Easter kayaking in Slovenia

It is snowing and freezing outside, however we are already planning Easter kayak and canoe trip. Last 2 years we used to go to Slovenia on the river Soca. Weather is usually better then everywhere else here so I am writing to our group (Eliska, Adam O., Adam P., Lubos and Dodo) if we will go again and for how long time.

The departure time for people from Kosice is Thursday morning, people from Brno will go after the work so we can meet in Cezsoca in the evening. Finally we are group of 14 people (3 kayakers from Kosice, others from Brno, Dodo will skip this year), better to make reservation in advance.

We are buying last things and packing stuff into the car the day before departure. In the morning we just need to pack kayaks so we can leave Kosice around the 8am. Around the 6pm we are already in Cezsoca. Guys from Mountain Base apartmens just returned from the river. They had not prepared our apartment yet. In a meanwhile we are waiting in their aparment.

People from Brno were just buying things in a shop. They will come later at about 1am. We would like to wait for them. Unfortunately Adam and me are so exhausted after long journey (and somebody also because of long sleepless night) we fall asleep earlier. Only Lubos managed to wait for them.

Will we go kayaking again or not? It stopped raining, let's go!

We wake up in Friday morning (well... just in time for lunch) and already planning a kayaking. We choosed upper Soca for warm up. There is not much water, but it is enough for us. For somebody too much therefor we are training a rescue, too. When we finished the kayaking we are thinking about the next run. It stopped raining so we decided to go again. Group with both Adams and Lubos is going to down part of river, me, Eliska and Maruska are going to upper Soca again. Others decided to quit kayaking for today.

In Saturday morning the water level is fastly rising. Too much water is not only in Soca but also in Soca's tributaries. Only few of us are brave enough to go kayaking. Also two new members of our group from Czech republic are planning to o kayaking. Even they started at the Korytnica river which had about 40m³/s.

The Korytnica river was great so they decided to go down part (Srpenica I - Trnovo II /slalom course/), too. Others from our group are thinking about kayaking, too. They are going to the easiest part from Bovec to Srpenica I.

The part from Srpenica II to Trnovo is rich for waves and valves, but there is still slalom course which is much more better. Lubos, Adam O., Ondra and Eda continues paddling down to Trnovo II. With Adam P. we are waiting for them in the finish. Adam, Eda and Ondra are still not satisfied so they are kayaking the Otona part, too. There is 170m³/s. Luckily they skipped the Katarakts.

In the evening we have a movie night - watching movies which guys recorded on the river today. We are also thinking about next paddling if the water level will not go down.

Water level is decreasing so we are going to upper Soca even though there is still more then 30m³/s. Some parts are less technical some are harder when there is high water. With the faster part we are paddling through Zmuklica canyon. Adam O. is waitin for the slower group. In a meantime we are already down and waiting for others. There is also a group of german kayakers which skipped this part. Maybe it would be better also for our second group. Lucka had problem in the middle of canyon and swimmed. The other boats had not enough space to pass around, so there were 4 kayaks and kayakers swimming in the river in one time. To make matters worse the inflatable two seated canoe turned upside down, too. We managed to catch up all of them even the equipment thanks to german group.

From this part the river is not so wild and we do not have more problems. In Cezsoca while we are waiting for car transport we divided into more groups. Some of us quit the kayaking for today, some of us are going to paddle the Korytnica river and the extreme group is going down from Srpenica I.

Veľkonočná Soča 2018 from Adam Piricky on Vimeo.

Firstly we have to step down to the river. First hard part... Some of us are scouting the canyon. It is not long but quite narrow. The inflatable canoe is going ahead of us, we divided into groups leaded by more experienced kayakers and paddling down the river. Maruska had not enough luck and she swimmed. In the middle part there is a low dam, I am scouting it and talking about the best line to others. Everyone managed it succesfully, however my run was not good. Instead of fancy boof I hit the stone which almost turned me upside down.

In the second part of the river there is just one critical place which Maruska had not paddled good enough. She swimmed but caught all her equipment and come to the side soon. We just need to get the water out of the boat. We finished in Cezsoca. After the kayaking we are going to ate pancakes in Kobarid.

Extreme group decided to continue from Trnovo to Kobarid through the Katarakts. They were paddling there while 80m³/s and we know we have enouh time until they will finish.

Almost everyone from us had a pancake. Some of us for whom the meat pancake had not been enough ordered the sweet one, too.

We are watching the movies especially from Katarakts in the evening.

And there it is. The last day of our trip. We are planning to start kayaking early. Started paddling in Srpenica I, having a break near Srpenica II. All of us decided to continue down to Trnovo I. Some of us had problems in the first rapid. Because of that we changed the order of kayakers, the first one is now searchin for easiest line then every more experienced kayaker is followed by less experienced. Until the slalom course we are fine. Except for not enough strength, we are paddling through waves and the valves just so we managed to go around the stones in time.

The slalom course is suitable only for few of the kayakers (extreme group) and Eliska. Others finished in Trnovo I. After midday we are packing the things and cleaning up the apartment so we can go back home soon. At about 2pm we are ready. The Brno is closer so the people from here have more time for packing. We came back to Kosice at about 2 am.

Lukas

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