity - A tight windy pin-risk of a "feature". Easily portaged. A tree filled gorge then follows and requires a naff portage.

Other Notes

You don't need to memorise anything on this, just lead sensibly.