Our final destination this summer was BC for some creeking in our favorite area to vacation for boating. Here are some shots from BC this summer, and you can read the full report at www.RiverGypsies.com.

Andria running the Nozzle on the Nahatlatch.

Jared airing out the Recoil at Skook.

Leland on Callaghan Creek.
Photo by Bo Wallace.

Upper Blackwater

Jared, Graham, and I arrived back east just in time to paddle some of the classic runs we learned to kayak on. We ended up runing the Upper Blackwater, Upper Yough, Top Yough, and Big Sandy all at good flows and some of the warmest days I’ve ever paddled these runs. Another bonus, we were able to do these runs with people we grew up kayaking with. (more…)

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A couple of friends of mine and I have just come back from an awesome paddling trip in the Oetz Valley in Austria. We have done the upper and the middle Oetz and were busy training for the Extreme Kayaking World Championships, which are going to be there in October. Two broken paddles and one broken nose prove our efforts to be absolutely fit for this big event…

The morning will be the first day of our road trip taking us North out of Lhasa, capital of the Tibet region, to run some classic multidays and then on to the Yarlung Tsangpo Valley.  The Yarlung is likely to be very high as the monsoon waters drop but most of the North & South tribs of the valley are still undiscovered and have the promise of some amazing creeking.  We are hoping to also make a stop off at Everest Base Camp and paddle in its shadow, before driving over the mountains back into Nepal.

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After spending a month in Peru paddling the Huallaga and the Abismo section of the Aprimac, it was so nice to come home to BC at prime water levels. The classics were falling out, but all the stuff in the Ashlu and Elaho drainages were lining up perfect. So this week has been the mission to get Tatlow going for 2007. With a solid crew on Tuesday we managed to get down the run discovering that the mandatory portage mid way had turned into a sweet new rapid. Levels being perfect, we went back in yesterday and bombed the run top to bottom in a hour flat. Did not even get out of the boat until below the log waterfall. 6 footer, 6 footer, 8 foot slide, 20 foot waterfall, 25 foot waterfall, 6 footer, 8 footer, “Little Dave’s Hole”, the old portage which is now a sweet double drop, 35 footer into the wall…aka “Wall Drug”, 10 footer, 10 footer, 45 foot slide, 25 foot waterfall, and then some more sweet ledges to finsih it off. Has to be one of the best creeks in BC! More stories and pics coming soon.

5 Ladies, 1 guy, 7 days, 8 rivers, 2 guides! A most Excellent adventure!

We have just finished a most excellent week of river guiding and coaching in Norway. Our trip started in Sjoa and ended in Voss, the paddling varying from big volume Sjoa, to low volume steep-creeking on the Branseth in Voss. This year we gave evening critique with video feedback and during the week everyone progressed fantastically. The trip is a mix of holiday and coaching as we believe in having a good time and learning on the way. Check out the trip brief and some images in the full story below!

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

One of the harder rapids to navigate on Cherry Creek

Due to the low water year its slim pickins on where to go kayaking. Luckily we still have one of California’s classic class five runs. The Cherry Creek section of the Upper Tuolomne which runs six days a week and every other sunday. Dave Garringer a pyranha paddler placed first in the Class V Cherry Creek race with a time just over 36 minutes and Jason Hale coming in shortly behind Dave placing third. In the short boat class Scott Lingren came in first paddling the medium Burn. Overall the race was great with a fun party and live music to follow. Low water life in Cali is not so bad after all. Check back soon for some of the great play that the South Fork of the American has to offer.

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On my first trip to BC I learned one thing.  10 days is not enough.  There are more rivers in BC than I could possibly paddle in a lifetime.  I had a great crew of people to paddle with, great water, and a ton of fun. 

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