Christmas and New Year Antics

Well, the weather over the Christmas period was mostly pretty wet, with regular heavy doses of rain over the moors which kept the river levels up nicely for us. Luckily we had the last two weeks of December off and, due to the superb water levels, were out kayaking on the River Dart almost every day during this time. We had some nice Loop runs in our playboats, ranging from medium to high water, and I lost count of the amount of Upper Dart runs I got in; all in perfect medium to high levels. I notched up quite a lot of 'Solo' Upper Dart runs, as well as some with friends and fellow river junkies. The best trip of the holidays for me was an epic paddle down the Upper Dart, in which we started paddling at a 'ledge covered' level and ended up arriving at Newbridge with it on the third step and fully flowing through the third arch of the bridge, having had the river rise three feet in half an hour whilst we were on the water! The rapids were huge and flowing really fast, with big holes everywhere, and despite being in a demo Zet Raptor, I still paddled every section of river, with no portages. In fact the Zet Raptor was so good I felt very comfortable in these conditions in it, and it is now going to be my next creek boat purchase for sure. I was on such a high during and after this trip, it was such a buzz, and I was totally stoked! :) 
I did manage to get a bit of climbing training in during this time, mostly on my home wall, with a couple of outdoor sessions, including a cheeky little Deep Water Solo at Berry Head - good job I didn't fall in though; it woulda been pretty cold! Now with the colder and drier weather coming in, it's time to pick up the climbing training in eager anticipation of the chance to bash out a few outdoor routes on my climbing ticklist. :)