2009: Multi-days part deu

2009: Multi-days part deu

So as Stafford and Cutch put it, "Sometimes even the best get beat."  I make no claims at being the best, but I sure did get beat this year.  I haven't previously given a written account even though many people have pestered me about it, so here it goes:

I organized a BOX trip on the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone.  I personally rank the Box in my top three all-time runs.  The place is unbelievable.  If you have the skills to pay the bills, you must go, no questions.  So we dropped in - the gauge was reading an optimal 1100, but the flow was definitely low side of good due to irrigation removals messing with the gauge.  We made our way to Balls to the Wall.  I have to admit that I wasn't really feeling it, but I wanted to run the rapid so bad.  It's like Double Trouble on the Big South.  It's burly, consequential and yet the line is so aesthetic that I'd been dreaming about it for a year after walking it the first go-round.  Basically, you drop in and try to keep your balls right next to a 2,000ft wall raising straight out of the river.  It's impossible to photograph the scope of it.  I dropped and chickened away from the wall by just a couple feet.  It was enough to catch my edge and careen off a steep mank pile at the bottom of the rapid.  I thought I felt my boat chalk upside down between two tight rocks, panicked and pulled.  Rookie mistake for someone running a drop of this magnitude.  I came up in the tight pool and Michael Phelps-ed at a rock in the middle of the river.  My boat and paddle continued down into the extremely sieved out and solid class V Lower Balls rapid.  Here's the predicament: I'm now standing on a rock in the middle of the river.  River left is cliffed out 2,000+ ft until below Lower Balls.  Swimming the sieved out Lower Balls from the top definitely had the potential to leave me under-water for a long time, like weeks.  River right is cliffed out above and below Balls by 2,000+ ft with no egress.  The time is 5 pm in deep in the Wyoming wilderness.  I can get to river right, but it more or less guarantees spending the night with nothing and waiting for SAR in the morning.  Tom and Eric Parker come out to the rock with me.  We convince Tom to paddle down the left bank and climb precipitously out on an ominous rock.  Tom asks if the plan B slot left of the rock will go.  Eric and I shrug our shoulders and say, "Think so," but we really had no idea.  Tom makes the move.  The plan B slot definitely did not go and would have left Tom vertically pinned with absolutely no help.  We then roped Tom's boat and paddle back up to my rock.  I make the same move.  Then using some crazy rope work and mank boating skills, combined with several short swims I was able to skip from sieve to sieve through the rapid to the spit of land on river left.  Now we're at 7 pm.  I start running down the bank to reach the hike-out point and avoid spending the night.  I probably make 4 more swims around various cliffed out points.  We made it, no sight of my boat.  The next day, I'm shuttle bunny.  A group behind us found my boat and paddle the following day.  It had apparently spent the entire night underwater.  Lessons: trust your gut, check your ego, always rally with heavy hitters.  Thanks to Tom for not only getting me out, but also going back in after dark and helping to hike my boat and gear straight up out of the Box.  Since my camera was destroyed, here's some vintage photos of last year by Alex Clayton:

Me Deep Sixing with Barry Boher setting safety

Ben Cophitorn on Calendar Falls.  The Box is DEEP!

The must run Deliberation Corner

So after a multi-day pants crapping mission like that one, it's nice to get out on a little boozing mission with 26 of your closest friends.  The fall Westwater trip is a must-do annual for me.

Chris Menges and the first ever River Pom, Willa, getting it done on the SUP.  I was recently asked if I thought SUPping was a fad.  All I can say is that I love it.  The SUP makes class I a great adventure.

 

"I'm on a Boat, I'm a boat, take a good hard look cause I'm sailing on a boat"

 One of the best things about Westy is the great hikes:

...and that you can bring your lovely lady

But never worry.  I couldn't possibly finish off a season sippin on Santana champ - even though it is so crisp.  So, again we rallied the boys and set off to the Black Canyon.  Marty was so stoked that he bought a chocolate silk creme pie for the drive.

A Black trip is never complete without contacting Captain Black himself.  Tragically, he was busted up from dirt biking.  So, for a 30 rack of PBRs he put on his tightest pants and shuttle bunny shirt.  

Mike Hagadorn dropping in...

And sticking it smooth

Marty knows how to get down with the gnar... when he's not showing the Jackson Rec fleet!

Yeah, it's deep

Here's me in my Black boat reaching for the boof in the Black

After pulling into camp, Mike and I caught a couple fishies, threw them on the grill with tomatos, onions, limes, and salsa for fish tacos.  Cave camp rules.

