Norway 2015 - Day 8 Morning
I have seen this drop in so many videos. Years ago I was super impressed by the high water nature of the falls and thought that folks were crazy for running it. As the years have gone by however I have begun to realize it is more and more just a fun waterfall. Probably also why after the year when someone offered $300 for anyone willing to run it who was subsequently relieved of several thousand of dollars... people no longer offer money to run this drop.
There is an entire run that can be done, culminating in the gorge leading up to the falls and with a handful of drops immediately downstream. However flows were high and the other rapids did not look great. So we opted to scout Money Drop as a park and huck.
The first thing that hit me about the falls is the landing. At our flow there was a large boil coming off the left wall and pushing you hard right into an undercut. After some scouting you could see the undercut seemed to have water moving directly downstream meaning that the wall was flat and not further undercut. More, the undercut was tall enough to roll up under and paddle out of. Both inspired confidence. The one piece of doubt was that if you got pushed hard enough right and ended up high towards the falls on the wall, there was a nasty pocket. But we assumed our momentum would be such that we would pop up downstream and were right.
Only Diane and I felt like suiting up for a park and huck. Diane went first and as usual had a great line. After a few seconds of watching the base of the falls I began to get concerned as she hadn't surfaced. I counted to ten and nearly panicked. Then I heard something behind me and looked to see her surfacing at the bottom of the undercut with a blown skirt. After several nice mystery moves she managed to get her fully water logged boat to shore without a swim. I went next and decided to try to lift my nose more than Diane in order to not plug as deep. I did... and still plugged super deep. Resurfacing with one hand on the paddle I quickly rolled up in the undercut but well downstream of the pocket and paddled out happy to be below and in my boat.
Set safety as downstream the drops are nasty and you want to be in your boat and in the right place if you go over them. Swimming is not recommended. A day later some friends went to check the falls out and told us the falls was too high, the green tongue to ride down between folds had gotten completely closed out by a curler flowing from the right wall all the way to the left. So... I am glad we got it when we did. Loading back up, we got lunch and headed over to check out the Play Run on the Raundalselvi.
Last: Norway 2015: Day 7 Continued - Brandsetlevi (Lower)
Next: Norway 2015: Day 8 Afternoon - Raundalselvi (Plau Run)
Mi 0.0:
- Money Drop (V). A pretty straight forward drop all things considered. There is a green ramp right of center. Run down it land at the bottom. At our flow we ended up popping up under the undercut on the right, but the undercut had headroom to roll up under, and you could tell from the current moving along the wall that there was not a secondary undercut just below the surface.
Logistics: Take E16 North out of Voss for 11.3 km. There is a parking area on the right just before the bridge where the river crosses from your right to the left of the road as you drive up it.
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