30
Aug
Back in February a friend of mine named Fredy from Switzerland informed me of a multi-day paddling trip to southern Siberia being organized by Tomass Marnics and asked me if I wanted to go. I thought about it for roughly five minutes, called fellow Pyranha paddler Tony Gianfagna and immediately started searching for plane tickets to Irkutsk. Before we knew it, it was August, our Russian Visas had been issued, and we were on our way.
25
Aug
With the world championships at NOC in America coming up fast the GB freestyle team took to the water for a final training session. Throughout the weekend the team was working on piecing together their competition rides and putting some final work into making sure that their moves score.
Sal Montgomery Training at HPP
Photo by Ed Cooper
Training consisted of working all the top moves such as space godzillas, McNasty’s, Phonix Monkeys and lunar orbits. Many of the team were also practicing some of the entry moves they intend to do at the comp . Once warmed up we started putting moves together trying to link them in blocks of 3 so that the routine is easy to remember and has a high scoring sequence. Team training isn’t always super serious though, we also ran a fun copycat style session where you have to attempt the same move as the last paddler and then add on your own move for the next paddler to try. With the standard so high, there really were some amazing combinations pulled off!
The Jed catches some more airtime!
The team is very strong this year and we really are in the running to bring home medals in all the different freestyle disciplines. Brandon Hepburn and Bren Orton will be out there rocking their carbon Jed’s and working the hole as best they can to pull off some high scores. The Jed should really excel in a hole like this, being able to pull off all the latest hole moves quickly and fluidly. You simply just have to watch some of the team paddlers moving this boat around a hole or wave to realise how good the design really is.
With many competitors already out in the US practicing at NOC we really should see some incredible rides and some really amazing routines during the comp.
If you havent seen it yet, check out this video of Brandon and Bren training in Nottingham.
For more info on the world champs visit www.freestylekayaking2013.com
Thanks to Sal Montgomery for the photos and Bren and Brandon for the video.
Good luck Team GB!
24
Aug
Its been another stereotypical British summer this year. After a surprising amount of nice weather the rain finally came along.
Fairy Falls on a sunny day
Unfortunately I’ve been working most of the summer, so whenever the rain has come I’ve just headed to Betws-y-Coed for the good old Fairy Glen, pretty much a sure thing whenever it is wet. Obviously there is a reason for this, it has to be one of the most stunning gorges in the UK with some fantastic whitewater.
The Elbow
The end of the second gorge on the Fairy Glen
I’ve also been able to catch the Mellte a few times this summer, and finally at some half decent flows!!!
The sun comes out after some big rains in South Wales
Hugh Graham has just put this funky little video together from our run the other day. Forget the Zet logos, all you need to know is the Shiva fished his ass out of that river!!!
Cheers to Dave Brown and Ieuan Belshaw for the pics from the Glen!
23
Aug
Danny and Sean scout the 25ft drop on Callaghan Creek
Theres nothing like a good kayaking trip and being my second trip out of thecountry for some boating BC was definitely agem! Its pretty awesome how simple a kayaking trip can be. Wake up, eat, figure out where to go boating, kayak, eat dinner, stare at the stars, pass out and then repeat. With BC it was pretty simple to find places to go boating as the water levels were prime. We were able to catch some of the classics whilst in the area and even had a little bit of poutine. During our first couple days we camped out near the Ashlu where some other boaters were already staked out. We plundered the local Mc Donalds for internet and hoped for sweet tea… there sadly was no sweet tea.
Yours truly below the 15ft drop on Callaghan Creek
Squamish has a lot going on for being such a small town in the way of outdoor activities. Then we moved up to whistler where we camped at the Upper Cheak takeout. Whistler is a great hub for the areas whitewater as you have the Cheak right in town and Callaghans just outside. We had to take a little ride to get to rogers but theres also a few other runs even closer to town there in Whistler which as per the locals are pretty awesome as well. All in all BC was an amazing time with great whitewater, cool people and tons of fun!
Rich Sean and Myself at the putin for Rogers Creek- Photo by Tim Madison
First Drop of the triple 20ft drops on Rogers Creek
Heres the links to the Videos from BC which include all the aforementioned good times!
$oul Rich- Part One “BC Provides” from Paul Butler on Vimeo.
$oul Rich- Part 2 “Pride, Pumas and Parties” from Paul Butler on Vimeo.
22
Aug
I consider myself lucky to call Lookout Mountain home. This is a little video shot here on the mountain shot during the very wet spring of 2013. Good times with good friends on good runs all close to home… it doesn’t get much better than that.
