Austria

After some tries on the bavarian river Isar it was time to float the biggest austrian glacial river, the Inn from Imst to Haiming trough the Imster Schlucht in my brand new alpacka raft.
Since the Imster Schlucht offers some serious whitewater an is rated class III and do not have too much whitewather experience some friends paddeld near by in a Spreu Otter, just in case :wink:
All in all I was very impressed of the performance of this boat!
Enclosed some pictures:
Imsterschlucht1.JPG
Imsterschlucht.JPG

Hi,

That looks like a lot of fun. I recently moved to Innsbruck myself, and have most of my gear with me here. I was thinking of paddling the Isar but the levels have been low since I arrived here in late September. Hit me up if you’re planning any small or serious trip in the area, I would be very interested to join !

Damien

I’m an Alaskan packrafter based out of Schweinfurt, Germany. This weekend I am headed down to Tirol to do some rafting in the Oetztal (Otz River) and the Inn around the Imster Schlucht. I know both of these are very large rivers, so it is good to know that packrafts have been there before. My impression is that there are not that many packrafts to be found around the Alps. It would be nice to be wrong though…

In the future, I will be looking for trip partners. I am mobile and willing to travel anywhere within a roughly 6 hour radius (ie Austria, Switzerland, or Czech) for good packrafting and or whitewater. Send me an e-mail at erik.tomsen(at)gmail.com if you are keen on working out a trip plan.

Erik

Just got back from the Tirol trip. First run was on the lower Ötz from the Brunnau Weir down to Haiming. I did the walk up to check it out, though could not find a path with great views. As the Ötz is so large, it has many packraft-eating size holes. In the class III-IV whitewater I went for one swim, but was able to quickly self-recover and make it down okay. Definitely not a run for first timers, experience in big water is key.

The second day, I did multiple runs on the Sanna River near Landeck. The lower part of the river down to the confluence with the Inn was great packrafting with some class IV- rapids. The upper part of the river (Rosanna) from above the village of Strengen to weir (easy take out) was continuous action (IV) with very few eddies to make. It was tons of fun though and the water moves super fast.

If you are up for challenging white-water I would really recommend the Sanna as the water level is quite packraft friendly (ie lower volume than the Ötz) with beautiful scenery, tough water, and plenty of enjoyment.
Erik