Markus and Brian's Excellent European Adventure

Brown Water Rafting

I'll classify this posting under Switzerland to describe my little white water rafting adventure, and catch up on our time so far in Austria in another posting.

Switzerland, moreso than anywhere else we've been, is a country that's dedicated to a structured, socially-conscious way of life. Farms and well-cultivated fields are drawn across the rolling hills like a grid, recycling is a way of life (even moreso than Canada), and any kind of public noise after 10:00pm is against the law. Even if it wasn't, it's so ingrained in the Swiss collective consciousness that they'll avoid using the toilet past 10:00 (so that it won't need to be nosily flushed). And every home truly does look like a ski chalet.

But in Interlaken, all pretenses of a healthy way of life go right out the airplane hatch. I don't think my white water rafting adventure will quite compare to the danger of Markus', but it's up there. We got strapped into wetsuits (I felt and looked like a penguin), driven high up into the Swiss Alps, and given a crash course on what to do if you're thrown from the boat (answer: keep your feet up and make your peace with the world). We also learned our leader's four possible shouted instructions: Row Forwards, Row Backwards, Hold On, or Get Down. Get Down was like the nuclear bombshelter version of Hold On, where your only hope of staying inside the boat and not being dashed onto the rocks was to climb inside (instead of sitting on the edge), sit as low as possible, and pray.

Then, we started the madness. We began immediately on class IV rapids, which are just like the kinds of rushing, surging rapids you might picture when you think of the word, except these rapids woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and the other rapids did something nasty to our rapids' cereal in the morning. The rapids are fed by glacier water from the mountain caps, so they were also a balmy 6 degrees Celcius warm.

Being only one of two guys in our seven person boat, me and an American named Dan were at the front, responsible for getting our rhythm going on the strokes. And, we learned, also responsible for taking the brunt of the waves upon waves of ice cold water drenching our boat with every dip. It was an incredible rush: two hours of thundering water all around you, ice cold water soaking you from head to toe, and constantly blinking out the water so that you could concentrate on sitting in one place, looking ahead and frantically rowing forward so the boat wasn't dashed on the rocks.

Several people fell out of nearby boats and weren't able to hold on to the outside line. One person drifted quite far downriver and had to be rescued by a tiny safety kayak who circled around the boats. Our boat managed okay, but we learned afterwards that because of the torrential rains, the water levels were far higher than usual and our guides almost cancelled the entire trip. They had never let a group go on rapids as strong as ours before. The boat flip-over likelyhood was well into the double digit percentages. The water was a brown colour from all the mudwater washed into the river. Not a bad way to start my thrill-seeking life!

I've got some photos of our group in action on the boat I'll scan up if I get the chance. Anyway, off to see more of Austria for now!

Posted by Brian at June 20, 2003 12:26 PM