First Descent of the Upper Rutor Waterfalls (Cascate Del Rutor)

submitted by Mylo Nicholas

This was one of my biggest missions yet. And I didn’t even paddle very much XD. Running the Upper Rutor Waterfalls in Italy. The Cascate del Rutor are a famous series of 200m drops that fall down the mountain from the glacier into the village of La Thuile. The hike is very touristic and attracts people from all round the world. Our mission, with fellow paddlers Raphael Urscheler and Arthur Bernot, was to run a gorge on the plateau just above these huge waterfalls. It took us 5 hours to hike 800m of elevation with our kayaks full of gear for staying over night at 2400m. This experience tested us mentally and physically but proved to be all worth it, even when bad stuff happens. The section we found was an incredible series of 4 waterfalls, short but intense. The first descent was made by myself, I successfully completed the section with a roll on the second drop. Raphael was less lucky, feeling weak and tired after the hike, swam on the first drop, we lost his boat but pulled him out of the canyon with ropes. Last was Arthur’s turn, with immense pressure after rescuing Raph, he performed an impeccable line on all 4 drops, it was amazing to see. I hope you enjoy this short film on this unique first descent in the Italian Alps.