B.C Baby

B.C Baby! 

The beautiful nymph pool, Tatlow creek. This is as close as we, and to my knowledge anyone got to paddling it this year. The road is hooped, not difficult, done. 3km walk in minimum. Or a chopper. We should've started earlier.

Its that time of year again, blog time! I guess theres options, like updating things more often than annually but what can i say, i dont. Maybe i could tell all a'y'all about each and every thing i do but A) i prefer my privacy a little bit and B) I dont think you care. Its a cruel world people, that means you. Nah, joking, youre all lovely. Youre reading this so you must be. Kisses. 

So this was our first year back in Canadia. We moved ourselves back to the big country last winter and got settled in with Manue back to school. Shes studying massage therapy, which i am obviously pleased about, tho i dont get as many free massages as you'd think. Its kinda like trying to get a waitress to make you a coffee after their shift finishes. Good news is, shes doing great, like super great. So proud of you darlin'. Manue does currently however have a broken fibula. This after she impaled her calf (same leg, poor leg). Im fine tho, thanks for asking. Anyway, kayaking....

 

First run of the season back in March, and a shameless plug for ZET Canada. Doesnt the Toro look shiny? And sexy? I kept using it. Its still sexy, but not shiny.

It was a mostly quiet winter for me, getting settled back into Canadian life. Got some skiing done, that sort of thing. As spring rolled around i got myself set up and made my way over to Squamish for the summer. I had passed through the sea to sky a few years back when i was first in Canada but i didnt get that much paddling done. Ive known all about the area for years, anyone with an interest in high quality whitewater has but i felt like it was time for me to give it a whirl. So i lined up a job, got me a trailer and a place to park it at the world (in)famous "Refugee Camp" and set off. 

Martijn "the dirty dutchie" at the put in falls of the upper Cheak. Great way to start your day. Or evening.

I got myself set up, got into some working and pretty soon i got into some kayaking as well. I actually did alot of kayaking this last summer, but as evidenced by the photos here it was mostly after work, evening runs. I wasnt able to get many days off through the season where i could take off to go kayaking so had to settle for being an evening warrior. The upside of this is that the Sqamton area, and the sea to sky corridor is home to some of the best whitewater on the planet. I admit, i completely lost count of how many upper Cheakamus, Callaghan or Balls to the Wall laps i got in, and when i say i managed about 25 Ashlu box laps its a guess-timate. Im pretty stoked on it anyway. The other thing is, that i didnt take many photos. Most of the runs we did were hot laps, its not necessary to get out of the boat so you dont, thus taking pictures can be kinda difficult. Anyways, alot of fun times were had, some great new friends made and old ones caught up with. My bday was a quality one, and we managed to bang in the classic Whistler triple crown of Soo, Upper Cheak, Callaghan. The Callaghan race was also a super fun day out, thanks again to Mr Arns for organising, even if Moxon (and Rafa, no objections there, you deserved it bud) won. Shame.

Andraz showing off on balls falls. The annual huckfest here is a real highlight of the sea to sky calendar.

One thing i did leave the sea to sky with was a wish list of rivers i didnt manage to get done this year such as the Birkenhead, Rogers creek and the top of my list, Tatlow. We did try and walk into Tatlow in June but as the 1st crew in there this summer we werent sure of the state of the road and definitely set off late. As it turns out, it is now a mandatory hike of about 3km to the nymph pool as a couple of creeks blew out and have destroyed the road completely. When we did make it that far it turned out to be too high anyway and with no certain knowledge of the wood situation in the canyon, plus it being late in the day we made the courageous decision to high tail it all the way back to the truck. I love taking the plastic for a walk. Nearly as much as i love spending hours hauling plastic up steep canyon walls and getting raped by wasps but thats another story. Get well soon Sandy, hope youre healing up strong bro. 

Fear Canyon in the fall. The water was getting low-ish but its still so quality.

As the season began to slow down and levels dropped off i finally found myself with a bit more time to go boating and although most things were getting low i did manage to get into the beautiful Fear Canyon of the Elaho for a few laps to round up the sea to sky summer. It was a real pleasure and a privelege to spend time in such an amazing place and get to hang out with so many amazing people. Thankyou all for the good times, i cant wait to be back.

Chris "the dirty Irish" in the pinch on Fear Canyon. This is what it looks like at 90cms. Bit more chill eh.

