Upper Spean

September found paddlers Angus, Stephen & Allan signing up for club trips on the mid & upper Spean led by level 5 coach, Chris Dickinson.

On the first Sunday, the weekend of the Paddle Fest, all rivers in Lochaber suddenly went mad after an overnight downpour and the Spean became a massive powerful river in spate.  Not ideal for paddlers relatively new to white water, but the guys were in good hands and in choosing the right bits of the river to work in, their skills and confidence in vast turbulent moving water were rapidly built.

The following Sunday, the river was almost quarter of the flow.  Much less powerful and completely different, but nevertheless still mostly grade 3 rapids.  Chris therefore led the trio from Inch down to the woollen mill offering individual coaching en route as well as group work & skills talks prior to each of the technical bits.  The success of the trip was that the group felt they might manage this stretch on their own next time if done in similar river conditions, and that the group then began planning a similar trip down another river.

See more photos HERE

Chris has kindly given his coaching time this summer to Nevis Canoe Club at no cost so the guys made donations to the charity which Chris founded and Chairs, www.nepalschoolstrust.co.uk    www.chrisdickinson.com