Inspired by some previous winter trips to Portugal on the Pyranha Blog, in 2007 and 2008 a group of friends and I headed out there to see what we could find…

Beautiful scenery, kind people, good food, wine oh and lots of steep granite fun!

Read the full article for more on the rivers… for just the pictures here are galleries of some of the different rivers we paddled: Vez, Castro, Cavado.

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Check out the Demshitz Blog for a bad ass update from Pucon Chile!

Here is a Teaser for our Next Demshitz Movie ¨Dashboard Empanada¨

Run the Shitz! Looking forward to the NEW BURN and the NEW PLAYBOAT ¨THE MOLAN¨!!! PYRANHA WORLD DOMINATION!!! DEMSHITZ!!!

The first word that everyone learns upon arrival in Nepal is the ubiquitous greeting ”Namaste”. Our trip however was to be different. The first word we learned was “Banda”. Banda is the Nepali word for a strike. These strikes aren’t quite the same as you’d get back home, where a line of disgruntled workers stand at a factory gate, they are much more extensive and indiscriminate. Traffic is not allowed on the roads, shops aren’t allowed to open and the whole country effectively grinds to a halt. 
 
We arrived in Nepal at 10pm the evening before three consecutive days of these strikes. One day of waiting may have been acceptable, but no matter how you look at it, 3 days of a 2 week holiday is a lot! Despite stories of the rather violent enforcement of the banda by the Maoists, on day 2, a local guy we met in the street said he could get us a “landcruiser” to take us and our boats off to the first river under cover of darkness. Obviously this would cost us dear, but we figured it was worth it. When the “landcruiser” turned up, it turned out to be a tiny car, and the driver wouldn’t go without his mate, but by then we were beyond caring, so we crammed 5 guys three boats and 2 weeks worth of kit into and onto the machine and set off into the night…

Although December is the low water season, there is still some great paddling to be had, especially if you venture further up the valleys of some of the rivers normally done “in season”. Whilst dodging strikes, we ticked off upper sections of: Bhote Kosi, Marsyandi, Kali Gandaki along with a few other nice runs down some of the classic sections of these and other rivers.

Anyways, enough spiel… To the photos!! Here’s a flavour of the trip:

Ominous Gorges:
 

Good Lines: (more…)

Richard on the far side on Marsh

 
I have a go too…although, I am waiting for the SMALL MOLAN I think!

One of the many small boof drops on the Upper Tawe!

 
Fun slides too.
 

For more photos check out www.worldkayakblogs.com/paula .

Hope to see you all at Pyranha Fest at the Dart in Devon!

Andria and I have made it down to Pucon WITH OUR KAYAKS!!, and had some great adventures along the way. Here are a few pics from the Rio Claro – you can read the full trip report at www.RiverGypsies.com

Leland’s 3rd paddle stroke in Chile – 7 Teacups on the Rio Claro.

Jeff Robinson on the first big drop in the 22 Saltos on Rio Claro.

Andria on another great drop in the 22 Saltos.

Full trip report at www.RiverGypsies.com

 Ian Garcia going large as usual in Argentina Salto Bonito.
What an epic season it has been here in Patagonia… and it has only just begun! Extreme kayakers from all over have been trickling into Pucon Chile looking to huck their meat, and no better place to do so. With high water here in Pucon and all over Patagonia the meat hucking has been set at an all time high. And of course with all the hucking that has been going on inevitably there has been some ridiculous carnage. Check out my blog update on the Demshitz.com blog

With Gauley Season loooong gone and the leaves off the trees in Virginia I thought I would post a little photo essay of the local action we’ve experienced in late summer and fall. After two years of drought conditions, Nelson County and the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia are finally getting the rain love.

Spring started off with the 3rd annual Goshen Race on the Maury River in Virginia. This mass-start race is as grass-roots as it gets – as in no registration, no fee, no classes, and all Glory. There is reliable carnage (the only “prize” this year was a red speedo bathing suit for the swimmer. It was unclear whether the speedo was new or pre-owned). There is always plenty of trashtalking too. There were less than two dozen racers this year due to short notice from the race committee, but this race is about to pop – I expect a huge turnout in 2010. The 2-mile stretch of river is a beautiful course with not much flatwater. I took first this year but I almost felt dirty about it – the Speeder almost seems like an unfair advantage (almost!). Keep your eyes peeled for info on next year’s race.

The Speeder stretching it’s long sexy legs through Devil’s Kitchen:

We invested some time in May giving the local runs a thorough chainsaw flossing.

Eric and Gordon working it out:

This turned out to be time well spent when the goods ran for most of June.