I finished work early September, packed up, sold the trailer and headed back home for a few days with my lovely lady but as it turned out the busiest (at least the highest mileage wise) boating of my summer was coming up. I had been hoping to put together a trip to the Homathko but unfortunately it fell through in the end so looking around for other options i saw that the annual Chelan release was happening down in Washington. As this is actually pretty close to my current home base in the Okanagan it was too good to pass up so i headed down for a fun packed weekend of Chelanigans.

Hector approaching the exit of Entrance Exam. Note A) the color of the water, this is just after they open the gates and its grim, lake bottom brown. Cleans up and becomes crystal blue, lovely :) B) the crowd of "safety rangers" aka jeering mob. Of course we cheer when you get beat down, we love that sh#$ :)

Im happy to say i wasnt disappointed. Id heard about this river a little in the past, largely from previous paddlers gopro vids. Its a short run, dropping out of the eastern Cascades and is controlled by the public utilities department of the town of Chelan. Water is a precious commodity here and needless to say the local orchards are a much greater priority than whitewater kayakers. 

Alec Voorhees styling Entrance Exam.

 Thankfully local paddlers have been able to negotiate an annual release and make a weekend of it. Thing is tho, its a single release each day. The river is not turned on and left running, the PUD sign everyone one on and off the river, then follow the group from above as you make your way down, closing the dam off once the last paddlers are through. This leads to the big posse carnage, Chelanigans of infamy. I dont think id ever run class 5 with 40+ people before but it was alot of fun. I cant say id like to do every river that way but ill definitely be coming back next year. The Whistler crew was out in force, as was the PNW and it was a great weekend. The Whistler crew was out in force, as was the PNW and it was a great weekend.I will make sure i dont get too hungover to paddle Sunday tho (i hardly ever drink these days, what was i thinking!). Anyways, enjoy a couple more pics. 
 

Richard "Princess Treacle" Kemble showing off his skills with the "Over Lean" aka "F*$% up". To be fair hes normally pretty styley. I still hadnt laughed so hard all week tho.

Ben Kinsella showing how its supposed to look on the Super Boof. This drop really is just a super clean, style me hard, boof. Lovely. Also see how much cleaner the water is!

 

Martijn Van Den Broeke crushing the entrance boof on Pinnacle. Sick drop this.

So after the Chelan i had a couple of weeks free time to play with. Some general campfire chat unearthed a couple of fellow dirt bags with a similar agenda so we set off with the hope that the rain in the forecast came through for us. Heading back towards the coast we managed to bag a Robe Canyon lap which i was pretty happy to jump on but sadly WA was not at that point getting as wet as it has been since. We headed back to Canadia only to find that the sea to sky was running dry as well. I had a couple of things to sort out in Whis, but after some discussion Kieran and i decided to jump inland and go try to hit up some interior classics.

Kieran "Filthy McNasty" Thurlow on the 2nd rapid of the Jordan.

We stopped off for a night in a real bed at home then boosted up to Revelstoke where we managed to bag off 2 of the local gems, the Jordan and box canyon of the Illecillewaet. We even got some sunshine!

The big slide on the Jordan. In the sunshine! In the fall! It was a beautiful trip for weather :)

From Revy we bounced over Rogers pass to Golden, hooked up with my friend Ethan and went straight to the Spillimacheen. This was my first time at this river and i was super stoked. Its absolutely sick! Its a short river but the whole thing is action packed with some awesome rapids (and the best rapid names ive encountered in a long time), all in a stunning canyon in the middle of nowhere BC. Basically all my favourite kinda things. 

Ethan "babyface" Bagley dropping into the first big slide on the Spilli. 

Kieran stomping his boof out on Happy Ending, the last drop of the Spillimacheen. Waterfalls dont come much nicer than this one, we must have run 6 or 7 laps each at least.

And here we see Babyface schteezing out a lean. Making it look nice eh. Shortly after this he went for a crossbow lean. It didnt go so good ;P

 After another super sweet run, we headed to the nearby Radium hotsprings for some relaxation. From there we rallied to the Elk. The upper Elk was at a perfect level and with a couple of days of good weather in the forecast, a perfect camp site right at the take out and some beautiful whitewater to run we had an awesome couple of days. Our 2nd day, Steve Arns and Ben Hawthorne showed up. This maybe needs a little explanation. So the kayaking community is small, especially when you start talking about people who run class 5. When you talk about people who run the hard stuff regularly and have been around a bit, then the community gets really small. So my name is Ben Hawthorne, and im British. His name is Ben Hawthorne, and he's American. What are the chances??!!! I think weve known about each other for a while but we had never run into each other til this point. I was super stoked to meet him and get to paddle such an awesome section as the upper Elk together. Hopefully we'll get a chance to run some more stuff together in the future, cheers Ben! Also, a massive thanks to Steve Arns for the pics here :)

Ethan on Horseshoe, one of the first drops of the upper Elk. Sick rapid.

