Dave Thompson and Darren Clarkson King take on the uber impressive Llanberis waterfall. This is the second time for Dave, having done it eighteen years ago!

Waterfall Madness from Paul Higginson on Vimeo.

Recently i’ve been getting more attention at the put-in’s and take-out’s of my local play runs. Lord knows it’s not because of my sick phonix monkeys or dashing good looks – it’s because of the boat on my shoulder. The new Pyranha VARUN sure draws alot of looks, comments and questions. I’ve noticed this is part of something larger happening in the world of playboating/river-running. People are interested in returning to boats that can play the whole river – not just those few choice, deep, powerful playspots that you may or may not have on your home class III run. Call it “oldskool” if you want, I prefer to think of it as a return to the roots.

Above: Pyranha – the choice of discerning video-kayakers around the world. Songer Whitewater Raft Pen, Fayette Co., WV (GDalton, 1996)

Around 2 or 3 years ago, while paddling an aerial-specific looping machine, I began to realize I was passing by many of the “old favorite” play spots on my home play run. Sure I was having more fun in the hole at Salida, CO or at Geek Wave on the Gauley; but I was having less fun on my bread-and-butter local runs. My buds and I began to talk about getting our hands on something more all-around playful, maybe even digging up a ’90’s era playboat from our past. But those old warhorses lack the modern outfitting and comfort - not to mention some of the easy playability - we were looking for. And like I said, they’re old.

Back in the day: Me in my good old Pyranha Blade! “Tumblehome,” Upper Gauley, 1997.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about: Trafford works over Wigwam Rock, Maury R., VA. Photo props to Josh “Class V” Mays.

Then Pyranha unveiled the new VARUN. The VARUN is the answer to my playboating prayers. Finally a boat that can work every single feature of my everyday play run – the runs we paddle when the creeks aren’t running, the stuff we paddle on a hot July day when we actually want to get our head wet. A boat that I can stick dead vertical onto some rock with barely a pillow in front of it, then splatwheel myself silly until my abdominals scream out in mercy. A boat I can surf on every micro-wave my buddies pass by without noticing, then truly get after it on the “real” wave downstream. A boat I can stick in a seam and cartwheel until the world spins in a dizzy blur and I have to stop lest I hurl up the Tudor’s Breakfast Biscuit that tasted so good earlier this morning. Then we hop in the truck, go back up, and do it again. And again. Repeat until sundown. The icing on the cake: the VARUN has state of the art Connect 30 outfitting and I didn’t have to clean out a rat’s nest and black widows from some old cracked hull found under my neighbor’s shed. And on the weekend, when you make the trek to the New or the Gauley, etc. you can still stick those loops and blunts that you just can’t find on your little home river – the high-end moves we could hardly dream of in those old Blades, ProZones, and InaZones. The VARUN is the Swiss Army Knife of playboats/river-runners. Put one in your pocket!

 

OldSkool/NewSkool: The Varun and an ancestor. Working the abdominal muscles in Goshen Pass, Maury River, VA

Last week, after busy work schedules kept Trafford and I from making the trek to a favorite local creek, we consoled ourselves with an after-work play session on the local class III. After a few highly-aerobic laps in the VARUN I had to agree with Trafford when he noted that we were paddling a lot harder than we would have on the class V creek we had missed that day. It’s true, I was getting a much better workout in the VARUN than I would have in my BURN; or in my former playboat for that matter.

 The Varun gets it at “Mogwai,” Goshen Pass, VA

Everyone else is noticing too: you just have more fun in the VARUN. I’ve seen easily twice as much interest in the VARUN than any other boat i’ve ever paddled. I predict good things for this boat.

See You On The River. I’ll be the guy vertical in the Varun; big smile on my face.

For those of us who don’t get to enjoy a full year of non stop paddling due to many reasons like a job or maybe more appropriate winter.  We are all pretty excited for summer.  But what if you don’t have a car?  No friends too.  Bummer. 

