Piermonte and Tessin Trip: May 2006

Featuring the talents of:

Dom Crawford

Mark Browning

Ewart Aylward

Simon Morse

Roger Ford

Mike Scutt

We had earmarked the first two weeks in May as the optimum time to return to the Piermonte and explore the creeks further to our trip in 2005. But as it turned out we arrived too early, with lots of snow in the mountains, not much rain and all the melt locked in. So a few days were spent scratching around for bedrock, base flow runs, contemplating, drinking wine, and sampling various cappuccinos and pastries in historic town squares.

The low water suited some sections on the Sermenza:

Mark flairs a sweet drop on the Middle Sermenza

Mike admires his technical dismount on the Middle Sermenza. More water would have been nice.

Dom C in the action on the Middle Sermenza

 

We also scouted the Lower Canyon of the Sorba and planned to return another day for this. Ewart running the last drop on this section.

Then, thanks to Simon of www.gene17com, we were given some vague information about low flow runs in the Tecino region and off we went.

We headed to the Canobino (sp?), a low flow run in a tight canyon with many must run rapids and blind corners. A combination of kayaking and canyoning made this trip memorable if not technically demanding.

We had a crack at the Ribo. We descended this river with the style and panache you would expect from a tight-knit creeking team, including running the 'portages' by mistake. Only Simon (pictured) and Mike summoned the courage to run this big boy half way down the run.

We then headed for the famous Verzasca River in Switzerland. A river that holds a bit more water in a unique valley.

Ewart on the lower section of the Verszaca. Strange rock formations on the river give it a unique feel.

Then it was back to the Sesia valley for another attempt at the rivers there - hoping levels would have improved while we were away. That night it rained very hard, and we awoke to find the rivers in the Sesia valley were now very high.

With the recent rainfall and sunshine melting in the afternoon, we had an epic days boating on the Seminzino and Gronda rivers, both holding a good flow.

Ewart styles the penultimate drop on the Gronda 'race course' section.

Ewart employs the 'box stance' for the last drop.

We vowed we would return next year and continue exploring this beautiful region in our quest to run all the rivers at their optimum level.

Photos by Simon Morse, Mark Browning and Roger Ford