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GUIDE TO THE RIVER SPEAN (Laggan Dam to Inverlair Falls) NAME OF RIVER: Spean. WHERE IS IT?: Keep going up the A82 from Fort William and you'll find it, flowing through Spean Bridge. This section begins further up the valley at Laggan Dam, which you can't miss. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Start at Laggan Dam, which is hard to miss. Details about the (dangerous) takeout below. APPROX LENGTH: 3 miles. TIME NEEDED: About an hour. ACCESS SITUATION: Unknown. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Complicated. With the Dam releasing it's time to do the trip from Laggan Dam. However...three or more pipes open on the dam may be too much water for your taste. Have a good hard look at the take-out first. If the Laggan Dam has no pipes open, then the Spean Gorge will be worth a look. GRADING: The section from the dam varies from continual Grade 3 to 4 in very high releases. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Inverlair Falls. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The river is described here from Laggan Dam down. Carry your boats down to below the dam (which must be releasing water). From here, a couple of miles of very continuous high volume Grade 3 rapids lead to a narrow and boily gorge. The entrance rapid to the gorge has a big wave, intimidating to some. Consider getting out above this as a swim in the gorge could be fatal. The reason for this is that after the gorge there is an opportunity to GET OUT after a bridge (on river left) but...a little way downstream, the river thunders over Inverlair Falls, an awesome sight but not one you want to view from a swimming position. Most people finish this trip here, above Inverlair Falls as the section below is perhaps more hassle than reward... NOTE: the above guide is based upon having paddled the section with THREE pipes releasing. Last week (Easter 1999) I viewed this section releasing five pipes, but didn't paddle. The rapids looked bigger and harder (unsurprisingly) but most notably, just where the final gorge ended and went under the bridge there was a small but powerful pourover stopper which seemed just designed to give paddlers a swim where they least needed it. Indeed, several people did lose their boats over Inverlair Falls last week. One unfortunate individual ended up hanging onto a twig on the brink, leading to a helicopter call-out and the dam being switched off. Some folks have all the fun. OTHER NOTES: The Spean Gorge is an unusual and brilliant trip, well worth a look if the section from the dam is switched off. The Spean also has some excellent tributaries; consider the Roy, the Pattack, the Allt Ionndrainn and the remarkable Ossian and Ghuilbinn trip. Matthew Nichols... (May 2005) 'Just letting you know that on my last Scotland trip a mate of mine ran Inverlair falls on the River Spean and Monessie gorge. The dam was releasing on 3 and he did emerge at the bottom. I wouldnt recommend it.' Adam Sawyer adds...'I have run the Spean with all pipes releasing and over the top of the dam. Nothing to worry about, just big BIG waves and holes!' Jim Wallis adds... (14/2/00) 'ran the Upper Spean with 6 pipes (no water over the top though) on Saturday and I have to agree with Adam Sawyer that there is not much to worry about apart from the gorge. All the rocks midstream at the put in were covered, and the ferry to miss the first stopper seemed easier than at 4 pipes! The stopper was quite huge but I didn't really get a good look into it! The only real Hazard is trees - one of our number became concerned about the power (having not paddled much volume stuff before) and went for the bank. We all followed and discovered some pretty serious rapids in the vegetation where he was looking for an eddy - my suggestion would be to stay mid-stream until the railway bridge about 3 miles down, from there on there are some big eddies. Oh and there is still plenty of warning and ample flat water before the gorge, which looked quite runnable (most of the guys did it, but not the last drop which had fairly terminal stoppers on both sides!).' CONTRIBUTED BY: Mark Rainsley, also Adam Sawyer, Matthew Nichols and Jim Wallis. |
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