ThePADDLER 100
High on
DARTMOOR Some pretty frightening videos starting popping up on the ‘Kayaking on the River Dart’ Facebook page after Saturday 6th February, when some local paddlers took on the Upper section of the Dart. It’s one of the most famous Grade 4 runs in Britain but ‘big Saturday’ saw it easily rise at least a grade higher after 118mm of rain fell on Dartmoor, near the all-time record rainfall in Britain. The New Bridge car park (take out for the upper and put in for the Loop), was covered in water and some scaffolding at Holne Bridge was swept away. The level, according to eyewitnesses, rose to within two steps from the top at the New Bridge slab. Long-term residents and paddlers commented that they’d not seen the river in this state for a long time – if ever. This did not prevent a group of local Dart specialists putting on for a run with just four steps showing. Among them was local paddler Rowan James (18), Tim Copplestone and Mike Scutt. They all made it down safely. Rowan, who ran every section, told the Paddler, “I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been on my game, and if I didn’t know the river very well.” Rowan was under no doubt that a swim could easily have proved fatal. Video credit: Rowan James
The video footage is horrifying, with large standing waves, stoppers and tree strainers in a continuous torrent with most of the eddies washed out. Rowan was keen to point out that paddling the Upper Dart at these levels is strictly for those who already know the river very well. Later that day Rowan and a larger crew ran the Upper East Dart, which included a possible first descent on the East Dart waterfall, a 6ft drop onto a 20ft slide followed by 50m of technical Grade 4 then 500m of “grade 5 chaos.” The waterfall itself was “straightforward” said Rowan. Although Rowan’s team are worried about claiming something that is not theirs, it seems a possibility that the waterfall is a first descent. The Upper East Dart as a whole has been run before, but not often, at least not in the last 25 years. Paddlers on the Upper East Dart run were Rowan with Sam and Mark Dixon, Hugh Graham, Samuel Lyons, Mike Scutt, Carl Ross and Arek Bialek. Steffan Meyric Hughes