This Unimagined Life

Tag: canyoning

Lauren G. Visits! and Canyoning!

Summer began to turn to Fall and then I had my first guest come out to visit me. My friend Lauren from CA had been visiting her sister in Turkey and flew into Munich for a few days before going back to the States. It was so nice to see a familiar face and have a girlfriend around for a few days (especially a native English speaker!). Showing her around Munich was also fun. I think when you give people a tour of the place you live and see them enjoying it your pride for your city grows a little bit. This was really good for me and just what I needed at the time. We went to a few of the typical tourist spots like the Hofbrauhaus, tried on some dirndls together, and then did a day-drinking tour of the city on our own. This basically means we walked around the city with beers in hand stopping wherever we felt like. At one point we bought beers but forgot to ask the clerk to open them. I figured I’ve seen Alex open a beer using basically any object at his disposal…how hard can it be? I walked over to a metal gate by the park and tried to use it as a lever to pop the cap off. I managed to make myself bleed and draw the attention of an older couple who was obviously German because he produced a bottle opener on the spot for us. I’m going to really have to practice being a better German. By the time we were ready to get some food I was a bit too buzzed to navigate google maps and find the Mexican restaurant I had intended on going to. Instead we ended up as Weisses Bräuhaus and ate until we were ready to burst. This is probably one of the best German meals I’ve had since getting here actually. What follows are the best selection of photos from a huge batch of drunken selfies we took throughout the day.

One of the last days of Lauren’s visit we decided to rent a car and drive into the mountains of Austria to go canyoning. The weather was absolute shit that day but we’d already made the plans so we just figured if we didn’t go canyoning we could check out a little mountain town. It was raining and freezing cold when we arrived to the town of Haiming in Ötztal and found Fankhauser Rafting. We were still undecided so we went in to get some information. We saw one other group that was there to go rafting but other than that we were the ONLY ones there. After some flip-flopping we decided to just do it. The water is freezing anyway so maybe it wouldn’t matter if the air was cold. We definitely made the right decision. This canyoning tour was even better than the one I did in Slovenia. Our guide Johannes was very experienced and did a great job keeping us alive! 😉 We got to do some rappelling down huge waterfalls which was really fun. Lauren had done some similar things when she was in Australia but nothing like this and she was the perfect person to bring on this tour, she did great, wasn’t afraid, and was having fun. A day like this definitely would be pure torture for some people so I was really happy when she said it’s one of the best things she’s ever done. The big moment for me was toward the end when we approached a spot where we had the option of doing a high jump, lower jump, or slide down the waterfall. We had just come off a pretty high jump so I was feeling some adrenaline. I didn’t necessarily feel the need to do the high jump but wanted to take a look before deciding. I walked up and looked over…it was really high. 15 meters which is about 50 feet. I think the highest I’ve jumped is maybe 40 ft but it wasn’t measured so who knows. Lauren took a look and said she wasn’t going to and that kind of gave me an out so I said I’d skip it as well. The tour guide responded “that’s totally fine, you’d be the first girl I’ve seen do it anyway.” What?! Why would he say that?! Obviously now I have to be the first girl to do it! So I changed my mind and stepped up to the edge. Lauren did her lower jump first while I stood above still trying to decide if I could do it. It took a lot of mental coaching, my body just naturally doesn’t want to follow what my mind is telling it to do. It’s such a weird sensation. Every time I thought I was going to jump I took a tiny step to the edge and then stepped back. It felt like I did this for 5 minutes but Lauren said it was more like 10. Finally I just stepped to the edge where I was supposed to jump from and leaped off. I was supposed to keep my body really straight and rigid but that all went out the window when I jumped. I definitely smacked my ass pretty hard on the water and at the same time that I was experiencing this amazing rush I was also thinking that I probably wouldn’t do a higher jump than that. When I asked the tour guide if I was really the first girl to do it he said I was the first one HE had seen do it. Tricky tricky! After the tour we had a nice tall beer and hot meal in the hut before driving back to Munich. This was such an awesome day and I can’t wait to go back there in the spring or summer when the weather is nicer.

This is someone else’ video but it’s the same canyon we did our tour of. If you skip ahead to 5:15 you can see the big jump. It gives a rush again just watching it!

September 30, 2013
Riding the Zip Line in Bovec Slovenia

If you’ve been following my blog then I’m sure you were expecting Part 3 of my recent series about why I’ve moved to Switzerland. But, we have to keep things in order here. There were some big things that happened between Tuscany and getting back to San Diego and I can’t forget about them.

