Nepal, a mystical and wonderful land, mostly associated with mountaineers and alpinists seeking the world's highest peaks. Yet, it is also a realm of incredible whitewater rivers and endless trails for trekking and mountain biking. However, the true beauty of Nepal lies in its people. The Nepalese live everyday life with a deeper connection, seemingly happier and more at peace with their place in the world. Traveling through the land evokes a subtle sense of something profound, perhaps the towering mountains, the deep valleys with majestic rivers, the influence of Tibetan monks, or the blend o ..read more

This years Roundup was already the 6th edition of the European Packrafting Meet-up and was a truly international event with packrafters from around 20 countries, as far as Australia, USA, New Zealand and Mexico, but of course many paddlers from all over Europe as well! The event started as usual with Whitewater Rescue Courses taking place on the days leading up to the event, both for recreational paddlers but also for professional packraft guides. Photo @Fagus Outdoor On Monday the first workshops started and groups of packrafters headed to the river. On this day and the following days, we co ..read more

When we heard about the Nordic Packrafting Meet-up, we decided to make it happen and do a family packrafting trip to Sweden! Scandinavia provides some of the last extended wilderness areas in Europe, along with great rivers and good people. Just the ingredients we look for when planning our packrafting trips! Swedish Wilderness. Photo by Patrick from Hikeventures.   Seon was packrafting in Finland last year and absolutely loved it. So this year we decided to make it a family trip and brought our two little daughters who are 1 and 3 years along. Since it was still quite cold and rainy in ..read more

It's May 1st and we are on our way to Soca again. This is the second edition of the European Packrafting Meet-up and last year was such a good roundup, that we wanted this to become an annual event, every year around May 1st on the Soca river in Slovenia. Although it is still sunny, the weather forecast didn't look promising this year, with quite a lot of rain on the weekend. Those who arrived early for the Whitewater Rescue Course that Seon and Miha were instructing even drove through snow on their way South. But on the bright side, this meant plenty of water in the rivers and good flows to p ..read more

Norway is on the wishlist for many paddlers and with very good reason. This summer we were lucky enough to travel to Norway for the 2022 Nordic Packrafting Meet-up in Femundsmarka near the Swedish border. While in Norway we decided to extend the trip a little and paddled some of the world renowned whitewater rivers surrounding Voss, the classic Sjoa river and even explored the calmer waters of UNESCO prized Nærøyfjord. What can we say - our expectations were not only met, they were vastly exceeded!  We felt and still feel deeply impressed, not only by the breathtaking beauty and wilderne ..read more

Are you properly prepared for packrafting in whitewater?  This is the first part of our packrafting safety series. This article is aimed at paddling whitewater class II and above. However, the gear presented below will be of benefit in any whitewater or paddling environment. Gear is not a substitute for Training, Practice, Experience and Judgement. In this first part, we will cover, why safety is important and delve into gear with an overview of proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for packrafting in whitewater.   You've heard it before, but it is worth mentioning again and ag ..read more

Fjorde, Berge und Mitternachtssonne! Mit Bergen kennen sich Marlies und Andreas ja aus, Marlies hat unter anderem alle 4.000er der Alpen bestiegen. Auf den Lofoten wagen sich die beiden jedoch auch aufs Wasser, und landen mit Packraft und Gleitschirm zu Mitternacht an einem idyllischen Strand ..read more

Packrafting the Tagliamento river in Italy has been on our wish list for a while now. When our friend and kayaker Hans Meier from the River Store told us about his planed trip early July and asked us to come along, it didn’t take long for us to say yes :-) We met at the train station in Venzone which is right next to the river and a convenient start for an easy packrafting trip. Further upstream, the Tagliamento is a bit more technical and also has the highway right next to it, making it less scenic. From Venzone it is a class I/II paddle, with the main danger being trees and strainers in th ..read more

Nouria and I first spoke earlier this year when she was planning a combined kayaking-packrafting-skiing trip in Iceland. As a professional kayaker and Red Bull athlete, Nouria has been following the development of packrafts for a while now and decided to take an Alpacka Wolverine on the Iceland trip. She came back excited about the potential of packrafts for multi-sport, mulit-day trips and was impressed with the performance and quality of Alpacka Rafts. It was then that we excitedly shared the news of Alpacka's newest whitewater boat - the Valkyrie - with her. The Valkyrie will be official ..read more

Hard to believe that this is already the 4th Annual European Packrafting Meet-up! We are so grateful that this year we could head back to beautiful Soca River and that the borders opened in time for the Meet-up! We started the event with an arrival day on Tuesday and also Whitewater Rescue courses. The weather was fantastic pretty much all the way through the roundup and the flows were high too, what better conditions could we ask for :-) On Wednesday, Pro Kayaker, Red Bull Athlete (and part time packrafter ;-) Nouria Newman came for a quick visit to test the new Alpacka Valkyrie. It was pre ..read more