CKS Fest Photo Dump

Well folks, I don't have many excuses for not posting these sooner but this season has been crazy good. A kayaker was once heard saying "We're going kayaking cause we're kayakers and that's what kayakers do" or something like that.

I almost wasn't going to post these pics but after looking at the current Ark flows the playpark is probably at similar conditions so go get sum...

Tommy H showing he can playboat with the best of them

Local and developer Jed Selby showing why BV is the place to be.

Devils Punchbowls - high altitude waterfalls huck day

The Devils Punch Bowls are a spectacular set of waterfalls accessible from either Crested Butte or Marble Colorado. The falls are in the upper reaches of the south fork of the Crystal River and generally get paddled a couple days each season by boaters who want to get off the couch from their work weeks and take approximately 2 strokes before hucking ze gnar. The drops are definitely clean but do require skilled paddling. Here is a little photo series of a recent day we had up there on July 27, 2007. Make sure to check out some of the text at the bottom of this article as I tally up carnage this year versus carnage last year and we revisit the video of the famous and amazing backwards boof.

Photos: Chris Menges

We met Mexico in crested Butte this spring. He is from Asheville, spending the summer out here. He was the first one to fire off the drops this day. Here he is scouting his line.

Mexi heading towards the lip and looking good.

He started falling off line right about here and kind of flipping over.

Mexico proceeded to swim in the boiling pool between the first and second drops. His leg had popped out of his thigh brace and basicall ejected him when he landed almost upside down. Luckily, the lip of the second drop is pretty shallow and he is able to stand up on the rock and then exit onto the cliff wall.

Our friends DK and Natalie from Glenwood Springscame up from the Marble side (mosy of us descended from the CB side)!

Johnny Myers went next and of course styled it. I talksed to him afterwards and he said the JUST BOOF IT stickers I had recently hooked him up with definitely helped him out.

Here's Johnny!

Johnny's girlfriend and her family came out to watch us huck. Here she is at the perfect viewing spot between falls.

These are some of my favorite shots of the day: Johnny Myers shot from above launching off the bottom dropp in perfect style. Blow these up, they are worth it.

Another angle of Johnny coming off drop number two on his second run.

KEEN!

DK went ahead and dropped next. As seen by this sequence of photos he had a super styling line off the top drop...

...but somehow, a slight over rotation ejected him from his boat causing swimmer number two. Total count so far was two swimmers for the first three paddlers.

Recovering DK's boat.

Zack From Crested Butte has been paddling a lot locally for the past few seasons but had never been out of the punch bowls. Here, he looks down at drop number two in preparation for his run.

This has got to be my best shot of the day (above): Zack on the first drop.

DK's wife Natalie went next and had solid lines. Here she is coming off drop two. Photo: Zack.

Chris Menges was the last to go. Three shots of his lines are below (Photos: Zack):

Top drop...
bottom drop...

Then, we fired up the first-d of this sketchy ass mank above the punch bowl's. JUST KIDDING!

Our trip out to the punch bowl's last year produced a legendary piece of video. Check out the following vid to reexperience the historical backwards boof a.k.a. "First backwards female Descent of the DP's".

Carnage report 2007: Three paddlers, One broken paddle,One backwards boof.

Carnage Report 2008: Six paddlers, two swims, one busted up face, one flat tire, one broken truck axle.

Stay tuned for a North Fork of the Crystal report and potential first D in the CB area coming later this week.

One Creek to Rule Them All

So the story goes something like this:



I woke at 3am and strolled to work in the darkness only to discover upon arriving that I wasn't due in until 8am. Doh. As I meandered home on the deserted streets, I sent a text message to a few friends - "Anyone up for SSV (South Saint Vrain) this afternoon?"


Forrest Noble immediately replied, "I'd love to, but I'm in Cali."


It was early and I definitely wasn't expecting any replies until morning, especially not a slap in the face about not being in Cali myself. "Wait," I thought. "I've got the next six days off, why am I not in Cali?" Being awake at 3am is rough, but the flip side is that I routinely get weeks off at a time.


The gears were cranking in my foggy brain as I dialed Forrest. He and Raggedy Andy were in the Reno airport - Upper Cherry Creek was running. I wasn't going to make his trip, but before I was home I had complied a mental list of eligible Mank Crew members.


