The Noble Nevis

I decided that the nevis river deserved a post as I pretty much spent every single weekend (and the occasional sick day) paddling it but also because even though there has been a halt in the damming process, it is still under threat. The Nevis is definitely one of the coolest river runs in New Zealand as it is a long day offering lots of continuous class 4-5 rapids, some stout is there if you are feeling fired up, and if S*** goes wrong it is a long walk or paddle out, not to mention the drive is a mission in its own! The scenery consists of the most beautiful snow capped mountains at the put in and the rugged back country scenery plastered with nothing but tussock grass and jagged rocks.

The Nevis Starts off reasonably slow, there is about 4kms of class 3 water to warm up the limbs before you get stuck into to the good stuff. The first rapid is steep and reasonably intimidating but its good to go, keep ya nose up and enjoy it! Once you have styled this rapid its all go. The portage is next, which you can either spend 30 minutes roping boats up the cliff on the river right, walking along the ridge then roping the boats back down, or you can portage river left the seal launch into the river, below the rapid. Be Careful! There is a rock in the bottom which tends to break boats.

The Nevis road...

Snow Capped mountains..beautiful

My gear, looking very out of place in this barren world

The Nevis River.

The portage.. careful these rocks are slippery!

rugged, barron southland back country.

Barney Young keeping that nose up!

Hey bro? is that wall undercut?

Wilz setting up, intimidating.

This Portage marks the start of the first steep section which contains continuous class 4-5 rapids with the biggest being a rapid called scar face (or facelift). This is a reasonably stout rapid with not much room for error as a swim will result in a swim down a long section of rapids. This section ends with the gorge rapid which you cannot portage, but you can scout on the river left. Or just run the left, keep your nose up and enjoy the ride! The gradient slows a bit after this, but then it picks up again, with plenty of awesome rapids to keep you busy. One super stout rapid which is a double drop with a cave on the left and the holes are capable of giving out a pretty solid thrashing. In the next section there is some notable rapids, being Freight train and Curler falls, which are both classic Nevis Rapids.

Wilzy checks out the Nevis Goods

Barney getting his double boof on

Getting that nose above a chunky hole in the middle of freight train

Yeah boy!!!

Getting her done (P. Barney Young)

Is that a weir? (P. Barney Young)

Yeah bro, I think its good on the left (P. Barney Young)

Wilzy styling curler falls

Barney feeling pretty good right now, and look at the scenery! Would be a shame to lose this.

After this comes lunch counter, which as the name states is the normal Lunch spot. You will see it when you get there. Its normally a good spot to each your sammy and ponder a possible line, if your feeling fired up give it a go, but it has only been run once by dylan at a high flow. After this marks the start of the last steep section which consists of 2 of the rivers steepest and sickest rapids. First of which is Little brother, a 3 tiered drop, worth  a look and definitely worth paddling! The next rapid is Big Brother, Which consists of a solid lead in to a sick drop, have a look on river right, and fire it up. there aren't many places you can set safety but run a truck and trailer style and look out for each other. After this the gradient eases to some awesome class 4 read and run, but this is where the carnage happens, so be careful and stay switched on. The river then eases off and connects up with the Kawarau and you can either get out at the citroen put in or paddle citroen, which is definitely recommend and an awesome way to end an already epic day! Now the normal Time line is 4-12 hours,, if you have a guide or have done it before it will be closer too 4 hours than twelve. Be prepared for a long day on a cold river.

For those who have read this and do not know, the nevis is under threat of damming. But thanks to a rare little fish, it has been delayed, but not stopped, so the more logging we do of this river the better, lets show that this river is the most amazing river in the Southland area. Remember this river only really runs of snow melt so spring time in the Queenstown lakes district is the time to get the Nevis, also works in well with some other rivers like the Waikaia.
Keep the Flow!