INVERLAIR FALLS

See page 152 of the Scottish Guidebook.

At the bottom of the Upper Spean is Inverlair Falls. When the dam is releasing you can see the spray from the raod: impressive!

We ran the falls on two pipes, and a small amount of water was escaping over the top of the dam. It has been run on four pipes, but on six it looks nuts!

Inverlair has been on my list to do for a while, but now that I've run it, I'd actually quite like to go back! Three of us ran it that day: Craig, Dave and I. We managed to persuade Craig's brother and friends to film for us, which was a bonus. Nothing like a bit of Kodak courage!

Inverlair on two pipes consists of a river-wide ledge of about 4 feet into a hole. The line is down the left; don't even think about the main line! Straight after the hole is the lead in to the fall, with most of the water going over slabby rocks into the falls: a gutter about 35ft high with a wall on the left. Once in the pool the fun is only just beginning: after this is massive river-wide hole awaits with only two routes. A boat-wide boof flake on the left is the easiest, and avoids the massive underwater siphon in the middle

Craig ran first, after winning the game of paper-scissors-stone. He got a fairly clean line in, but his Java was momentarily pinned just before the gutter and lost some speed. Nevertheless he cleaned the line and landed in the pool at the bottom. After shaking the water from his eyes, he nailed the boof off the left of the hole and paddles down to Matt, who was doing safety.

My turn: After re-examining the lead-in I decided to go a bit further right than Craig. Once in my Blaze I pictured the line: left, boof, left but not too far and over the lip into the gutter (roll) and then boof off the left. Right. The lead-in went fine until I went a wee bit too far right and lost ALL speed. Recovering I paddled off the lip but the lack of speed meant that I hit a boulder half way down. Not good: I hit the left wall and rolled onto my right shoulder into the gutter!

Rolling up at the bottom I knew I had to make the left line or face a beating in the hole. Managing to make the boof easily was my best part of the day!

After my confidence-inspiring antics Dave stepped up. He cleaned the lead-in and gutter, but nearly dislocated his shoulder hitting the pool at the bottom, and drifted wide of the boof with no speed. After a substantial beating he managed to roll out of the hole. Impressive!

Aftermath: well, I want to go back again (probably in a bigger boat, not my Blaze!). A brilliant fall, made more difficult by the humungous hole after the fall.

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