It took some folks a while to dial in their creek-o-meter: A little too high…

…a little too low:

Almost there (that had to hurt):

Just right:

Once the “434″ crew got back into the swing, we starting firing it up in bulk. Seemed like every day had boating of some sort, and every weekend was a “creekend.”

Trafford going down in a blaze of glory:

The fish likes it wet…

…and so do the ladies:

After the creeks dried up we kept up the “training” with some work-out runs in the Speeders on the Rio James. Like Sublime said, “Summertime, and the livin’s easy…”

The wetness has continued into the fall. Yesterday Trafford and I did an after-work session on one of the many Nelson creeks going off this week. I drive over Paul’s Creek every day on my way to work and it’s short length and super-steepness make it a primo apres-work option. Pauls Creek is around 800 fpm and everything is runnable.

 About halfway through Pauls Creek you get to two large slides.  ”Chutes & Ladders” is the first of the the big slides.  I’ve seen broken ribs, broken boats, tweaked shoulders, bloody knuckles, and stout blows to the head happen here. I’ve sworn-off this drop off several times now, especially at low flow (like yesterday). But for some reason I usually end up running it anyway. Yesterday I opted for the shallow but somewhat less-sketchy right line:

A short pool leads into the next big drop.

Here Trafford drops into “Novelty” (aka, “Where’s Haynie?”):

The creeks are still running and more precip is in the forecast. Keep the boats loaded.

Photo creds to Trafford McRae, Gibson Barbi, Dave Perrault, and someone’s unidentified girlfriend.

This last weekend saw the annual gathering at the River Dart Country Park for the 7^th annual Gene17 weekend organised by Simon Westgarth.

Just one of Dartmoor's Classic run's the Erme

Three factors meant this weekend was always going to be a great weekend, all the usual suspects heading to the same location mixed with a (heavy) sprinkling of rain and Pyranha launching the new Burn.

Sara showing the 2010 Burn's slide ability

Saturday morning saw frantic activity around the Pyranha stand as the majority of UK Team P were picking up their new Burn’s to go play, with padding being thrown around and some rather desperate sharing of a rather rubbish screw driver everyone headed out to go and play on the various rivers around Dartmoor.

Jo show upmost composure in the gorge

Saturday night was spent catching up, partying through the small hours and wondering if torrential rain outside would give enough water for some of the more adventurous Dartmoor runs.

Enjoying the scenery

Sunday came with a very thick head, but, the rivers were definitely up, so off to play again.

Rich showing off his Boof

So what’s the 2010 Burn like? Well when I was told the Burn was going to get a once over, you could probably hear me scream the other side of the pond! It’s no hidden fact everyone loves the Burn. So how could Pyranha possibly make it better? Well the guy’s in R&D have listened to you lot and given you something you’ve always wanted.

One of the more 'surprising' rapids

The 2010 Burn is still all Burn, but on steroids, its quicker, quicker acceleration & faster in a straight line. It hold’s it’s line better in the white stuff, yet a quick paddle placement and it’ll change direction on demand. More rocker and more carve means you be boofing and flairing your way down the river but still get that crisp Pyranha signature carve across eddy lines. In short it’s a lot of fun, if you don’t believe me go try one yourself, they’ll hit the stores in the next couple of weeks…

Adam Carving round in the Everest

See you on the River

Ben

So… When Sam broke the news that our summer exploration of East Africa would be put on hold for a couple of major shoulder operations, I had to quickly find a new summer plan.

I can’t remember if it was my idea or if someone else put it into my head but I decided a thorough exploration of Siberian Russia might quench my desire.

Deciding that the best way to do this at such short notice was to find some Russians who already knew their way around, I came across Kayak USSR and Vasilii Porsev.

Kayak USSR run several trips in Russia and the former USSR from May to October and in return for my help and expertise on the river (and a little bit of cross-promotion; found here) Vasilii agreed to let me tag along for 6 weeks of the Summer.

My adventure began as soon as I landed in Irkutsk, with a 10 day self-supported expedition on the Kitoy River.

This incredible remote river, in the heart of Eastern Siberia, involved a variety of white water, ranging from class 3 to 5+, and a fair amount of physical endurance!

Above: Max Bilbow paddles the 15m fall on the Ehe-Gol

The Ehe-Gol and Beluty are tributaries to the Kitoy and incorporate some of the most amazing continuous creeking I’ve seen outside of Norway, making the full day’s hike in worth the effort.

The second part of this trip meant catching the Trans-Siberia railway to Novosibirsk and driving to Russia’s Altai region; a trip jam-packed with a huge variety of white water and shenanigans.

And angry fish.

My favourite Altai river (above) is the Majoy Gorge. 10km of solid class 4 and 10km of class 4/5 are separated only by a fantastically terrifying and committing class 5 canyon.

