I love kayaking, and it is for this sole reason why I know I want to be able to kayak my whole life. Self preservation and sustainability is central to this. I have now been kayaking for well over half my life. I have seen myself transform from a beginner kayaker aged 9 to the expedition kayaker I am today. Throughout this journey the period of time I wish to look back on, share and discuss with anyone reading this is the transformation from aged 18 – present, 23 and lessons I learned.

Aged 18 I made the decision to branch out of the UK and go on my first true extended kayak trip, 3 months in Norway. Best decision of my life. Norway turned out to be everything I had dreamt about, epic white water, great people, a true testing ground.

On this trip I pushed myself harder than ever before, I ran almost everything I set my eyes on. I was so keen and fearless I just wanted more! I did this not because of peer pressure. In fact on a hand full of occasions many of the people I was paddling with the likes of Matt Tidy, Maxi Kniewasser and Andy Phillips to name a few would occasionally walk things I would not. Reflecting on this the difference is experience. These individuals were more skilled and completely understood the dangers of each rapid and what was required to style them. This only comes through experience. At the time my skill level far surpassed my experience. It is for this reason why my kayaking at this time was not sustainable. I had 4 swims that season 2 of which were very close calls.

Aged 19, I returned. This time more experienced, more skilled and as keen as ever. Similar story, I gave it my all, went as hard as I possibly could. What was interesting on this trip was that I was walking rapids that I had previously ran the year prior. I had absolutely no desire to run them again. The reason for this was experience, it’s like I unlocked an additional layer in reading the river, a deeper insight into dangers. This has continued to develop as I have paddled more rivers.

I know live in British Columbia. I moved here aged 20. BC is unique, its rivers continuous, many deep inescapable canyons, high water runs on every river, caves, wood anything that is dangerous is in BC. It is and always will live up to its reputation as one of the most epic kayak destinations in the world yet one of the most dangerous. Here especially, and in many other places in the world, decision making can be the difference between life and death.

I would like to share with you an experience that developed my perspective on hard white water. Summer 2011, I had the worst swim of my life. I swam for 700 meters down Fear Canyon of the Elaho, one of Whistlers many test pieces, often described as the training run for the Stikine. Deep in the canyon there is a rapid named Mini Wassons, 2 stacked ledge holes one on river right one on river left. You have to thread the needle. I was kayaking with a hand full of the best kayakers I know, Louis Geltman and Chris Gragtmans to name a few. Everyone, except myself decided to run a safer chute hard river right. I went for the main line. I styled the line, I was fist pumping down the river but suddenly wham. I was getting smashed in a small ledge hole after the main event, not visible from where we were scouting from. 20 seconds of getting worked and no sign of a way out, I pulled my deck only to be in the middle of the biggest volume class 5 run in the area. I was helpless and exhausted spending 50 meters at a time under water only ever getting half breaths every 20 seconds. I was a inch away from drowning, Chris saved my life, he managed to pull me a shore 20 meters form the crux of the canyon. Had I swam into that I would not be here now.

What I leaned form that:
• If the consequence of swimming is death is it worth it?
• But more importantly, is running it and swimming going to endanger my team members. I asked a lot from Chris on that day. He ran 700 meters of class 5 blind to save my life. I will try my hardest to never force anyone to do that again.
• Be sure before you run things that you have assessed ALL the dangers and can accept the risk presented.
• If the risks are high make sure you are 99 percent sure you will make the line.

The message I am trying to portray is be increasingly vigilant, make the right decisions, ensure your experience and skill levels are as equal as possible. If they are not, build on your experiences slowly, do not rush things, the rivers will always be there. Learn from the more experienced kayakers around you, discuss lines, if someone is walking a rapid ask yourself, why? Maybe it is because they are having an off day or simply are not feeling it, but maybe it is because they have more insight in the potential effects of messing up your line.

I know I want to be able to kayak forever. I have learned from my own lessons and peoples around me. I do everything in my power to kayak sustainably in order to give me the best possible chance to kayak for many years to come!

Thank you Pyranha for all the support, the Burn and the Shiva are the tools I use and I love them. Below are a few pics of what I have been up to over the past few years.

Demshitz got some rain here in Pennsylvania over the weekend. Check out what we got after! The classic staple runs of the NE PA creeking scene. Wapwallopen and Raymonskill. Peep the vid.

http://demshitz.com/demshitz-wapwallopen-raymondskill/

In the spur of the moment trip, a few Southeast boys from Boone, NC headed up to the Moose River in Old Forge, NY.  The group consisted of Clay Lucas, Ben Lucas, Colin Hunt and myself (Ty Caldwell).  Leaving at 5Am, we arrived in Old Forge, NY 14 hours later.  Fired up to paddle we headed to the Moose the next morning, a NE classic.  Good times and good lines were had on and off the river for the weekend.

