Corsica

Instead of buying me a bread maker or some other kitchen appliance for my wedding present, the boys decided to take me to Corsica on a kayak trip, I should have got married sooner!


Kayaks being loaded

Me and Geir Inge left Bergen airportand met up in Nice with Arne, who was waiting for us with the hire car. Europcar didn't have the small van we had ordered so they upgraded us to a bigger one. Unfortunately they didn't think how this extra size would effect us on the ferry to Corsica. After paying a huge extra payment we were on the boat and sailing for the promised land.


Our very over priced ride

I've always heard stories of Corsica, a small island packed full with tight technical creeks and crystal clear water. Unfortunately i've also heard stories of syphons and shortage of water. So we were unsure of what to expect.


Arne getting his arsed kick


The result

We drove and camped at the Kayak festival site where Kayak session were holding an event to try and help against the damming of the world famous Rizanese river which is in imminant danger of being lost forever.





We were lucky, the locals said there hadn't been this much water in a while and most runs were available to us. After paddling in Norway their idea of a lot of water and ours was much different but once we got used to turning, making moves and landing on rocks we had some good runs and ran most of the classics Corsica has to offer. Our favorite was definately Travo whic really is a fantastic run.

The view from the van

Corsica is a beautiful country and on our last night we stayed on a beech and woke up as the sun rose.
Staying awake

We then headed for the ferry and began our drive home. Me and Olav drove from Nice to Bergen via Chamonix for a quick stop to see Tormod before getting off the ferry in Norway and heading straight back to work, reality check!!

Waiting for the ferry at the aquarium

Corsica Kayak Festival 2009

To kick start this season we have decided to head out to Corsica. The season in Corsica is very short, and it is hard to get the window right, but if you are lucky enough to get the water levels this island has some real gems.

While we are there Kayak session is also holding a festival which should be great. Here's what they say about it:

The Plan is simple: Gather paddlers of all levels for one week of paddling in Corsica.Following the protest to save the free flowing Rizzaneze - organized in 2007 by photographer Raph Thiebaut and resulting in a gathering of nearly 150 paddlers - we decided, with Raph, to organize a festival in Corsica every year. The week will allow people to paddle together, and will create a visible presence of a collective group supporting the rivers of Corsica. A base camp will be set on the banks of the Tavignano River, where camping facilities and other necessities can be found. Guided trips will be organized every day, but of course everyone can be on their own schedule too. The idea is to gather every evening, watch videos, exchange about experiences, and party… Clinics will also be available, along with an equipment test center with some of the latest gear on the market. Beginners and intermediates do not feel excluded, the Tavignano is a class 3 run that everyone can paddle. So if you always wanted to go to Corsica, or get back there again, whatever your level of kayaking - join us for what promises to be a great week of paddling and social time. More info soon in the pages of Kayak Session and on http://www.kayaksession.com/

Should be a great trip!

Birthday Weekend

Once again it was time for my birthday, this year in Bergen. The girls got together and organised a dinner at a great little place down town.

After dinner we headed home for drinks in the shape of Tequila and then headed out to another friends house warming party before heading out.

As far as I remember it was a great night and everyone had a blast, the 2 day hang over that followed suggested it was a success!

Nina gave me another session with Noi to work on my back as a birthday gift, so Iwas back on a train heading to Oslo for 3 days of pain.

We are now up to 13.5 hours Noi has started going over the ghost outline with the permanent one and it is really starting to take shape now. Hopefully next time we will get some colour in.

Grand Canyon

After driving route 66 in a convertable Mustang and a few days in Vegas Jørgen finally made it back to Norway for a reality check, returning to school, after nearly 3 weeks in the US floating down the Grand Canyon.

Check out his blog soon for the full story, until then heres some cool pics he sent.
http://www.jorgenthoresen.blogspot.com/

Backpiece Begins

After a few years searching I finally found the right artist to do my back piece. Noi siamese 3 has opened a great shop in Oslo called 1969 tattoo. (you can find his link to the right)


Noi at 1969 tatoo shop.