After a few days sessioning the Majoy, it had become, in my mind, one of those great home runs, comparable to Norway’s Aamot Gorge on the Sjoa River.

And even though shortly after the above photo was taken I managed to break myself sliding into the water, I was able to limp down the rest of the river to film Vasillii running the last big waterfalls of the trip… in his new Karnali.

This trip signals the beginning of production for Means of Production 2, expected for release during December 2010.

To get a more detailed insight into the Kitoy trip (and soon the Altai trip), visit www.maxbilbow.com.

That Kayak USSR cross-promotion again: kayakUSSR.com

Raymondskill Falls

So while the rest of demshitz is either in south america running stouts or north carolina training for the green race I am stuck in Pennsylvania. To my luck it rained enough to bring up some steep creeks that i have been running since i started creek boating. 

Davids Falls

randy youngbuck on davids

sequence of me running flirting with disaster. Its a drop that falls completely on rocks. my friend eli landhis ran this first a couple of years ago. since then it has become a drop that is regularly run.

This is a great movie from Benji Hjort, summing up the summer of fun in Voss, Norway, 2009.  There are other amazing videos in the gallery to check out! But this one have several Team P featured, even me!

Nice job Benji!

Check out the video here

Hola! Demshitz is here in Pucon Chile! We Kicked off our Chilean paddling season this year with a fun run ( kinda scary too ) on the Rio Claro just two hours south of Santiago Chile. Here is the video. We arrived at the river with a perfect high water level and were a little nervous. After we dropped in on the Salto Caracol we were fired up. picture above me running Salto Caracol. check out http://www.demshitz.com for a full trip report.

Last weekend was the annual Moose River Festival in Old Forge, NY.  Characterized by big drops interspersed with large sections of flatwater, it was the perfect location to try out the Small Fusion.  The boat proved to be so much fun that throughout the weekend it swapped hands numerous times.

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Fall in the southeast has been predictably awesome once again. Starting in September the rain clouds gathered and brought our parched rivers to life. This storm was the ‘big one’ we seem to get once or twice a year. By the time the rain stopped, most creeks were too high to paddle…but instead of sitting on our hands and waiting for the water to go down…my friends and I searched for places to paddle that either required more water or handled the increased amounts of rainfall better than other places.

At the top of my hit list was Silver Run Falls. This drop is just shy of 40 feet and has a tricky entrance. A crew of four of us headed up to check out the drop but in the end, only Clayton Gaar and I stepped up to the plate.

Me rolling over..photo by Jonathan Absher

Clayton had a love tap on the bottom of the river.

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In the past few years I have been kicking around the idea of putting together a guide to the whitewater in the Columbia River Gorge Region. After nearly a year of looking through other guides, maps, photos, and directions to decide what I liked, and didn’t, the time finally came and the first visual update of the book has been posted. It has been put together with the experienced paddler in mind covering the best whitewater that the Columbia River Gorge has to offer.

Team paddler Cody Howard on Summit

For more on this project check out Chapter One – Washington

Come one come all, its a Demshitz waterfall running clinic at Agers Falls.  If you are heading to Moose Fest meet at Mountain Man at 10:00 on Saturaday.  We will fall from 11-1.  Get better at timing your boof stroke.  Spot the lip, spot the landing. Then stomp the bow down for a nice soft controlled finish.  Also at 6:30pm we will be showing Demshitz the Movie.  Demshitz movies and shirts will be available.  Hope Yinz can make it.  

Click here for Mountain Man’s address and contact info.

Raindrops rattled off the dustbin outside and sloshed down the drains as the clouds swept over North Wales. The first rain for weeks, proper rain, pink bits on the internet rainfall radar and everything. It would be easy to drop everything and head for the Ogwen. But that’s what we always do. So, I was waiting for the optimum moment the next day to head out for something more eclectic…

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The summer is fading away, new snow is appearing on the hills round Voss and a new season approaches!

Right now it feels like it has been raining since June, sun seems a luxury once indulged in, back in June, but overall I would say it has been a great summer.  Our rivers have been feed well most of the summer by good snow pack from last winter, but then, just as we thought low water was in, bang, 0 – hero and every things in flood!

In the last month the local river around Voss have gone from low water to full flood about 4 times and counting.  The Raundal river goes has gone from 13 cumecs to over 200 in an evening of rain, then back to 50 or so 24 hours later.  Needless to say this keeps you on your toes and keeps you guessing where you should head next.
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Hi guys,

I show you a video from the last summer in Pyrennees. Made by Stephanie Augras. She was with me in Cap vert to make own last film: Volcano Ride. The lucky boys may see it at the kanu mess or at the Adidas sickline.

Eric Deguil – Freeride Kayaker from stephanie augras on Vimeo.

See you in Oetz !