This post is not intended to change your social habits, but it might give some ideas if you perhaps lack a vehicular mode of transportation that sports four wheels.

In comes the kayak trailer!  The newest fad to hit the world of paddling.  While I haven’t seen another one yet I’m just sure it is destined to be a big hit. 

If you got a bike just tear apart that old kids trailer and buckle those wheels onto some sort of frame.  Tack up a little hitch and your raring to go. 

It’s that simple!  And with your awesome fuel economy you’ll be the envy of all your friends and will definitely be invited on all the sweet trips. 

Well here we are again in Yusufeli Turkey for another trip down the Coruh. Long drive but worth every Penny, cent, kurus of diesel. This year I have the bonus of having time to head to Georgia for a month explore. Coruh and Bahal Rivers are HIGH after heavy rain.

We killed it at CKS Paddlefest this year. Team Pyranha was on hand to lend out boats for demo and give advise on which ones people should check out. There seemed to be a lot of interest in the Varun and the Karnali. Pyranha ended the weekend on top with huge sales that beat out all the other boat manufacturers, and judging by the shortage of demos, a ton of people fired up about our boats. We all took turns in the Varun on a sweet wave just downstream from the comp hole. In between rides I managed to get a few shots of the Varun making light work of the touchy wave feature.

A couple years ago, on the Team Pyranha blog, Ryan Scott posed a retrospective of pictures of himself paddling various Pyranha boats through the years (see his post here). At the time I remember thinking that it would be a fun project to look back through some of my older padding photos and try to find pictures from the many Pyranha boats that influenced my paddling life. As with all too many ideas, I promptly forgot about it… until recently.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a few photos I thought I would share from the Elk River, NC from last month. As the spring rains wound down, this was one of the last good creeking days from the high country. Enjoy.

The Crew at the Put In

1st rapid, good boof

 

Ty at compression falls

 

Myself at compression

 Since the end of the school year, I have moved to Bryson City, NC for the summer on the Nantahala River.  Updates soon!

Record snow and a late snowmelt has made the anticipation for Colorado tour more exciting then ever. I just finished my first week in colorado and it could not have gone much better. One of my favorite runs we got on this week was Cross Mountain Canyon on the Yampa River. This run is about an hour and a half outside of Steamboat Springs, and because it is at record high flows, it is definitely one of the bigger rivers I have ever run. It is five miles of continuos class 5 big water. I got on this beast of a run twice and both times turned out to be quite an epic adventure.

Another run I went to was Slater Creek. Not only did we get stuck in the snow for two hours attempting to take a shortcut, but we also had to rope boats out a quarter mile from the main drop, ( a twenty foot slide into a thirty footer) because of a tree. Slater Creek was at ridiculously high flows and I claimed a highest recorded descent (1200 CFS) of this beast. All in all Slater Creek ended as a great park and huck.

Lastly, was the competition at Steamboat Springs, (Steamboat Springs Paddlelife Pro Invitational) which included a creek race on Fish Creek, and a rodeo on the Yampa River. Although we did not have ideal temperatures or flows it turned out to be a great competition. I ended up seventh in the creek race and eight in the freestyle. Next is Glenwood wave and Teva Mtn. Games. Another update is coming soon.

Stories and articles about kayaking drops can fall short of getting to the feelings and depth of emotion. The calculated risk, the dynamic assessments we make, these cannot be from the heart.

It is my personal view that the heart matters. For me, for the ride – this inner being more than anything is why we push ourselves.

The place of magic – the place of bijou- is on the edge, the thin chance – the moment that is passed before it arrives. The moment that you have planned for in the sleepless nights. The moment of no return, no second thoughts – no second chances. For those that have the ability to think in this way our natural world will hold spells beyond belief, it will hold you in its charm and welcome you for the ride.

Last week was a time I ran Llanberis falls in North Wales, A fall I had wanted to do since my youth. Read more and see the film and images via www.purelandexpeditions.com and find the blog, you know you want to.

DAZ