I called Alex Kilyk in the morning. He doesn't keep up with the scene and had somehow never heard of Upper Cherry. He was skeptical of my plan to drive 23 hours for a single run. Thankfully, Moe the Kiwi was standing right next to him when I rang. On Moe's advice, they were in. The plan was to rock Christian's ride out. However, the day we were leaving all of his packed gear bags were stolen after the windows on his car were bashed out. Christian was out, but once the Mank Crew gets rolling, there's no stopping the trippin' train - all aboard! The drive was epic, but thankfully I was exhausted from work and slept almost half of it. We rolled in "right on time" to meet Nick and plan for an early hike.

Moe and Jordan try to figure it out after dark with an hour drive still to go. "Right on time"

Our beta before leaving Colorado was limited. We had no idea where the put-in was, what the hike was like or any river beta. I tried to watch "The White Album" one last time, but decided to double check my gear instead - we were gonna have to wing it.

Alex begins the 4.5 hour hike with a smile

At the beginning of the hike-in we found a gent named Roman who's buddies were doing an extended trip. He was hoping to go with our three day version and had been down twice before. In the hour of deepest desperation, the river gods will provide. He also happened to mention that he had an HD camera and would film the trip. We asked him how long the hike would take. His answer.....4.5 hours or so. Not that bad!

The ridge line of temptation.

Seven hours or so into the hike we found the place Nick Wigston had warned me about. He said we'd be tempted to leave the trail and scramble down to the river early, but we'd miss the first gorge. 3 hours after we were supposed to have completed the hike, the temptation was intense, but we trudged on. Did I mention that Roman passed us in the first half hour and we hadn't seen him since?

Alex and Moe peer through the smoke to the put-in of UCC from the top of Styx pass

After eight hours or so of hiking and battling through dark clouds of mosquitos, we reached Styx pass. The forest fires in Cali were intense. The California Department of Health had recommended that sensible humans not exercise outside due to the extremely poor air quality. These recommendations we of course ignored, but the smoke did create hazy conditions for all the pictures on the trip.

At 8 hours into the trip, Nick wasn't smiling anymore even with the most stunning scenery

So I got lost right at the end and rolled into camp about a half-hour after dark. The rest of the Mank Crew beat me by about 15 minutes for a total time of 9.5 hours. The Roman god from Cali had been there for 5 hours with camp set up, dinner done, relaxing swim complete and nap taken. He forgot to mention at the start of the hike that he runs Iron Man triathlons. However, the other Cali group started with us, but took an extra day to complete the hike. There should be a sign at the start which says, "Hike 4.5 hours up to the river...results may vary...widely."

The extremely rare Giant Whitefish lives in the put-in pool below the shadow of Styx pass

At the start to the hike, some Cali boys flat out laughed as the CO boys loaded up our Kokatat drysuits into the boats. Little did we know that even high altitude Sierra runs enjoy 65 degree warm water.

Moe showing off his dirty mo-stache and dead pig

If you ever go on a multi-day kayaking trip requiring a 12 mile hike in, I recommend bringing a package of bacon and a Kiwi. The Kiwi will carry the frying pan for you....

Welcome to Cali with the morning Coffee Pot drop

We woke up in the morning... We took two paddle strokes across a crystal clear pool... We slid 5o feet down granite and off a 15 foot vert with a cave on the left... Welcome to Cali!

Roman found water on the moon!

As we boated on the first day, I couldn't believe what was happening around us. The sheer immensity of the granite can't be captured on film. My homie Petey always likes to make fun of the moon explorations. He says that basically we flew all the way out there, got out of the spaceship and then in the name of science, the progression of human kind and all things holy, we played golf and drove high speed laps on a dune buggy. If they ever discover water on the moon, I'm going to add kayaking to that list, but for now Upper Cherry Creek is what boating on the moon would be like if the moon had good boating.

A picture truly is worth a thousand words, but in this case neither suffice

Dropping in here is like stepping onto the edge of a knife

Finally the point came. After hours of epic boating, Roman pulled over at a random eddy. The gauntlet was thrown down. We were at the point of no return from the Cherry Bomb gorge. Roman had been before, but was feeling rusty - he's out. We have no guide. The scout is over a mile and relatively worthless from about a thousand feet up. We have a long day in the morning, so leaving the boats for the night and returning having scouted is not an option. We all immediately try to remember the Seven Rivers Expedition walkie-talk. Right, left, left, right, center, left, right, left, right, right.....ummmm, wait how many drops were there again? We have no idea. However, Moe, Alex, Nick and I are feeling really good and have gelled as a team. We went down with Roman and partially scouted the initial gorge that commits you to the Cherry Bomb gorge. The above picture is as good a look as you get. We know that the 40-foot Cherry Bomb drop is scoutable from the lip, but once you scout it, you're committed to going off it and the rest of the gorge is un-scoutable, un-portagable. Nick says he'll go, Moe is in. Screw it, I'll go. Alex waited until walking back to the boats and then saddled up.

