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11/12/06 The Aberglaslyn Gorge
Following a lovely morning trip down the Llugwy on the 
up and got ready,
unfortunately at this point about 4 members of the group decided to run down
the entire length and have a look at the gorge, which is about 1km. While we
were waiting at the top the other paddlers basically talked it up [the word
gnarly was definitely used], mentioning how it had come up on yesterday, the
guy who got pinned wasn't getting on, etc etc, all
making me distinctly nervous. We opted to take the recommended option of
running the lead in and eddying out to inspect the gorge further down. The lead
in was really nice grade 3, incredibly clear water and sure enough there was a
big eddy to pull into and inspect the top of the gorge from river left.
Inspection isn't my strong point, as anyone who's seen my lines on rivers may
know, I tend to remember a few generalities such as stay right/left, miss those
rocks, don't drop into there whatever happens, that kind of thing, and hope for
the best. Basically the section was continuous grade 4[+], drop after drop with
little opportunity for catching eddies. One of the reasons for the grade is
that a swim at the top would be long and uncomfortable but thankfully those not
paddling set up as bank support. I tried to work out a line, picked a few
markers to indicate the way and headed up to the top.
Whilst I was walking back I was cheered by the site of some lunatic descending
solo in a creek boat with hand paddles, he had rolled twice before getting to
the main drop but it didn't seem to bother him unduly. I got on the water and
hung around a bit until enough people had headed off to probe it and then followed
suit. It turned out my inspection technique stood me in good stead as once you
went down the first drop everything blurred and it was basically read and run.
Every now and again I'd catch up with Chris in an eddy and get a breather as he
disappeared over another horizon line, soon to be followed by myself. It was a
great paddle, an adrenalin filled couple of minutes before you hit the big
fall, where a reasonable boof took me cleanly through all the mess and into the
eddy [for once]. We hung around a bit for everyone to regroup then ran the last
couple of hundred metres which was a bit more
relaxed, boulder garden stuff, picking quick lines all the way down to the
bottom and under the bridge where everything eases off a couple of grades and
before you know it it's all over. It is a very short section and as such
multiple runs would be the order of the day, unless you teamed it up with other
rivers [or it was dark when you got off as in our case]. It is incredibly
consistent great quality white water all the way down and it isn't very often
you a get section that continuous in this country. It's not too far from the
other