The next morning Mike's boat broke.  Large quantities of bitchathane is an absolute necessity for any over-night mission of this magnitude.  Here's the boys piecing her back together at beach camp: 

And Mike sorting out the sieve maze of Sieve City

Finally, we have proved that locking gas caps are worthless.  Here's Brodene busting off his cap with a hammer after leaving the key on a pump in Denver.  Bummer, but it didn't manage to ruin any part of the trip.

All-in-all, it was one hellva summer.  I managed to spend over 20 nights on the river bank.

This being a CKS blog, I did want to endorse a couple of products that make overnighters much better/easier.  Have no fear, anything I list here meets my 5-star approval rating and I am very abusive to gear.  Click on any of them to get the CKS specs.

Big Agnes air mattresses are the only way to roll because they are comfortable, light and super compact.

Get a down sleeping bag and compression sack - this should end up being no bigger than a Nalgene in the back of your boat.

Watershed dry bags - otherwise you might sleep in a wet bag or loose a camera in the Box

Kokatat GMER drysuit - it's bone dry so you don't have to bring a change of clothes, saving weight and room.

Werner Powerhouse Paddle - it's invincible which is a necessity deep in the un-portageable.

Bitchathane - you will break boats and still need to paddle them, this is the only way.

Lendal Breakdown - far and away the best breakdown, worth the money to your buddy who's non-Werner just broke.

IR Union Suit - for cold days it's super comfy and without all the bulk

NRS Kayak pack - it does require a little TLC, but does the job 100% better than pool toys and cam straps

Jackson Kayaks - they have a grab loop inside on the front bulkhead which makes portaging 93.2% easier and helps control the boat on your should to keep crashes to a minimum. 

Astral chest rope - I always wear a rope so if you swim, you're not totally helpless to still help your buddies.  Please always carry a full size rope also.  If I didn't, I very well may have watched a friend drown on a small low volume creek this summer.  As is, my 75ft rope just barely made the toss and pulled him out.

....JR FrontRanger... over 'n out

2009: Year of the multi-day, part 1

monday, october 05, 2009

2009: Year of the multi-day, part 1

So this summer was a big change-up for me in paddling style.  Previously, I'd been running around chasing anything that was going.  In 2009, I did some better planning and worked out a whole bunch of multi-day trips.  In case anyone out there didn't know, multi-day boating is as good as life gets.  I started the year off right by spending New Years, 2009, on a beach in the Grand Canyon.  We ate filets, drank champagne, dropped grease bombs and howled at the moon.

Bomb!

My first multi-day kayak trip this year was a two day adventure down the Black Boxes of the San Rafael.  Tragically, my camera had been stolen only a few days before and I don't have any photographic evidence of what was likely the first raft descent.  I was the sane kayak support.  Late June brought Cali calling as usual.  I had an entire week to spend with the posse and we first fired up West Cherry Creek.  While not nearly as classic as Upper Cherry, it provided from some awesome scenery, super intense V+, and the usual sunny Cali weather. 

Almost there!

Alex Clayton coming down flat

I call this shot 'Gorilla in the Mist'.  If you know C.Mo, then you know what I'm talking about.

After a great two days we found ourselves pondering a high water Upper Cherry run.  

If you're going to get into multi-day trips, especially in Cali, you need to invest into a good kayak pack.  The best commercial one I've found is the NRS Sherpa.  I add an extra cam strap around to give it just a touch more strength.  None of the packs are indestructible, but if treated properly they beat the heck out of the cam straps and pool noodles I used last year on the 9 mile hike.  
Here's the reason that multi-days kick ass.  This drop is called the Coffee Pot drop because it's 15 paddle strokes downstream from the putin camp.  No shuttle, no fuss, just me boofing.

Tyson falling off the edge.

Alex about to disappear into the California Groove Tube, which is a lot less friendly than the original.

Another thing that has really improved my enjoyment of the multi-day trip is Watershed dry bags.  They're a touch heavy, but absolutely bone dry and bomb proof.  As you can see from this photo, all of us had at least a pair of them and I have 3.

Parting Shot:  Alex launching high flow Double Pot.

Stay tuned for the next installment of 2009 overnighters.....

Sanity in the South: An Ecuadorian Winter Vacation

sunday, january 27, 2008

Sanity in the South: An Ecuadorian Winter Vacation

Anyone familiar with Mountainbuzz can attest that when the snow starts falling in Colorado, we local boaters start to lose our grip on sanity.  In late October due to mysterious dam maintenance, Lower South Boulder Creek began running at the desperately low flow of 300 cfs.  Arkansas river rat Melrose and I were jonsin' so bad that we put up with the epic shuttle, snowfall and low flows to get wet.  Unfortunately, a second dam in the run removed all of the flow, necessitating a 2 mile hike-out through private property.  After we made it out Evan, who was also in serious need of liquid stimulation, called to ask if the trek was worth the effort.  I told him it was probably only a Mank Crew special and he should look elsewhere for goods.  Thankfully, he'd already been planning a trip to Ecuador with the Fort Collins posse and Dr. Brad, MD. I quickly re-arranged my work schedule, got a couple shots in my arse and hopped a plane south.