Big shout out to Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company for the hospitality and for such a great weekend.

Deciding to try to split up the drive on the way home we decided to drive to the Potomac over night.  Some sick drops are out in that area and I suggest everyone try to visit.  The overviews provide a large crowd that cheers with each boof.  Overall it was an awesome weekend and we still made it back in time for class on Monday.

Enjoy the photos and video.  Thanks for all the support and see you on the water.

Kindly,

Ty Caldwell

https://vimeo.com/51725762

(Photos for blog only. Copyright: Tommy Penick) http://tommypenickphoto.com/

Dave’s brother enjoying the popular “wheelie” line a Knife’s Edge

I have come to view the people that I paddle with as my extended family.  The Moose River Festival held near Old Forge New York every October is like a paddling holiday where the whole family gets together.  The simplicity of the weekend is what makes it feel a little more like Thanksgiving than Christmas.  Come to Old Forge, go kayaking, and hang- out with old friends.  It’s so simple and so important.

Dave dropping the classic “Agers Falls”

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So after leaving Pakistan in August I’ve spend the last two months in Ladakh and Uttarakhand, the two most common destinations for summer time kayakers on a trip to India. I was absolutely amazed to find out how much I disagreed with what information I’d come across before going, and how much more there is out here. So here is my account of the classic Indian areas for kayaking:

Ladakh:

The Tsarap Chu/Zanskar.
This was an interesting one, after meeting up with another group of AUCC boaters on an Indian paddling trip we headed straight to the ‘Grand Canyon of Asia.’ For a 6-8 day multiday with a nickname like that our expectations were high. It was pretty, and very remote for the first 3 days, but what the guides didn’t tell us is that there is a vast amount of flat water. I’m not sure how to explain what I made of the river without annoying the large numbers of people who’s minds were blown by the gorges, so I’ll leave it at that; a nice remote river with some fun rapids and nice scenery.

Another pretty but flat section of the Tsarap Chu

The Indus:
A good river, but we caught it at low-ish levels, no complaints, but unfortunately it wasn’t the beast we’d been expecting (especially after seeing the Indus looking like an absolute monster in Pakistan a few weeks before).

One of the bigger rapids on the lower Indus, at higher flows this is meant to have 20 foot waves in it!

The Shyok:
Blew my mind!!! After wasting too much time in Leh and slight dissapointment on the classic rivers of Ladakh it was amazing to be able to do this run. Whilst the Dras river, a popular hard run near the Pakistan border, has now been put out of bounds due to permit restrictions the Shyok has just been opened up to foriegn tourists. The LADs at Splash rafting in Leh told us about this gem, and according to them and a few others we were lucky enough to secure the second descent of it! It was like being back in Pakistan, huge, silty-brown, fast flowing and scary- a must visit for any group going to Ladakh.

The Shyok

Uttarakhand

After spending a while in Ladakh we headed over to Uttarakhand, where research we’d done hinted that there were a couple of good rivers, namely the Alaknandar and Ganges. Timing for this was perfect as the monsoon was near its end, so whilst the big rivers we’d heard of were completely insane all the small creeks were going. We met up with Shalabh Gahlaut, the bible of Indian river running, who’s now based himself on the banks of the Alaknandar and spent the next month going off on trips that he’d had penciled in but not had the chance to do due to water levels or having the right group. We got some sweet runs done, from tight low volume slidey stuff to bigger boulder garden pool drop runs. We even managed to find a 10ish meter waterfall that was going, and in higher levels would be the put on to an epic section. Going into Ladakh with high expectations made it a bit of a let down, but heading to Uttarakhand with no idea what we’d be doing was so epic, made even better by the fact that there was so much going, and so much left. I would absolutely go back and recomend it over Ladakh any day. Here are some of the shiney photos we took when we managed to stop ourselves during the awesome read and run sections, as well as the 10m drop of the Nayyar.

A tight creek 10 mins from Shalabh’s house

Shalabh eddy hopping the east Nayyar

The put on for the west Nayyar

Paddling under a 7,000m peak after a first descent of the Kail river

To top it all off levels started to drop on the Alaknandar by the time we were leaving and managed to have a nice change, leaving our creek boats at home and taking some of Shalabh’s old school play boats to the big waves on offer. After realising the playboating potential out here we quickly got on the phone to Pyranha who’ve now sorted Shalabh out with a brand new Jed. We had to leave in a hurry to catch the rains over in the east of India, but Shalabh has agreed to write up a little bit on the play waves of the Alaknandar and send over some photos of how he’s getting on. I cannot wait to see how he gets on with a modern boat!

So yeah, thats my take on north India. We’ve now headed east and are the first group of kayakers to set foot into the state of Meghalaya, the wettest place on earth. Research looks good and we’re starting boating tomorrow. I’m excited!!!!