In my last weeks in Slovenia I squeezed in as much as possible. With the discovery of my new found love of the Julian Alps during my Canyoning and Rafting trip, I wanted to spend most of my time outdoors. Luckily I had made some great friends to enjoy it with. The highlights of my last few weeks included a weekend stay near Lake Bled, a weekend hike at Triglav National Park, and another weekend in Bovec for some more canyoning.

My final adventure in Slovenia took me back to the small mountain village of Bovec. I knew I had to return after my first weekend there. I had left feeling like this was a place that I would love to spend my life. My tour guide Deni and I had become Facebook friends and so I messaged him to let him know I’d be returning. He kindly helped me find an affordable place to stay for the weekend. When I arrived, there was a little festival in the square and I sat outside with Deni and some other tour guides and tourists drinking beers and listening to some live music. It was a great way to start off the weekend. Deni acted as my host and invited me along on the tours he was working. He had another friend in town with his wife and child and so the five of us went on a canyoning tour together. It was just as fun as the first time except with the smaller group we made it down the canyon much faster.

After canyoning we enjoyed lunch together and then parted ways until we met up later for a zip line tour. The zip line park was so new in Bovec that a news team was in our group to film the experience. The tour was about three hours long and started with a ride up the mountain in the open back of a 4×4 military style vehicle. This was a thrill in itself as it offered amazing scenery and a fun bumpy ride. It was a much bigger group this time joined again by the family from canyoning, Deni’s son, the news crew, and quite a few other adventure seekers. I didn’t imagine that I would be so nervous for the zip lining but I’m pretty sure the kids were less scared than me. I guess that’s probably normal though as kids usually aren’t afraid of much. After a training session on a small zip line course in the woods we hiked up to the first platform.

The zip line is apparently 2.5 km total in distance, 130 m above the ground and you reach speeds up to 40 km/hr! I hovered in the back of the group letting others go while I attempted to calm my nerves. I honestly felt sick to my stomach and could feel my heart beating in my chest. This was the first time it was truly apparent to me that regardless of the fact that I like to cliff jump I am in fact afraid of heights. The buildup and adrenaline rush prior to the ride was actually more intense than the ride itself. Once you’re flying across the valley its actually a release of all that adrenaline. When you’re out in the middle of the valley you just scream as loud as you want, look out at the view and feel lucky as hell that you’re experiencing something so awesome!

After the long day we stayed up late into the night drinking pretty hard at the local bar. Deni and his friends were incredibly fun and it felt like I’d known everyone there for a lot longer than a weekend. While Bovec is a place that instantly feels like home to me, I realized that if I actually lived there I would have a really hard time keeping up with the amount of partying these people do. Especially after a long day of physical exertion! My last weeks in Slovenia were some of the best experiences of my life. I was really sad to be leaving but the 3 months changed me and I was excited to see what else life had in store for me. With one more week left before my flight back to the States I headed to Helsinki, Finland to visit my friend Tiki.

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January 25, 2013
Rafting and Canyoning in the Soča River Valley – Bovec, Slovenia

I have found my calling in life. When I found out I was coming to Slovenia one of the first things I read about was canyoning in the Soča River Valley. I’ve always loved cliff jumping and swimming in the mountains so this seemed like something I would like. Plus, from photos I could see that the Soča River was not to be missed.

So I had the opportunity to go on an organized rafting and canyoning trip in Bovec, Slovenia with InterNations. For 110 Euros we got to go on a guided rafting trip, have a BBQ, stay in Hotel Kanin with complimentary breakfast, and then finish the weekend with a guided canyoning tour. It was an excellent deal!

