This years gathering of European C-boaters was located in Imst, Austria. In contradiction to last year where we had sunshine and close to high water, this years edition was blessed with medium to low water levels and winterish weather (even fresh snow on the passes!).

Never the less it's always a great pleasure to join old paddling friends and make some new ones.

The same as the last year, the group is split at least into two parts, those who go hard on easy rivers, and those who go hard on harder rivers. I prefer to go really hard on easy rivers instead of going for some harder rivers. Especially since I'm out here with my new boat: an esquif prelude.

We're a relatively small group, and head for the Lech, over the pass to the other valley.  Even at low water levels the Lech is a nice paddle, not only water technical which allows for some nice technical paddling,but also the scenery is great. Above all, it's a great river for me and the prelude to get to know each other. It is the first time we hit alpine whitewater together.
On our way back to the campsite, fresh snow is part of our way back. If you add fresh snow to a whole day of rain and cloudy weather, you can image we envied the group that went for a paddle on the Imster Slucht. They had sunshine all day!

The next run was in a slightly different group. We decided to go for the section of the Inn, starting where the Inn flows into the Inn, up to the input of the Imster slucht. It's a long stretch, just as the Lech one was, but weather was better though. Except at the output, there it started raining like crazy. Also here the low water levels left some interesting rocks above water, adding some challenging lines for those who felt like it.

The last day was a choice between Sanna or Loisach. I've been paddling the Sanna 2 years ago, but I didn't feel like hitting the Pianzer Cataract in the Prelude. So after some discussions I decided to go for the Loisach, at 1.15m. We went down with a group of 5, whereof only Stefan had been paddling the Loisach before.
WHAT A RUN! It's simply an amazing river. And even though I had a serious drop in my technique at the start, I got back to my normal paddling. For some of us it appeared a bit too much, and they got out halfway. We went further down with the 3 of us. It was a good thing that I recovered my technique for the rest of the run, since what we did up till now, was only a warmup. Amazingly beautifull and technical whitewater.
The Loisach is one of the rivers that should be added to my "must-paddle-at-least-once-a-year" list!

 We ended with a great chilli-con-carne by James and Martina. By now their cooking abilities are well known amongst the armada visitors.

See you again next year in the Pinksten Weekend in Wildalpen, for another exciting 4 days of paddling.