This is one of my favorite pics of the trip. Alex took it from his boat as Moe committed to the most intense adventure of my life.

Have you ever felt like the world was about to drop out from under you? Look at the end of the Refection Pool.

After the above gorge we arrived in the Reflection Pool where you can contemplate what you've done because you are now completely committed to running Cherry Bomb gorge.

Moe slip-sliding away off Cherry Bomb and the view downstream into the gorge.

Alex and Nick went first. They both stuck the line, but we got the best pics of Moe. Alex is at the bottom taking a pic of me and Moe from his boat.

AirMoe

I'm at the top of the pic taking a shot of Moe and Alex from the safety of the rock.

California Dreamin'

This was one of the coolest sunny afternoons I've ever experienced - we're in Cali for sure. This shot looks back up at the Cherry Bomb gorge. I've been to committed to my boat for sure - Vallecito, 1st Gorge Lime, Inner Crystal Gorge, etc - but nothing I've done comes close to comparing to the CB gorge. The Colorado gorges allow brief exits on rocks that have fallen into the river and they are boxed in by 100 foot tall walls. The Bomb gorge is walled in 1000 feet by slick granite and provides absolutely no way to stand up. Exiting your boat would undoubtedly involving swimming over successive sticky ledge drops to the bottom.

What's perfect about this 20+?

This drop is named Perfect 20'. Kinda funny because it's actually a sketchy 30' with bad pockets on both sides of the LZ. Roman's line looks pimp and made for a great picture, but.... well check out the video.


Sketchy 30' was one of the first drops in the morning of day 3. And was immediately followed by...

Money Shot

Here's Nick lettin loose on one of the coolest looking drops of all time - Double Pothole. The pool below Double Pot leads off an 80 degree 15 footer and then straight into the Waterfall gorge.

Who says the CO crew can't boof? We just don't often get the perfect launch site.

Here's Alex halfway down the Waterfall gorge. He's on drop 3 of 6, I think - it's a little hard to remember. Just to put things into perspective, it goes like this: Gorge above the Reflecting Pool, Cherry Bomb, Jedi Training slides, Teacups, Flinstone camp, Cali Groove Tube, Sketchy 30', Double Pothole, Waterfall gorge, Kiwi in a Pocket, Brown Bear falls. Together that makes about 20 waterfalls within less than two miles, including a double 15', 20+, 30x2, and 40ish falls. Vallecito is no longer the best mile of boating I've ever done.

Moe - cool, calm, collected and online in typical Kiwi fashion

So we're tired. We have literally boofed our brains out on day three. Then there's the Final Gorge. It starts with this sketchy drop where all the water pushed into the cave on the left. Then it again commits you to running a marginal, but oh so good drop...

Huckin Duckie letting the hair hang down

Here's the final major drop of the Final Gorge. Cherry Lake is within site, but you have to tread carefully to the end. The river right side of the landing is a terrible sieve and salvation lies only in the boat width exit on river left. Slick to the last drop.




Now the moment you've all been waiting for. My prose is out, but you're still wondering what ever came of Roman's HD camera. For your viewing pleasure......Make sure to crank the bass and hit the full screen button on the video! Click on this link to watch it in High Definition - way better. Upper Cherry Creek in HD.


Upper Cherry Creek 2008 from Powder Monkeys, Inc. on Vimeo.





Upper Cherry Creek is undoubtedly, without the slightest hesitation, my favorite creek and probably the best three days of life. Leave your wife, quit your job and go.

A huge thanks to Roman Nelson, Alex Kilyk, Nick Abrams, and Andy, known as Moe the Kiwi, for the video and photos.








Oh, in case you wanted to know, it's left, left, right, center, right, left, left.

Little White Doesn't Suck

Ryan Scott Firing off Wishbone.


Getting some Spirit Luvin. - Photo: Scott Waidelich.