Same drop, different angle, different day. Such a cool canyon. Photo: Steve Arns.

Ethan styling Caveman, aka Triple drop. Definitely the hardest rapid on the upper Elk, tho the portage option is also pretty hairy. Photo: Steve Arns.

Myself on Leap of Faith, the classic last drop of the upper Elk. Super clean 40' into a cliffed out pool. So awesome. Photo: Steve Arns.

Kieran looking good on the lip in the sun. A good place to learn about going over the bars, im guessing less painful than Tomata 1 bud? (ah hell, it happens to us all man, ive certainly landed on my head plenty :P ) Photo: Steve Arns.

Ethan stomping his line, 1st run, 1st day. Apparently you can hike your boat back up here altho we do not recommend it. That rock is sketchy.

I had a great time playing on the Elk, and i would like to point out here its not just the upper. The middle Elk is also sick, with an even more incredible canyon. Sure, the whitewater is not quite as spectacular but its super high quality and super fun. The hike out sucks tho, altho it does leave you at one of the most beautiful, spectacular camp sites anywhere. Regardless, i really enjoyed myself and cant wait to go back. 

So that was the end of that roady tho not quite the end of my season. I headed home for a few days before bouncing south. I did take my camera with me but for various reasons i didnt really get it out. I was lucky enough to check out the Bend Whitewater park and i have to say it is the most awesome facility to have in your town. Youve got a nice variety of features, on a natural flowing river, right in the downtown with good facilities along side and its FREE! Its super awesome, and i was really stoked to find that the town has gotten behind a project like that. Great to see. We also checked out the other sections of the Deschutes river which has some coo stuff to offer before heading to Cali and the Burnt Ranch race.

Paddle Burnt Ranch people! PBR :) This is a great, core community kayaking event and i was stoked to get there and catch up with people, meet new friends and have a great weekend. I was also stoked to come in a respectable 4th, even chucking in a cheeky deck grab on the last boof of the race. Thanks Darryl for putting it together again man, good work. I also made it to Gnarl Fest down there which this year really lived up to the name. The weather was howling, raining like a m#$%&^$%**r, wind blowing it sideways and dropping 2' long sugar pine cones out the trees at us. I jumped in with the safety crew since i didnt know the river and wanted to take my time. We ended up with a sub-luxed shoulder, 1 lost paddle, 4 swims and a very sketchy tree incident. We made it tho, and its an awesome section with some sick whitewater. Thanks for the times guys :) 

When it was time to head home, the rain had been falling and i swung into White Salmon en route. There wasnt quite as much water as id been hoping for but there was enough for a first lap down the Little White. Its that river they all talk about. Alot. So of course id heard so much about it, seen infinite videos and been desperate to paddle it for years. I was super stoked i got the chance this summer, not least because it means that when i go back in the spring i will at least have some idea of the lines when i get routed down it at high flows. What can i say, whitewater boat riders love sand bagging each other into the goods. We are kinda assholes that way huh. I did line up some boating for the ride north but i was missing my lady so rallied back home and got some needed rest.

Which leads me to my last paddle of the year to date and a run i wish i hadnt felt the need to take. I met with Adrian Kiernan for a lap down the illy box to raise a glass to our good friend Will Hartman who tragically passed away recently whilst on a paddling trip in Meghalaya, India. Will was an awesome guy, and judging from the huge public outpouring of grief online and gatherings that have happened to commemorate him im not the only one thats going to miss him. I wish id had more time to spend with him, and i just hope that those closest to Will are able to cherish the good memories and hold onto that love. Kayaking has brought many amazing things to my life, from mind expanding travels to simple great times in beautiful places, but nothing more precious than the incredible people i have been lucky enough to call friends. Thoughts and love to all of you folks. Thanks for reading. 

Will Hartman, styling as usual in the midst of the big slide, lower Rauma, Norway. Were gonna miss you buddy.

P.S A huge shout out and thanks to Colorado Kayak Supply and ZET Kayaks Canada 
 for all the help and love. You guys are awesome.

P.P.S I wrote this whilst largely listening to John Grace's Hammer Factor podcast and ive been thoroughly entertained. Its everything i enjoy about my favourite podcasts pretty much, that is a bunch of people who know what theyre talking about, discussing things im interested in ie kayaking. That and talking alot of smack. And it features my bud, Louis Geltman, good work Geltman! Check it out :)