Feistritz Reservoir Main Basin

Level of difficulty 2 |  Gastronomy 1 |  Length 11,6 km |  Time 2 - 3 hours

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The tranquil reservoir also shows its romantic side in winter. Ice floes, swans, and a fantastic view reward any exertions.

General information

• Carinthia Card
• Rosental Valley Wikipedia
• Rosental Valley tourist information
• Tour video
• Climate
• Wind, waves, weather
  

Navigation rules

The reservoir is a habitat for rare birds and amphibians and should therefore be navigated with respect. Please avoid the reeds, do not destroy aquatic plants, and give fishing boats and fishermen on the shore plenty of space!

The slipway to the left of the dam wall seems to be a suitable exit point if you only want to paddle half the distance, but you will then end up in the cordoned-off and fenced-in area of the power station. Therefore, the only suitable place to disembark is the section of the bank to the right of the dam wall.

Dangers and risks

Depending on the water level, you may still encounter clay banks 10–20 m from the shore, where you can easily get stuck with your paddle and fins. Therefore, keep a sufficient distance from the shore!

From time to time, you encounter small boats and driftwood carpets, but these can be easily avoided.

The banks at the starting point (Zikkurat-Drauwelle) are slippery in places, and the slope from the meadow down to the water is mostly vertical. Although it is only a few centimeters, this makes it difficult to get onto the board safely because the water is not very shallow. This is especially true in winter, when you also have to try to avoid the cold water or the ice cover.

The potential end of the tour at the Feistritz power station also has its pitfalls, especially since the bank rises steeply one to two meters in most places. In summer, the embankment can be heavily overgrown, and in winter, you have to be careful not to break through the ice into the cold water. The safest way is to go ashore in pairs and help each other carry the SUPs.

Winter paddlers often encounter ice floes. Depending on the weather and the board, they can easily be run over and broken, but they can also cause sudden braking and falls when they take you by surprise. iSUPs could be damaged by ice floes if you are unable to avoid them.

Directions

From Klagenfurt take the Rosentaler Straße B91 south towards the village of Lambichl by car and from there to Ludmannsdorf. Follow the course of the road to Franzendorf and finally to a village called Selkach. The water entry at the so-called Zikkurat-Drauwelle is located at the bend in the river south-east of the village.

However, it is time-consuming to reach this location using public transport, especially since longer walking distances are necessary.

Parking

At the fork in the road to the so-called Zikkurat-Drauwelle, there is a small free parking lot with space for several cars. On the opposite side of the road, the small harbor begins, with sufficient open space to prepare for the tour.

Swimming

In midsummer, when the air is around 30°C, you can expect water temperatures of around 15°C outside dammed areas of the Drava. So it's great for cooling off. However, there are no special bathing spots along the banks along this stretch of the river. But paddlers can jump from the SUP into the water at any time if the gentle flow allows it. However, we do not make a general recommendation, especially as swimming in rivers is always associated with danger.

Tour

From the start at Drauwelle Zikkurat, turn left to the Feistritz power station and from there back again.

Length

11.6 km

Time

2–3 hours

Start and landing

At the Drauwelle Zikkurat in Selkach.

SUP rental

Drau Paddelweg
Dahlienweg 14, 9161 Maria Rain
Phone +43 (0)463 2032 30100

SUP & Smile
Gregorweg 15, 9536 St Egyden
Phone +43 (0)650 6733945

Fels & Wasser
Flurweg 20, 9524 Villach
Phone +43 650 6161327

Ice floe tango on crystal water

As the first of many consecutive reservoirs along the Drava in Carinthia, the Feistritz Reservoir is primarily a relaxing summer destination. Shortly after the turn of the year, however, I am tempted to experience this lake, which I already know very well, in snow and ice, although I suspect in advance that the water access at the Zikkurat-Drauwelle will most likely be frozen over.

My suspicions are confirmed as I drive over the bridge just before the sleepy little village of Selkach: below me, the Drava flows gently, already showing the first ice floes. This image is reinforced at the small harbour where I plan to embark.

