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August 31, 2008

By Jessie Stone

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Thun is a spectacularly beautiful place to paddle. Set in the Berner Oberland, close to some of Europe’s highest peaks the Eiger, the Monk, and the Jungfrau, it is surrounded by amazing views and amazing rivers also. The town itself is very picturesque with almost every street lined by a river channel. The competition wave is found below a covered bridge in a channel lined by two side streets, so there are good views to be had from all around. The water flows out of Lake Thun and is a clear, aquamarine color almost like the color of the Futeulefu. The World Cup Event here has been really fun and well run. Everything has been flowing seamlessly.

Simon Hirter, local Swiss paddler and event organizer, has been in charge of this World Cup and he has done a great job. Lucky for everyone, he will be doing the World Championships here next year. This event has also made a point of being very green and eco-friendly. There are bottle recycling bins everywhere and the main food tent charges a deposit on every plate and bottle they sell – a great incentive to get people to bring their recyclables back! We have been enjoying great music during the competition, and there are lots of other events like rafting ender contest, big air contest, king of the wave, and wake surfing event going on in addition to the competition. Simon has really thought of everything.

Since this is also my boyfriend Juerg’s backyard (he lives in a small village outside Thun at the foot of the Stockhorn Alp), we keep bumping into his friends and family, which is quite nice and gives this town an even cozier feeling. On Saturday night, there will be a Slackline show across the river right next to the wave. Juerg’s good friend and fellow mountain guide, Stef Siegrist, will demonstrate the slackline walk and the other day we watched him set up and practice walking across the line. No doubt you need incredible balance! It was very entertaining and definitely painful to watch him fall! Clearly, he has amazing strength, as almost every time he fell off the line, he was able to grab the line and pull himself right around and up. Stef is one of the most famous mountaineers in the Switzerland and the World, having done the fastest ascent and descent of the North Face of the Eiger – one of the toughest routes in climbing. So it was quite cool to see Alpine culture interface with the whitewater world here in Thun. Paddlers were really curious about what he was doing and he was very interested to see what we do.

Speaking of the Alpine world, if you are this close to the Alps, it’s a must to get out and enjoy them. Today, Juerg was called to rescue some gear of some climbers who had to be rescued off the Eiger. He asked me to come with him and walk part way up the Eiger. This was and is incredibly cool especially since I don’t compete again until tomorrow! The mountain is unbelievably steep and all rock – no grassy plateaus, no cows grazing as you see on some Alps, just shear limestone walls and slabs. It’s very intimidating and awesome at the same time. The Monk and the Jungfrau are right next-door and you can see the place called the Mushroom where the base jumpers launch. It’s almost 9,000 feet from there to the valley floor straight down. I get vertigo just looking at it.

We hiked up alongside a glacier that makes lots of noise. Pieces of rock and ice are often falling off it and you can hear the river flowing out of the glacier as well and the occasional groan of the ice. I am always fascinated to think that it is actually a frozen river – still moving even in its frigid state. Juerg successfully retrieved the gear and I got to enjoy a stunning if breathless walk – we were up at about 3000 meters. Its certainly good cross training for paddling. I have been incredibly lucky to be here with such a great team of people, experience such a fun event, and also get to take advantage of some the other wonderful things that Switzerland has to offer. Life is good. Thanks for thuning in!

Jessie

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