1st D. of the Pas-De-Soucy

Wednesday 29th of May, we were going to paddle in Millau with Jonas driving down the Gorges du Tarn, I stopped to show him the famous (=tourist place) unrunnable Pas-De-Soucy.

Pas-De-Soucy is a massive rocks garden, on summer time the river disappears under the rock for 100m.

Two legends about it are still told to the local kids which make this rapid even more spectacular!!

We watched it, and damn, it was runnable at this flow. A clear line was even looking "easy".
We had another look down at the river and we decided to go!!
And we ran it!! 1st D!!

Important to say this rapid is exclusively reserved to expert kayakers. It's full of syphons and a swim could be dramatic.
Jonas and I are 2 experienced paddlers and used to paddle those kind of rapids.

Jonas and I in the Pas-De-Soucy.

We even had cool articles in the local newspapers like this one, in french:
http://www.midilibre.fr/2013/06/01/ils-ont-franchi-le-pas-de-soucy-en-kayak,708561.php 

Merci to Pierre Gattelet for the photo!!

Upper Tarn late May with SUN

This last week of May was supposed to be THE week of kayaking in the Pyrénées.
But no... The low temperatures for the season didn't let the snow melt enough to go kayaking.
It was actually freezing there.
But we had good rains in the Cévennes and the Upper Tarn was running so we enjoyed 2 great days with buddy Jonas Le Morvan.
Amazing to paddle the Upper Tarn with leafs on the trees, blue sky and not that cold water!!

Few photos by Jonas and myself :

Jonas in Pont de Montvert put in of the Upper Tarn.

Famous Gouffre des Meules.

Kayaking just for the pleasure of kayaking!! SO HAPPY!!

Out of the Seringue, isn't it good?!!

Myself.

Nothing better to just paddle down a river!!

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim!!

Biiiiiiiiiiiim again!!

Jonas, awesome day on the Upper Tarn.

Nothing good here?!!

Well, 2 great days on the Tarn with Jonas kayaking just to have fun on the water!!
Thanks again Jonas for those 2 great days!!

Lozère Trail 2013

For 3 years now, my brother and I are doing the promotionnal video the Lozère Trail which become year after year the major Trail Running race in the region.

After 2 years filming under a massive blue sky, this year was a more... wet and cold!!
Hard conditions to film properly but also for the racers who had really hard times!!
As usual a really beautiful event with great courses and always a great atmosphere!!

Here is the video edited by my brother with few of my images:

Start from Sainte Enimie at 5am the UltraTrail racers.

Arriving on the Causse (local plateau) a bit before 6am.

Causse full green at the exit of the Gorges du Tarn.

That's real Trail Running!!

Wonderful spot in the mountains of Blajoux at the heart of the Gorges du Tarn.

Gorges du Tarn.

Gorges du Tarn hard down hills!!

Downhill during the Ultra Trail.

Thanks to the organizors and volunteers for this great event!!!!

Shooting River SUP for "Saturday Sport" on FranceTV

Few months that we were planning the video shooting with Grégoire Tournon, the presenter of "Saturday Sport" on "TéléMatin" Tv Show broadcasted on France2 the second biggest TV channel in France.
During this 6minutes TV show, Grégoire tested for you different sports from the most famous to the smallest ones.
This time I bring him in the Gorges du Tarn, in Sainte Enimie village exactly, to let him test River Stand Up Paddling.

How did it go for him? I'll let you discover all that end of June beginning of July when the TV Show will be broadcasted.
I'll give you the exact date.
For the moment here are few photos:

Sainte Enimie, heart of the Gorges du Tarn.

Interview on the beach.

Last advices before putting in for a descent of the Tarn.

Many thanks to Grégoire, Daniel and Richard, and also to my brother Gautier and my mom for their help.

Upper Upper Tarn + Upper Tarn + Middle Tarn = :-)

Biginning of May, buddies from Pyrnénées Fred Dumont, Eric Deguil and Fabrice Poueyto came to visit me in the Cévennes.
We enjoyed a wonderful day with a sick water level to make a full descent of the Tarn paddling the Upper ipper Tarn, the Upper Tarn and the middle Tarn, so 17Km of class IV/V!!

Few photos speaking way more than 1000 words:

Fred Dumont in the Gouffre de l'Oule!!

Always Fredbut in the Gouffre des Meuleswith a sick line!!

Fafa Poueyto.

Fafa Poueyto in the Gouffre des Meules, love that shot!!

And Sir Eric Deguil at Mack12 on the slide to go far right and don't hit the rock!!

Well a sick day paddling those jewels all day long with buddies!!!
That's the roots of kayaking!!

Outdoor Mix Festival - AWP Extreme Kayak World Cup

On May 8th to 12th I was in the Hautes Alpes in France to compete on the Outdoor Mix Festival, true multisport event and by the way 1st stop on the AWP Extreme Kayak World Cup.

How does it work? 5 races on 5 different spots on 5 days.

Outdoor life and beautiful mornings in the Hautes Alpes.

Extreme slalom on Malafosse.

During the boater cross qualif where I'll be kicked out at the quarter final.

Guil full of water!!
Photo: Kévin Castle

Long race on the Guil, FAT!!
Photo de Mathieu Dumoulin

This week was quite hard for me, I had a good shape but I didn't paddle that much and I felt it...
I was often late on my paddling and didn't had that much points of reference.
I was doing beautiful kayaking but not fast at all. Not that cool to pretend to be on the top paddlers.
At the end, I'm a bit frustrated cause the shape was good, just missing hours on the water...

Thanks to the organizers!!

Vidéo shooting for a FranceTV

Mid-April, I join Eric Deguil and a TV production team directed by Jacques Malaterre, for 2 shooting days on the Upper Tarn and the Sources of the Tarn to realize a kayak sequence for the the film "The most beautiful contry in the world" broadcasted on the second biggest TV in France France2 the Dec. 25th at 8.50pm.

My job in all that was to make the safety for Eric and give few advices to the TV crew, knowing that I'm working in a TV crew the whole winter on the Freeride World Tour.

I had the chance to take few great photos of Eric during the shooting:

Gouffre de l'Oules, Upper Tarn.

La Trompette, Upper Tarn.

Using drone, mini pilotless helicoptère with a camera on.

Here the 6m long crane.

Rico and the crane.

For sure I paddled a bit and enjoyed this still hamazing Upper Tarn!!
Here myself in La Trompette and below in the Gouffres des Meules.

Many thanks to Virgile for those 2 beautiful photos!!
Thanks again to Eric Deguil and and the TV crew!!