The parking lot is usually big enough for the few visitors who find their way here. As expected, the small harbor area is frozen over, and I have to find a good spot out by the riverbank. While a family roasts their winter lunch sausages at the fire pit, I find a spot right by the access channel and test the ice with my paddle. It breaks easily, and I can place my SUP on it.

In winter, caution is advised at this point due to the abruptly ending and sloping meadow, because a slip on thin ice is guaranteed to leave you with wet, cold feet. I carefully climb onto my hardboard and use it as an icebreaker while kneeling, working my way inch by inch through the thickening ice for the first few meters away from the shore.

There are loud cracks around me and I push the ice layer in front of me into the water with my board's nose until it breaks and clears a path to the Drava. Now I turn left and head for the middle of the 200-meter-wide stretch of water. The morning was still cloudless and sunny, but now a cloudy, gloomy afternoon atmosphere is beginning to spread.

Unfortunately, the lagoon landscape on the right is completely frozen over, so the planned detour there has to be canceled. Instead, I am faced with a headwind of one to two Beaufort from the east. My feet are still warm and dry in my neoprene shoes, but my fingertips quickly become cold.

To move forward, I now need to paddle hard, and I open my hands during each recovery phase to get blood flowing to my fingers. In 15 minutes at the latest, I should be warm enough to enjoy the rust-brown reeds and the frost-covered world around me.

The water is clearer in winter than in summer, revealing that it is barely deeper than 2–3 m up to the narrowest point at the beginning of the main basin. What is the same as in summer are the flying swans and their cooing. Again and again, they fly past me or cross the reservoir in front of me.

When I reach the small holiday village on the starboard side after almost three kilometers, I know that it's the same distance again to the dam. From here, the Carolina fanwort spreads out under the water's surface and lies like voluminous plant carpets under my SUP. Even though this stuff grows like weeds, it's advisable not to damage these plants with the fins.

There are also a lot of ice floes in the water here today, so I am having fun running over some of them and breaking them up. With a modest crash, I then continue on to the mirror-smooth water of the main basin.

By now, there is hardly any wind. I can pause again and again and gaze ahead at the small town of Feistritz im Rosental and the peaks of the Karawanks rising behind it. It is a very special experience, even on such gloomy days, to stand all alone on the SUP in the middle of the water and immerse yourself in the silence. Mt. Hochstuhl is shrouded in clouds, while behind me the sun slowly sets on the horizon behind Mt. Dobratsch, 30 km away.

But even more winter romance awaits me straight ahead on the way to the power plant. As expected, the last kilometer of the stillwater area provides the perfect surface for Father Frost. Here, he freezes the water into a patchy ice carpet ranging from paper-thin to finger-thick.

The first ice floes lie on the water like fragile frosting and are wonderful to SUP on. In between, there are ice-free waterways winding to the dam between the floes. The closer I get to the shore, the thicker and more extensive the ice becomes.

For the last few hundred meters to the end of the reservoir, I can be heard far beyond the shore, as numerous walkers watch my unusual activities on ice and water with fascination. Landing here is relatively easy in summer, as there are plenty of opportunities on the right-hand side away from the dam.

This task is more difficult in winter, as the ice determines which parts of the shore can be reached. And then there is a steep climb of one to two meters up to the gravel path running along the south shore. The ground is usually unstable, so you have to rely on well-placed boulders. It is also extremely difficult to lift a hardboard up to the gravel road on your own without help.

Nevertheless, I venture to land here and take a short break before heading back through the small ice desert. After all, the ice has already broken and my board is ice floe tango dancing its way back toward the main basin and the setting sun. With no wind or waves, I reach the starting point of this tour just in time, because my cold toes couldn't take much longer.

However, such minor inconveniences cannot detract from the winter paddling experience on the Feistritz Reservoir; they are even part of the fascination. I disembark at the starting point of my tour carefully and cautiously, and am pleased to note that my hardboard has remained scratch-free.

Alternatives: The shortened tour could end either at the holiday village (3 km) or at the power station (6 km). In the warm season, it is also possible to continue paddling from the Feistritz power station to the Ferlach Reservoir or even further.

Find this and many other SUP tours on Carinthian waters in the SUP Guide Carinthia.