Callum Anderson and I hiked into the hills above the Great Glen to explore the gorge of the Calder Burn, behind Abercalder. We had been thinking about this for a while. Recently Callum hiked into the gorge to discover a 10m plus fall and some gnarly rapids. We went in on a medium flow day, on a slightly falling level, a wise decision in retrospect. The walk in took just 35 minutes, albeit it is very steeply uphill for the first 20 minutes. The river above the gorge is beautiful and could be paddled with a lot more water than the gorge itself. Definitely scope for a highwater run on the upper river some time, walking out before the gorge entrance. The gorge in high water would probably be out of the questions for mere mortals. Overall grade on the day was probably 4/5
This is the 10m fall, with another 2 metre drop right above it. We portaged this by climbing above the ravine on river right and one of us threw the boats and paddles over the falls to the waiting partner at the end of the pool below. An impressive place. The falls come quite late on in the run, but are nevertheless in your mind throughout the passage of the tight, steep and technical gorge up above them!!
Here Callum runs a beautiful slide which is part of a fine double drop, the first major event in the gorge.
It is followed immediately by this drop which can be run to this eddy on the right. Classic creeking in a very scenic canyon environment. It was here that we realised that we had enough water for what lay ahead.
Callum Anderson and I hiked into the hills above the Great Glen to explore the gorge of the Calder Burn, behind Abercalder. We had been thinking about this for a while. Recently Callum hiked into the gorge to discover a 10m plus fall and some gnarly rapids. We went in on a medium flow day, on a slightly falling level, a wise decision in retrospect. The walk in took just 35 minutes, albeit it is very steeply uphill for the first 20 minutes. The river above the gorge is beautiful and could be paddled with a lot more water than the gorge itself. Definitely scope for a highwater run on the upper river some time, walking out before the gorge entrance. The gorge in high water would probably be out of the questions for mere mortals. Overall grade on the day was probably 4/5
This is the 10m fall, with another 2 metre drop right above it. We portaged this by climbing above the ravine on river right and one of us threw the boats and paddles over the falls to the waiting partner at the end of the pool below. An impressive place. The falls come quite late on in the run, but are nevertheless in your mind throughout the passage of the tight, steep and technical gorge up above them!!
Here Callum runs a beautiful slide which is part of a fine double drop, the first major event in the gorge.
It is followed immediately by this drop which can be run to this eddy on the right. Classic creeking in a very scenic canyon environment. It was here that we realised that we had enough water for what lay ahead.
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