(Evan Stafford photo)

This is an Ecuadorian rural taxi - a four door pick-up truck that is pretty much designed as a creek assault vehicle.  And they come cheap.

(Photo: Brad Higinbotham by Evan Stafford)

Definitely check out the Papallacta if you're in the neighborhood.  We compared it to running the Lower Narrows on the Poudre for an entire day in the jungle.  Here's a couple more shots from the stretch:

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

Dr. Brad, MD - jungle stylin

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

Joe K finding his way...

(Photo: Joe Keck with Evan's camera)

Sensi Stafford from Fists of Boof Dojo demonstrates that it works the same south of the equator.  Here's but a few of the lovely creatures we encountered on our journeys:

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

Believe it or not, these are some of the smaller spiders in my memories of the trip.  We also saw CD sized spiders that could run across water - terrifying for a kayaker.

I'm not afraid 

(Photo: Joe Keck)

This is not the monkey that bit Brad, but he did steal that bun out of my hand while I was looking the other way.  Now back to the boating for you tweaking Colorado folk:

(Photo:  Joe Keck)

Here's Evan Stafford waking up on the first drop of the Jondachi.  Several days before this shot our group was shut down on this run as we watched the water rise 3 feet in 25 seconds or so.  This run provided an amazing pool-drop jungle adventure once we got in.

(Photo of Pete Stromberg by Evan Stafford)

Yea, I know, I'm stuck at work too, but you know where my head is at....

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

These shots are of Randy Ramirez who hails from Laramie, WY.  I know what you're thinking and all I can say is that I didn't know rednecks could make great kayakers either.

(Photo: Evan Stafford)

Here's the posse gettin' ready for the business at hand.

(Photo:  Evan Stafford)

I didn't realize it until I got there, but Ecuador is full-on in the Andes mountains.  We traveled over 14,000 foot passes and cruised by huge volcanos.  Speaking of huge:

(Photo: Joe Keck)

Evan Stafford gets intimate with Hollin Falls.

(Photo of Joe Keck by Evan Stafford)

Oh, hello perfect jungle waterfall!

Brad sez, "Nice helmet"

Parting shot:

("It doesn't get much better than that" by Evan Stafford)

Gnarrows Race - 08

sunday, september 07, 2008

Gnarrows Race - 08

If you have to live and work a normal job in Colorado, Fort Collins is a pretty great place to be. While we don’t have a playpark or even a play feature worth talking about the Cache la Poudre has some of the best river running play and creeking in Colorado. One of my favorite runs in the drainage is the Narrows or lately as we locals call it the Gnarrows. If you live in Fort Collins the Narrows is your backyard creeking run, you can get to it in about 45min from town, it this first section to come in, the last to go out, and might the best roadside run in Colorado. The Gnarrows has it all sweet boofs, a little gnar gnar at most levels, lots of eddies, difficult eddy linkages thru the rapids to build your skills and stroke repertoire, and as of the last three years the Gnarrows race.

I’m not sure when the idea for a race was conceived but three years ago is when it first officially took place. The concept for the “non-race” has always been pretty simple and has entailed a preliminary boater cross heat through the entire run, gentlemen rules applying in the meat, with the top two advancing into the next round and a finals heat in the lowers, again boater cross style. There are no stop watches, only the safety your friends are willing to provide, and typically lots of pre and post smack talk. The winner mainly gets the pride of knowing he beat all his buddy’s, a Gnarrows belt buckle with the past winners engraved on the back, and also gets to call the specifics of next years race.

Here’s some pics from this years event courtesy of Jeff Burley (JF) and Alfie Umbhau (AU)

The Gnarrows Posse 08. It doesn't get much better than this. AU

Cutch and this years winner in fine form in Heat 1 of the Prelims. JB

Mr. Stafford, last years winner, in Heat 2 of the Prelims. JB

Who is that guy? Heat4 of Prelims. JB

Mr. Huck'n Duckie himself coming thru lowers. JB

I'm not sure if thats the loof of determination or exhaustion but here's Heat1 of the Semi's. JB

Adrock showing us how its done - JB

The Finals - While I'd like to say I the placing remained the same through the finish, Cutch pulled it out in the end and came away with the Buckle. JB

This year’s the “non-event” went off spectacularly. We had the most participants yet, a few surprising results and post race activities, and had to add a semifinal heat to whittle the competition down to four in the final heat. Wile I was bummed I didn’t come away with the buckle and even more bummed it left the Fort and now resides in Denver I couldn’t have lost to a better guy.