Luke Partridge: Winter Water

I haven't blogged in a while. My bad.
I recieved an email the other day from a previous client (one of my favourite, obviously!) checking i hadn't fallen off the face of the earth. Which was really lovely.
I tend to keep this blog as a bit of a personal diary and to share with friends and family, who i don't see that often, and it's really nice to know people enjoy hearing about my adventures, i certainly like hearing about other peoples! (Even if i am guilty of becoming a green eyed monster!)
Lots of different things have hindered my social media going on's this summer, and i'll do my best to get around to retrospectives blogs at some stage as i have a few partially written ones which i'd like to share.

Me running "constriction" on the Spean Gorge, high level.

This winter has been difficult so far from a work front, with not a huge amount coming my way. This has been due to a number of factors, but primarily the state of "not so winter" conditions up on the hill. Gale force winds have made it hard to get up on to the mountain and fluctuating temperatures have been stripping the mountain of snow that has actually been falling. These warm periods have, however, brought one great bonus... Water in the rivers!

It's actually been quite nice to have a whitewater season this year, with last year seeming to go straight from summer into a maelstrom of a winter. Taking advantage of the snow-melt, I've managed to have some great days out with some great friends on some of the Scottish classics. Whilst i haven't managed to get out on anything really difficult as yet, it's been awesome to get lots of mileage under my belt on the rivers, after spend a lot of time in a sea kayak again this summer.

Me and my pals have also managed to run a few rivers that at least one of us have not paddled before, and before Christmas saw Chris Withers, Matt Haydock and myself on the Perthshire Blackwater. I had paddled this before a few years ago, but kept confusing the rapids for those on the northern Blackwater, or other rivers, so it was great to familiarize myself with an excellent river of varying character again.
We struck it lucky on the level and got it at an excellent "high" with the crux rapids being chunky, but whilst still maintaining their technicalities.
I did forget almost all my kit that day... but we'll not go into that.

Matt nailing an intricate line through the boulders

Chris nailing the boof like a big deal... with schlegal workblades!

Another highlight for me this Autumn/Winter has been getting a couple runs on the uber-classic North Esk whilst doing some work over in Aberdeen.
Lots of variety keep this run interesting and it's runnable at most levels, offering a different style of river depending on how much water is in it.

This week i managed to catch up with Bastien, Anne and Joe for a sweet run down the top and upper Findhorn. I often don't run the Findhorn when it's high, as it's my closest run, and the gorge goes even at low levels; so when there is water, i am often attracted further a field. However, i shouldn't be. There's something on this river for everyone, and the ability to link a couple of the sections together to give a long descent makes it an excellent day trip.
The "top" is only enjoyable in quite high levels, giving big volume bouncy water, with the "upper" becoming slightly washed out in places, with other rapids getting quite spicy.