Until next time you can keep up with my adventures at: www.granolapaddler.blogspot.com
-adam goshorn
13
Aug
After a short season last year with an injured shoulder and lots of physio and training during the winter I was really eager to get back up to Voss, Norway for the extreme sports week nown as Veko.
Ekstremsportveko is the largest sport and music festival of its kind, and is hosted every year in Voss, Western Norway. veko hosts competitions in kayaking, rafting, mtb-bmx, skateboarding, skydiving, paragliding, hanggliding, multisport, freeride, big air, climbing, BASE and longboarding. For one whole week national and international athletes compete and challenge themselves in the elements. This year was the 15th anniversary of Veko and it shows in the growth.
I met up with the Pyranha team van and UK team athlete Paula Pridham ready for the week ahead. Water levels were on a low to medium level so the usual classics were in order. Raundalselve, Jordalselve, Brandseth, Myrkdalan (which was high), Strandaelve, Basically the hit list for anyone visiting Voss, and of cause when visiting Voss you have to run Money Falls.
Looking into Money drop
Per on the now classic Money Drop
Paula in the bottom of Money Drop after a clean run.
One of the cool competitions at Veko is the ever growing popular Hogi-ned race which is a multi sports event comprissing of 3 disciplines. The first leg is downhill skiing then DH mountainbiking with a kayak section to finish. Due to snow conditions (or lack of snow!) the ski section was cancelled which left my team mate Christopher Hammersland and myself to do the biking and kayaking. The competition was fierce with teams having lots of mishaps but everyone had a good race and the atmosphere was great.
Hogi Ned competition
Again Voss delivered the goods and left us all looking forward to next year.
Typical scenery in Voss.
Small drop on Jordalselve.
12
Aug
Photos: Brian Murphy
For the second time in as many years a new kind of freestyle event hit the Hole Brothers venue in Watertown, New York. The “BRO”-Down, envisioned by local raft guide, paddler, and entrepreneur Dave Gardner is a super fun grass-roots event that is low-stress way for anyone to participate in freestyle competition.
12
Aug
The Kayak Borneo team have arrived in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and, having paddled several sections already, have secured some transport and will be heading out into the jungle in the next few days to start our exploration of this beautiful island.
The team struggle with the wildly swinging bridge (Photo: Rob Moffatt)
The expedition will be continuing for the next 3 months, pioneering a new approach; a ‘rolling expedition’ which will see 3 teams of paddlers exploring the island consecutively, sharing contacts and knowledge. As a result the expedition can span the very rainy and slightly less rainy seasons, allowing the team to explore all that Borneo has to offer.
Rob warming up in the jungle (Photo: Dave Burne)
Kayak Borneo extends to more than just an exploratory kayaking expedition. The team has been in contact with Heart of Borneo, a conservation charity based in Kalimantan, and will be liaising with them throughout. Once the expedition is completed the team will be selling the boats, kindly donated by Pyranha, to help raise some funds for the charity to continue with their valuable work.
In addition to this, the team will also be providing some training for the guides at RiverBug – a rafting outfit in Sabah.
Dom enjoying one of the easier sections nearby. (Photo: Rob Moffatt)
For more information on the expedition, and to keep up with the team’s progress, check out their website (www.kayakborneo.co.uk) and facebook group (www.facebook.com/KayakBorneo).
12
Aug
With my time in Cali having come to a close, eyes were set back on Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Chris and I had made a date with Galen Volckhausen, Hunt Jennings and Jordan Poffenberger. We were on the road North and had a few hours to meet the boys at the car park for Sahalie and Koosah Falls in Oregon. We only had moments to reflect upon the summer sun of California. Once crossing the border into Oregon the window wipers were cranking trying to clear the snow from the wind shield. The notion of turning around and driving straight back to the sun was voiced more than once, but we had had a change of mind set, and were both getting way too excited about stage two of the trip. Waterfalls. Coming from New Zealand, waterfalls are a very rare opportunity for myself and I was amping on the thought of freefall. Upon arrival in the Sahalie car park, Chris and I quickly changed into all of the warm and waterproof clothes we had. The snow was now pumping down, and the banks of the river were glistening white.
Enjoying the view of our first park ‘n’ huck of the tour. Sahalie Falls, OR.
Galen was quick to gear up, and before we knew it, we were at the lip of Sahalie.. I was nervous. Real nervous. Trying to minimise the time standing in the snow, I opted to set safety down the bottom to get things going. Somewhat put off by Galen’s over the bars auto eject and loss of paddle, we all rallied downstream to check out Koosah. This was more my cup of tea. Hunt was here last year, and took a savage hit at the base of the falls causing him to lose memory of his last two weeks in Cali! He was keen for redemption, and chose to go first. I was second, and stoked to be rolling into my first big waterfall since Ram Falls almost a year earlier. Both of us had good lines, despite my skirt imploding on impact.
