"Everything went just perfect (…) You could see the relief and pride, of successfully meeting challenges and not flipping over, in the eyes of every one grinning proudly after meeting torrents. Above all, we talked, listened, did nonsense and laughed even more. I am now richer of memories and got to know wonderful people. Thank you very much!"
A participant of the first trip 2017
Packrafting in the alpine valleys of Tyrol and the Alpine foothills
Every year in June we are out in the whitewater of the alpine valleys of Karwendel and Tyrol. From the gentlest possible introduction to our whitewater course system on a beautiful mountain lake in the Alpine Foothills courses to the heaving water of Tyrol, our Alpine courses offer combinations for every level of ability.
Where Tyrol delivers sporty whitewater against an alpine backdrop, our chosen rivers in the Alpine foothills between Mittenwald and Garmisch-Partenkirchen are perfect for beginners and those who enjoy the scenery - in the beautiful area around the Zugspitze and Karwendel mountains.
Those who already start with us in the Lech Valley in Tyrol or move on there with us after an Alpine Foothills course will already dive into the mostly massive wave crests of the Lech on the open Tyrol course and then, at the latest on the Advanced course, let themselves be carried away by the crystal-clear mountain water of the upper Isar into an untouched wild river landscape.
Each course starts on the first day with safety training for self-rescue and competence in whitewater. As the course progresses, we then combine whitewater and trekking day trips with light packs with extensive technique training and paddling of our favorite river sections. These allow you to learn and deepen different difficulties and aspects of whitewater paddling and whitewater driving techniques. With the big goal of experienced paddlers in the Advanced course with upper Lech and Isar even on two very different river characteristics.
Our alpine early summer highlight in Tyrol and the foothills of the Alps is aimed at basically fit packrafting enthusiasts with a desire for adventure and challenge. The Advanced course is aimed at advanced whitewater paddlers and packrafters with whitewater experience with good fitness.
In all our whitewater courses you will individually develop and deepen your skills for navigating easy to challenging whitewater.
The courses in Tyrol are especially suitable for the preparation of expedition style tours with whitewater content, such as the Iceland expeditions.
Embedded in the day tours we cover general whitewater safety techniques as well as special packrafting techniques in the current and on gravel banks on the shore. By using two guides, we flexibly adjust to different requirements in the field of participants in each course.
We provide the complete packrafting and whitewater safety equipment as rental equipment. The whitewater days are also a great opportunity for our participants to personally test different packrafting equipment from our fleet.
We spend the evenings in our base camp at the respective camping site, where we let the whitewater days end comfortably framed by the alpine mountain world and have time for socializing and exchange. Every now and then on the evenings of the course week we usually tell stories and anecdotes from the LWA team (click here for the blog) and our plans for future adventures.
You can find an impression of the Advanced Course Tyrol in our blog.
A small personal report from the first Alpenvorland course 2020, with which we made the alpine whitewater accessible to beginners, can be found in the Land Water Blog: Alps in Special Times - Freestyle Bavaria and Tyrol. Originated due to closed state borders in 2020, the course was a blast according to our participants! Since then, the Alpenvorland courses have been our most popular whitewater courses.
Experience with us exciting and sporty whitewater days in the Alps! We are packraft enthusiasts and live packrafting the whole season between Slovenia and Iceland. We bring this enthusiasm to every course.
Dates 2025
In 2025 we are again spending a few weeks in June on our journey through the Alps between the Alpine Foothills in Germany and Tyrol in Austria and take you with us to the Alpine river pearls of the northern Alps.
We recommend that beginners (by this we mean people without paddling experience but with good basic fitness, basic strength and sporting ambition) start their whitewater career with us in the Alpine foothills (Alpen1-2025, Alpen2-2025 or Alpen5-2025), where we start with the basic paddling technique on a lake and introduce sporty, ambitious paddling beginners to the whitewater technique. Even for ambitious beginners, it is not possible to start in the waves of Tyrol without previous experience, so if you are interested in this course without paddling experience, please book the Alpen2-2025 course using the Alpenkombi-2025 in the foothills of the Alps (Bavaria).