Noi is a fantastic artist and his work is truely amazing, Noi freehand draws all his designs and the detail he manages to get into his tattoos is like no other. He has won many awards and is quickly growing himself a very respected name.

Some of the free hand drawings Noi is famous for.

I have been wanting a traditional Japanse dragon back piece for some time now. The problem is I have 3 bad tattoos already there so it wasn't going to be easy to cover them up. I have spoke to many different tattooists over the years and only Noi could come up to the challenge and knew what I was looking for straight away. After 3 hours of free hand drawing the tattoo had taken shape and was ready for outlining.

3 hours of freehand drawing.

This is the start of a very long journey and both me and Noi are very excited to see the finished product.

Bergen baby!

This autumn Nina got the call that she had made it into the university in Bergen to study Pharmacy. So we packed up the truck and headed north west to the coastal town on the western side of Norway.

Bergen is a beautifull city surounded by Norways classical scenery. It is also only 1.5 hours from Voss which is packed with awesome kayaking runs in the summer and some great skiing in the winter.

Autumn in Bergen

Only 40 minutes outside of Bergen lies a great little stretch on the Bjorndalselve. A section of small slides and drops that follow right along side the road makes for a great back yard run . Other rivers are also being discovered by the quickly growing and very commited group of local paddlers that are starting to develop a real vibe here.

Silje hitting the second rapid on Bjorndalselve

After living in a small village for the past few years it is also a nice change to experience the culture here. I recently had the pleasure of trying a local delacasy known as Smalahove, sheeps head to you and me!

Cooking the Smalehove

I'm not normally one to crack to peer pressure but being surrounded by 4 tough girls from Voss and Nina it was time to man up.

The thought of eating a sheeps head didn't really phase me, even thinking of chewing on the eye hadn't freaked me out, until the plate was placed down in front of me and I could see half a head staring back at me.

Eating the eye

Bergen has a lot more to offer and i'm looking forward to discovering more here over the next 5 years. Until then we are heading to Voss at the weekend for the first ski of the season.

Take it easy.

Summer Season Wrap Up

The 2008 season started with big plans. The winter before we had talked about a huge mission where we would try to paddle one mile of vertial white water over 31 days between four of us. Ed Cornfield, Martin Vollen, Per Christian Pedersen and Myself where going to attempt this project known as One Mile One Month. The expedition started off great. we met up in the Telemark region of Norway to start hucking. telemark is home to some great runs and amazing drops.

First drop of Home Run.

Unfortunately while paddling the Home Run section on the Mår Ed had a nasty landing on the 4th drop which ended in the worst break i've ever seen on the river and a horrible swim to follow.  Check out the film clip below:

One Mile One Month, Broken Ed 

After that Ed flew back to the UK to get his arm fixed and back up to strength before his next adventure in Patagonia skiing.

The rest of us ventured up to Voss and the Voss extreme week. Martin did really weel claiming 4th place in the Downriver race pushed out of the top spot by the Kiwi boys and we all managed to hit some big drops and party.

Money Falls, closer to the rock than I like!

We kept trying to make the distance needed to complete One Mile but quickly realised that with four of us this was a huge project so now we were down to three we had very little chance.

So the project went un-completed but we had a blast trying and learnt a lot and got to paddle in some amazing places. It was great fun to give it a shot, there was huge interest in this project from other paddlers so now we have opened the door and it will be great to see if anyone steps up and gives this another go.

The rest of the summer was great, spent traveling around Norway to the various festivals etc and really enjoying the paddling season.

Nina and me enjoying the Voss Extreme week.

Jordalselva

Longboarding in the Norwegian summer.

I also hooked up with an awesome new company called Xtreme 4X4 who helped me out with my truck.  They lift and modify Mitsubishi, Nissan and Isuzu and with an Icelandic background are the best in the business.

Xtreme 4X4 Mitsubishi L200, so much fun!

Winter is here now and the snow is just around the corner which is exciting, the snow will soon be here but we are still getting on the river when ever possible until it is too cold.  we had a great run down the marine section of the Raundalselva at low water a couple of weeks ago which fired us up for next season.  But until then we have the snow to play with and hopefully a trip some where warm!