Dropping over the lip of Koosah Falls. Sick waterfall with a kinda tech lead in to keep you on your toes. Photo: Jordan Poffenberger
The moment where I had to try and remember what to do on waterfalls..
Jordan, Galen and Chris all fired up behind us with sweet lines. Back up at Sahalie, Galen fired off a second lap and lost a second paddle followed by Jordan styling it to set a new C1 waterfall world record.
I’m going to skip over the Ldub and Upper Lewis segment of my trip.We all know those places are awesome, and have been written about many times.
Grave’s Creek on the Olympic Peninsula was first D’d last year by a team from PNW, and hadn’t seen any descents since. Myself, Todd Wells and Eric Parker rallied from White Salmon and spent half a day walking our gear in and scoping as much as we could in the deep committing gorge. This place is unreal! Lush green ferns line every corridor in every direction, and saturate you every time you brush past.
Walking into Graves Creek. WA. Photo: Patrick Orton
Lowering our kayaks into the gorge at the lip of a 50 footer we were all nervous about what were committing to.
Lowering into Graves Creek put in.
Following Todd into the first waterfall, I realised just how small this crack in the earth really was.
TW dropping into the slot at the start of our run. This view set the scene for what was to come.
Dropping into a dark and gloomy place. POV: Todd Wells
I rolled up stoked, and looked around to confirm that there was in fact no way out of this gorge except downstream. Parker followed, snapped his paddle and got snagged up on a tree in the pool which I quickly had to pull him off. One drop down and we already had the first break down paddle assembled and in use.
Scouting the line through the next drop with no way out but down.
Committed! Enjoying a calm patch below the 50 footer and the slot gorge. Photo: Todd Wells
Paddling through the next deep gorge, we encountered a rapid with no way through, and what appeared to be no way around! With Parker waiting upstream for Todd and I to make a call on whether we could carry on or not, we undertook a technical and super committing climbing manoeuvre to scoot around the gorge wall.
Eric Parker tries to figure out where to from here.. Photo: Todd Wells
This was the first of many throw and goes we were faced with deep in the canyon. This really felt like good solid expedition kayaking, and it was taking it’s toll on us all. After almost 6.5 hours of kayaking, we came to a twisting, funnelling 30 footer. Todd won rock, paper scissors again and fired up first. Waiting patiently at the top, I heard nothing… Deciding I needed to chase after him I rolled into the drop and tucked into the funnel. Launching out of the bottom, I was thrown into an unintentional kickflip and landed upright without any sign of Todd. I quickly paddled to the lip of the 20 footer directly below and saw Todd emptying his kayak tucked into the bank holding a snapped paddle. He was sweet, but we were now onto our second and last split paddle. By this stage of the run, we knew we weren’t far from the takeout, and quickly rallied down the river bombing as fast as we could racing the dusk. On arrival at the takeout we were exhausted. We had been on the river for almost 8.5 hours and were mentally and physically shattered. Stoked to be back at the car, we cracked some beers and praised Jah for letting us through unharmed.
Cali was good, but Graves was next level!
Moving on with the Olympic Peninsula tour we thought we should go check out Hamma Hamma Falls. Arriving at the bridge, the three of us jumped out of the car and ran to the bridge like excited school boys about to have our first sexual experience! The flow was good. Throwing on our wet gear we formulated a plan. Todd and I would run the first drop while Eric shot film and photos from the bridge.
Pushing right to avoid the nasty undercut in the pool between the drops.
We then waited in the pool between the waterfalls for Parker to drop in and join us at the lip of the 60 footer. Smiles were massive and pretty soon I was dropping over the horizon.
This lip is crazy. It looks like it will completely kick you out flat, but actually rolls pretty nicely.
Foolishly throwing my paddle, I would never see it again. Even worse, a deck implosion meant that I was now in the water struggling to hold the bank while waiting for the boys to heave me a rope.
Todd Wells, myself and Eric Parker stoked to have caught a primo level on a super primo waterfall. POV: TW
Before we got back on the road to White Salmon, the three of us crushed our booty beers (straight spirits in this instance) and said farewell to a very special place that is Olympic Peninsula.
Super stoked on a rowdy trip to Olympic Peninsula. Photo: Patrick Orton
10
Aug
Check out some kayaking down in México!!
Follow the SBP boys and their mental friends as they travel deep into a waterfall paradise in México. Enjoy some fine paddling from some of the best waterfalls mother nature has to offer, surrounded on all sides by thick jungle and banana fields.
Check out the episode on Epic Tv as well!
And check all the videos form Kayak the Worlds with SBP series here!