Enough Said.
-Paul

Dagger Green Boat pictures

I received a call today that my Dagger green Boat was in. Here are a few photos of it just being a kayak. haven't had a chance to get it in the water yet. I'll get some photos of that asap. It is a long, fast looking machine. Brings back memories of the old days.

The newsline on the dagger Green boat reads like this,
"The Dagger Green Boat is what your arsenal needs.
The great thing is its combination of speed, volume and maneuverability. No other kayak performs like the Green boat. Creek boats are often too slow, especially in pushy water. Slalom boats are great fun to paddle but get swamped in big features, and old school long boats just don't have the maneuverability of a modern whitewater kayak design. But the Green boat combines all three in a remarkably compromise free combination.
The Green boat is an aggressive design but it’s not hard to paddle. It doesn't have that unpredictable twitchy feel of some boats that turns beginner paddlers off. It cruises through class 4-5 with ease but is also a fun boat to paddle on flat-water. It goes upriver as well as any plastic boat ever made.
This boat fills the void of a truly fast plastic boat capable of running technical water comfortably and safely, and a kayak capable of aggressively tackling big water, not just floating through it with minimal control. Bottom line, the Green boat rules!"

Almost longer than my car.











A little perspective. That is my Jackson Super Star next to it. WOW!


CKS has a demo in stock and a couple floor models. They come in Green or red. Go try one out...


On a side note. It is definitely worth picking up one of these little lovely's to protect your kayak for when you need to scout the Poudre (no pickup truck is gonna steal your kayak with this lovely around), run after your friends swimming the Poudre, or chasing down Pagel on the Big T.
While running rapids, They easily fit into the kayak. Being only 15lbs really helps. Those teeth are big though, So I tend to stash the little lovely in the stern, away from the important stuff. If and when you do swim, the lovely real digs this piece of gear.
Be safe out there. Atom...

Big South '08 - Waiting for the Gate

By Evan Stafford

Photography by all the homies

ES Double Trouble - Photo By Leif Embertson

When the Gate Opens

Has it all melted out, the snow from the road

The meadows of gold, the moose in their home

The call of the water that might soon be gone

Bureaucracies stand still while we only long

For Long Draw to open, the gate to swing wide

To allow us to access our river of pride

We’ll show you the lines, the wilderness prime

It will open your mind, is it open this time

We circle like vultures our eyes on the prize

We want clean lines through Cool World and Fantasy Flights

We want so many moves by the end of the day

That some will be scared and will move to their legs

Will pick up their paddle and head for some ale

Before the last rush some will just hit the trail

Some will walk everything some will run it all

But the grins are the same and they’ll last until fall

For sure there is whitewater all over this state

But when that gate swings open you best not be late

Rick (ter) Starter Fluid - photo by Adam Mayo

Dan Piano Fantasy Flight - photo by Adam Mayo

Dan Piano Fantasy Flight run-out - photo by Adam Mayo


Alex Kilyk Fantasy Flight - photo by Alex Clayden


Andy Blakeslee Fantasy Flight - photo by Alex Clayden



Dan Piano Cool World - photo by Adam Mayo

Barrett Burke Cool World - photo by Alex Clayden

Planning stages Double Trouble log removal - photo by Holley Gardel


Working on the extraction - photo by Holley Gardel


DT is clean! Key'mon n'git sum - photo by Holley Gardel


Alex Clayden Double Trouble - photo by Barrett Burke


Alex's line was almost as good as mine - photo by Adrian Matthew


Jacob from South Cackalacka stoked as hell on Double Trouble - photo by Leif Embertson

And now... RAFTING

R2 w/Keith Pearen and Sean Davis cleaning it up Double Trouble - photo by Adrian Matthew

Rafting Double Trouble? Wow. - photo by Barrett Burke

Slideways... not so wow - photo by Carrie Wallace

But much props for givener! See you at the bottom when you get unpinned - photo by Carrie Wallace

Long Overdue Cañon City Update

I first surfed the Cañon City Wave 8 years ago in an XXX. Ever since I have been waiting for it to come back in and this year it finally did! In June the wave came in out depending on the level and it provided some great wave boating.

The wave is about 4 feet tall and has a little foam on top. There is a great eddy, no lines, and it is an easy day trip from Salida during my days off from work. It’s not huge but it is really fun and I could stick blunts, backstabs, and a couple of mcnasties. Enjoy the short video.

Oh Be Joyful running low, Spring Creek looks just right...