I rode to Bovec with Anne, Meredith, and Kevin (Meredith’s boyfriend who was visiting from the states). Idil, the girl from Vienna that I roomed with in Croatia had also arrived in Ljubljana by train the evening before to join the trip. After driving up the winding mountain roads we descended into a valley and finally arrived in Bovec, a cozy laid-back mountain town. It was the beginning of the season so I can’t say how busy it is in the middle of summer but it was really quite perfect at this time with not too many tourists. We checked into our hotel and waited to be picked up by the guides from AKTiVNi Planet, a local excursion company. They brought us by van to their equipment location where they outfitted us in thick wetsuits, helmets, booties, and life jackets. Then we were carted off to the ice blue waters of the Soča River. After dressing in our new outfits we divided into two groups and carried our rafts down into the river. First thing our guide Roli had us all take a dip in the water to feel the temperature and get over the fear of the cold. It was around 8 degrees Celsius (46F). I happen to like cold water from all my years in New Paltz, NY. We would go into the mountains on the first hot day after the winter thaw and jump into swimming holes. Of course you get out as fast as you can but the water is invigorating and fires every nerve in your body. You’re left feeling a burst of adrenaline and energized. In short, it wakes you up! Even with the wetsuits this water was shockingly cold. After our first dip we listened to instructions from our guide and climbed onboard our raft. This was my first rafting experience and it was so much fun! I sat in the front and got splashed quite a lot and bounced around. The best part about this trip for me was seeing the river up close. It is truly the most beautiful river I’ve ever seen and the valley surrounding it is so peaceful. Our group worked well as a team and we only had two people go overboard but they were quickly rescued. We made one stop on the trip at a giant rock where we propped the raft up as a slide and took turns jumping, sliding, and bouncing down into the river. We all made it out in one piece thanks to our guide who seemed to know this river like the back of his hand.

After returning to the hotel for some hot showers we headed back out to The Yurt Bar. This is a Yurt out in a field next to the river where drinks are served and the local guides hang out. They had prepared a BBQ just for us and the food was delicious and the quantity was great after the tiring rafting trip. After some relaxation and a few more drinks we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep for a full day of canyoning.

Ok, so now onto the important part…canyoning! The day started off pretty much the same with picking up our wetsuits, helmets and booties. Except this time our wetsuits were slightly different with some reinforcement on the ass and knees. We were also given what they were calling pampers which was an added covering you wore over the wetsuit like a diaper. Obviously there would be a lot of sliding on our butts being done. With gear in hand we were taken to Sušec Canyon (I think this was the name). We hiked about 30-40 minutes up the canyon in our wetsuits and booties. It was steep and it was hot! The group broke into song midway up which was a nice distraction. When we finally arrived at the top the ice cold water was inviting after the sweaty climb. I wasn’t sure what to expect on this tour since sometimes group tours are pretty tame so that everyone in the group can enjoy it. I was really hoping for some big jumps. To give a bit more detail on canyoning its basically hiking down the canyon in the water and navigating the natural waterslides and waterfalls by either sliding down them or jumping off of it into a nice deep swimming hole below. Of course some are deeper than others and some are fairy small. You do have to be careful about everything you do here especially because it can be easy to lose your footing and slip. Our first drop was just a meter or 2 and our guide Deni showed us how to properly slide down it backwards or forwards. With a nose full of water this was the start of one of the best experiences of my life. From there I was like a kid in a candy store and once our guide Deni realized that I was big on jumping he allowed me to climb up to higher spots with him to jump.

Having not jumped in quite some time even the smaller ones got my blood flowing. After a few jumps and with my adrenaline pumping I climbed up to about 7-8 meters (22-26 ft) with Deni. With just a few inches of rock below our feet he held my arm as we balanced there and explained to me the proper way to jump from this height. But then he began laughing at me “You’re shaking!?!” he says. “Well, um, yeah. This is scary!” I asked him to be quiet, took a few deep breaths, steadied my knees and went for it. What an amazing feeling it is to overcome fear and do what your mind and body are screaming at you not to do. I could become addicted to this feeling. Of course Deni then climbed about 10 meters higher and did some sort of flip or dive into the water. The dude is nuts! He asked if I wanted to jump from the spot he had but I declined as I was afraid I would puke from an adrenaline overdose.

The 3.5 tour ended with a 12 meter waterfall (about 40 ft). It was completely vertical and we were given the option of sliding down or walking around. Of course I chose the waterfall! For this we had to lay back and keep our bodies completely rigid as we hit the water. The drop combined with the force of the waterfall pushing you down made you hit quite hard. When you turned around and looked back and watched others drop into the pool it was quite impressive to see what you’d just done.

This day made me feel so happy and alive. It combines everything I love; nature, mountains, rivers, swimming, hiking, sport, physical challenge, exploration and adrenaline. You see the mountain from a completely different perspective when you hike it this way. I really felt as if I was made to do this and if there was a way that I could combine it with my design career somehow and get to do this regularly I would be in heaven.

The view from our room at Hotel Kanin

The view from our room at Hotel Kanin

The Yurt Bar, Bove?, Slovenia

Eating BBQ at The Yurt Bar after an exciting day of rafting

Meredith and Anne on the bridge overlooking the river

July 16, 2012