As every year, we offer you different combinations of our 3- or 4-day courses, depending on the level of demand and experience. Also a booking of a single training is possible depending on experience level. These are your booking options:
1. Booking as single training
Alpen1-2025 (4 days, for beginners): June 12 - 15, 2025 (Bavaria, Alpine foothills, open training): Reserve spot
Alpen2-2025 (3 days, for beginners): June 16 - 18, 2025 (Bavaria, Alpine foothills, open training): Reserve spot
Alpen3-2025 (3 days, for experienced paddlers): June 20 - 22, 2025 (Alpine foothills / Tyrol): Reserve spot
Alpen4-2025 (3 days, for advanced paddlers, More information): June 23 - 25, 2025 (Tyrol, advanced training): Reserve spot
Alpen5-2025 (3 days, for beginners): June 27 - 29, 2024 (Bavaria, Alpine foothills, open training): Reserve spot
2. Combination of courses (from beginner to experienced paddler)
Alpenkombi-2025 (6 days, with one day pause, for beginners): June 16 - 22, 2025: Reserve spot
As a beginner into more advanced whitewater within few days: Combination from Alpen2-2025 (in the Alpine foothills) and Alpen3-2025 (in the Alpine foothills / Tyrol)
Alpenkombi-Advanced-2025 (6 days in the Alpine foothills and Tyrol with a half day pause, for experienced paddlers): June 20 - 25, 2025: Reserve spot
Purely Tyrol: For paddlers with previous experience to advanced on the Isar, the upper Lech and upper Isar: Combination of Alpen3-2024 (Tyrol-open) und Alpen4-2024 (Tyrol-Advanced)
3. The big tour: Alpine trip with us, from Bavaria to Tyrol. Combination of three courses: Alpine Foothills + Tyrol advanced
New since 2021: Join us on the Alpine joruney. This idea was also born in the Freestyle Ride in the crazy year 2020 in Bavaria and Tyrol. Do you feel like just paddling through? 9 days on the water, two half break days and an alpine trip over Tyrol and through Bavaria with Andi and Sebastian from the LWA team for a combo price (see below services and prices).
Alpenreise-2025: June 16 - 25, 2025 (Alpen2-2025 in the Alpine foothills + Alpen3-2025 Alpinbe foothills / Tyrol + Alpen4-2025 Tyrol advanced): Reserve spot
For pleasure paddlers the combination of 4 or more courses is of course also possible, who would like to accompany us through the entire trip, and after intensive progress course still some days on the rivers of Bavaria to finish, speaks to us - as for any other desired combination - gladly.
Your desired course has too few free places or is fully booked?
In August and September you will find us for many weeks in our Whitewater Camp with 3- and 5-day courses in Slovenia.
Impressions from the trainings
Further information
Schedule and area
Schedule
Each course begins on the first day of the course with arrival to the course location no later than 12 noon. In the afternoon we start directly with the safety training, usually directly at the place of introduction and set up of the equipment. Each course then tackles different sections of the Isar, Loisach and Lech with increasing difficulty and focus on teaching paddling techniques.
The Advanced Course usually sets off on the second day of the course on a longer and more challenging whitewater day stage on the Lech and then - if conditions permit - paddles the challenging upper section of the Isar on the last day of the course. Of course, socializing and stopping for Kaiserschmarrn or other local delicacies will not be neglected in the evenings. Here is the opportunity to exchange with other experienced packrafters.
The course ends in the late afternoon of the last course day. For the Alpenvorland courses we usually end at Camp Isarhorn near Mittenwald, for the open Tirol course in Häselgehr and for the Advanced course usually in Scharnitz at the exit of the upper Isar section.
Landscape and course description: The valleys of Tyrol and Karwendel
The alpine valleys of the Alpine foothills and Tyrol offer impressive nature in summer and winter. On the Isar and Loisach rivers, remote sections alternate with urban ones, but views of magnificent scenery are never in short supply. Further into the mountains, in Tyrol, the Lech stretches through alpine landscapes without weirs or transfer points and invites you to paddle.
The Isar Valley in the Karwendel Mountains is narrower and is home to the upper Isar, a challenging pearl of Tyrol's alpine rivers in appealing, changing nature between forest and rocky gorges.
The valley of the Lech and the Karwedel Mountains offer not only whitewater activities, you can also choose between different adventures and combine this trip with a vacation in Tirol.
