{"id":25752,"date":"2021-09-12T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-09-12T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.nrs.com\/?p=25752"},"modified":"2021-09-15T10:54:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T17:54:46","slug":"the-evolution-of-a-kayaking-expedition-on-the-ubaye-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.nrs.com\/duct-tape\/2021\/09\/12\/the-evolution-of-a-kayaking-expedition-on-the-ubaye-river\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolution of a Kayaking Expedition on the Ubaye River"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the years, filmmaking has taken us to some very unique places around the world. We\u2019ve always used the trip or the river as the guideline for our adventures. The crew has changed, though, as lifestyles have transitioned\u2014some of us feeling as if we don\u2019t have enough time for expeditions and others don\u2019t want to fly across the planet anymore.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Hugo has been thinking of shooting a new documentary focusing on the river as its main character instead of a team of kayak bums. The river as a character, from its birth to its death, from source to sea and everything happening in between asking ourselves: \u201cWhat is a river?\u201d On the hunt for the perfect \u2018actress,\u2019 we didn\u2019t need to search far from home. High in the Alps, the Ubaye River stood out immediately.<\/p>\n

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We all knew the three classic whitewater parts of the Ubaye River and had paddled them several times over the past years. But somehow, we had never thought of going upstream to look at the rest of the river or find its source at the Italian border. Nobody lives up there and we still consider the place as wild as it can be even if hikers and sheep pace up and down in the summer and skiers tour the area in winter. We don\u2019t know much about the river after the Ubaye meets the Durance River in the manmade Serre Pon\u00e7on Lake. From there on, numerous dams block and slow the river\u2019s current and the quieter whitewater would encourage us to switch from kayaks to canoes.<\/p>\n

The plan sounded good, except for two details: when should we go and how do we access the headwaters? We ended up choosing a fairly random date of departure, May 20, hoping the levels would be fair. And we had two options for reaching the river\u2019s source. Option 1: \u00a0go from the end of the road up the Ubaye Valley. Or option 2: start one valley north and hike through a supposedly easy pass. Either way we would have to carry our kayaks a long way up, most likely in snow. Indeed, a kayak isn\u2019t any practical thing to carry to the top of a mountain pass but if you\u2019re hoping to paddle from the source, then it must be done. We chose option two and started to plan.<\/p>\n

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The winter had been dry, resulting in a thin snowpack. So thin, in fact, we wanted to believe the hike would be simple. Until April showed up and the snow started falling. By May 20th, (almost) everything was ready, and the forecast predicted fresh snow. We hiked only a short distance before changing into snowshoes! How awkward and wrong it felt\u2014and so our quest began.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the weather forecast wasn\u2019t a mistake and the 20 centimeters of fresh snow made our hike even more difficult. Carrying, pulling, pushing the boats\u2014we gave every method a try during the exhausting ascent. Reaching the pass was a relief but not the end of the day. When the Ubaye Valley unfolded in front of us, it gave us just the motivation we needed to keep going.<\/p>\n