Vuoksi River

Rafting on the Vuoksi

Vuoksi dam at Imatra (1982 )

The Vuoksi ( Finnish) (Russian Vuoksa, Вуокса ) is a river in Finland and Russia. It drains the Saimaa lake system. He cuts through the first Salpausselkä ridge and flows to the eastern Lake Ladoga. The small towns of Imatra and Swetogorsk are due to its river.

The Vuoksi flows through typical Scandinavian congestion, with lakes and rivers alternate. The catchment area covers 68,500 km ², of which 52,697 km ² in Finland. The Woltschja is a major right tributary of Vuoksi which opens at Lossewo in these.

Historical river

By 1857 the Vuoksi made ​​at Lossewo an arc to the north, flowed through the Vuoksisee and culminated in Priozersk ( ⊙ 61.04499130.186253 ) in Lake Ladoga. As a result of the construction of a drainage trench at Suchodolskoje Lake created a new southern Abflussarm of Vuoksi, which performs this 40 km long lake and its new outlet to Lake Ladoga. The water level in the old north arm fell off then, so that this most of the time is separated from the actual course of the river today. In this original river flows at the Ilmenjoki Priozersk.

Energy

Both neighbors, Finland and Russia, use the Vuoksi for energy. The famous Imatrankoski Rapids has been converted for energy. The 18.4 m high cases are used to generate electricity since 1928. The water is diverted so that only from mid-June to mid-August at 19:00 clock, on Sundays at 15:00 clock, for 20 minutes the old river bed is used by opening the floodgates. Then the visitor can view the falls from an arched bridge or a local park below. As a " side dish " and the piece is It cooks the power of Jean Sibelius played.

Riverside is also the luxurious Imatran Valtionhotelli, one held in the Art Nouveau Hotel.