Feedback
Konrad from Kaiserslautern after the first trip 2017
Konrad became familiar with us in the turquois waves of the Soča and was directly infected by the packrafting virus. After he then went with us for the first time to Tirol, he send us following feedback via email:
“For me personally, it was again a wonderful experience, which gave me a lot of strength and self-confidence and I am drawing from this for a long time. Especially your way, of bringing people together and creating a positive atmosphere, impresses me. I like being on the tour with you, and without any bad conscience, I can highly recommend your trips and trainings to everyone.”
A participant after the first trip 2017
After three days of sun, rain and a lot of whitewater, we received this feedback via email:
“Everything was just perfect – even things that didn’t run smoothly, if looking from the distance. The rain gathered us under the LWA pavilion and brought us, after a short trip to the riverside kiosk and the old lady, all together at the extremely cozy black master of the sky’s, with culinary delicacies, top service and table neighbors, who even filmed us on the water – how much better can it get?! He brought us water to the rivers on which we could extensively dive into the waves. And the right conditions to ride on the upper Isar. We experienced that summer is not always the same and ravioli can be a culinary delight for breakfast. Sebastian and Susanne not only taught us a lot und rescued some of us out of the waves after going overboard – ok one sandal drowned – no, Sebastian gave us the priceless guarantee of stage fright combined with detailed information (I am talking about an 1,5m dive into a rock gorge!!!) and Susanne provided us with incredible pictures and by the way showed us how whitewater paddling can look, well, maybe some day. You saw the relief and pride, of successfully meeting challenges and not flipping over, in the eyes of every one grinning proudly after mastering torrents. Above all, we talked, listened, did nonsense and laughed even more. I am now richer of memories and got to know wonderful people. Thank you very much!”
Advanced training
In our advanced trainings in Tyrol, we give advanced packrafters the ability to hone their paddling, learn advanced techniques, and work out challenging whitewater sections with experienced guides. And of course, all while keeping alive the fun of whitwater paddling.
The course of the advanced training differs in the intensity of the training days as well as the maximum grade of whitewater. The upper section of the Isar which we will paddle in the advanced training is not suitable for beginners. Furthermore, we intensify the scouting compared to the open course and convey more strongly the self-rescue in the event of capsizing.
Also, in the advanced course we usually take into account expedition style tours with wildwater sections as well as the necessary equipment and packaging system aspects.
Get an impression of these trainings from our Blog story Tyrol.
Gallery Advanced Trainings Tyrol
Arrival and lodging
The journey to the Alpenvorland courses as well as to the courses in Tyrol is made individually by the participants and is possible by car, train or plane. Arrival should be by 12 noon on the first day of the course. Participants will receive detailed travel information for each course and have the opportunity to arrange car pools with other course participants in advance as part of the LWA Community. We are of course available to answer any questions you may have about your journey.
Overnight stays
We stay at campsites for the entire duration of the course. For the courses in the foothills of the Alps, no organization is necessary on your part in advance, your registration at the campsite is relaxed after arrival and set-up. We keep enough places reserved. Arrive and enjoy! On the Advanced course in Tyrol, you reserve a pitch on the campsite yourself. You will receive all the necessary information with the course documents, which we will send out after receipt of payment.
Of course, it is also possible to stay overnight in other accommodation of your choice. We are happy to help with tips.
Service and prices
Prices
Own suitable packrafting equipment and own suitable whitewater safety equipment can be used, then the rental fee is waived accordingly.
The participation fee does not include travel costs, camping fees and own food.
Part of your participation fees will be donated to the conservation of natural riverine landscapes: LWA Nature conservation
Payment methods
We offer you the following payment method:
- Payment of the total amount after receipt of the reservation
With this payment method your course places are bindingly booked after receipt of the transfer of the total amount. You will receive the course documents.
For other payment methods, please contact us or leave us a note in the reservation form below.
Included in the rental fee
- Packraft + accessories: per person, one robust professional whitewater packraft with spray deck, a light, storable double paddle, a pack sack and pack straps.
- Safety gear: life vest, helmet, dry suit
Not included is the footwear.
We recommend trekking sandals and neoprene socks or shoes.
Booking and Requirements
Requirements
The open training is open to everyone with ambition and basic physical fitness.
The advanced training is only for advanced packrafters, who either previously attended on of our other open trainings or a similar course and posess the skills to safely paddle WWIII.
Booking
Please use the form below for reservation requests.