After catching the early bird special at the Evergreen Cafe, my buddy Fil and I drove across Cottonwood pass in the general direction of Crested Butte, home to the infamously famous Oh Be Joyful creek. As soon as we could we took a wrong turn, landing us at the not-so-exciting Spring Creek Reservoir. We found a dirty Colorado map in between the seats and found a road cutting back in the right direction. As we drove across marshes, beaver dams, and the occasional wildlife reservation for highly endangered RV populations, we noticed that there was water running downhill next to the road. Corner after corner we watched in hopes of discovering the new Grande Canyon of the Stikine (Don't pretend you don't know the feeling). When the not-so-grande canyon of Spring Creek narrowed a little we spotted the most telltale sign of any that there must be a drop somewhere near: a huge flock of nature photographers. They lined every inch of the shore, and sure enough there was a mini-gorge with about seven little drops in it. The only problem, other than the arsenal of zoom lenses ready play duck hunt, was two pieces of wood at really crucial places. We tried moving one with a rope, but without any luck. Instead, we ran only the upper half of the mini-gorge; a series of two to two and a half foot ledges. The photographers were stoked.
A little farther down the road we found more little gorges, all choked with wood, and all asking to be run. One rapid dropped something like a hundred feet in a little less than a hundred feet. I recommend this first descent to anyone willing to push the limits of hairball kayaking, get really rich and famous, and who has a working chainsaw--preferably attached somehow to the bow of their boat. Like so:
It was only 10:30 when we finished exploring all we could stomach of Spring Creek. We were told by a man on a four-wheeler that in twenty years he has never seen a kayaker even on that road. There were a lot of people on four-wheelers in that area. In fact, I saw more four-wheelers and American flags during that short drive than I had in my entire life leading up to it. It made me nervous.

Speaking of getting nervous, Oh Be Joyful was intimidatingly low, dislocated at least one shoulder that day and left me solo-boating a bunch of laps. Whee!




And now I leave you with a completely random picture of "The God of Death" entering a pond-skim competition back in Oregon:

Durango-A-Go-Go

A week after "roughing it" at the Oh-be campground eating hotdog macaroni and swatting mosquitos, the Ledyard graduates headed down to Durango for homemade meals, showers, beds, mountain biking, and a lil bit of creeking.

Thanks to Alfie's parents for their kind hospitality and Nate for fearlessly leading us so we didn't unsuspectingly fall of Adrenaline Falls like the staff at Four Courners said we would.

Alfie's Picture Perfect Line off Adrenaline Falls on 1st Gorge Lime

Notice where his hands are

Notice where the paddle is

The paddle was stuck for 20 minutes

Bravo!

Connor threw his paddle to save us the hassle of de-wedging it

No paddle makes rolling tough

Best line... You judge

Scottie Hucking the System on South Mineral Creek

Mike Shish-ka-bobbing his way down to the Cauldron on South Mineral Creek

Mike running the 1st tier of Ice Lakes Creek after using his space-physics degree to find a super slick sketch put-in

Running the third tier switch....intentionally....after intentionally trying to punch the hole on the 2nd tier sideways

Jakes Greenthincrum cleaning up Ice Lakes for the 3rd time

The crew floating down the Upper Animas


Mike & I bumperboating down a Uncompaghe roadside quickie

Conor's review of the Remix -- Plus some dam boofing...

Costumers at CKS have been asking lately about the new Liquid Logic Remix river runner. I usually assure them that it floats on water, which is pretty much the industry standard, but sometimes they have more specific questions.

Does it punch holes?
Yes.
Does it boof?
Yes.
Can I take it down creeks?
Can you?
Is it the type of boat I can take out after work in the evening and book it 25 river miles to the nearest party?
Yes, it is.

When I left work on Friday, the fourth of July, the party prospects in Buena Vista looked marginal. Everybody had gone to Salida, it seemed, and the only vehicles at my disposal were a light-bleu single-speed girls bike and a pearl white Liquid Logic Remix 79. I decided to pack up the boat and make a run for it.
Last summer I attempted the solo mission from BV to Salida without success. By that I mean I stopped at a party after Zoom Flume and never left. I packed overnight gear just in case I got sidetracked again; then put in at the BV play park at 7:13 pm.
The only other time I had paddled the Remix was on Meadow Camp in Oregon, and it felt surprisingly like the Pirouette-S I paddled ten years ago. Loaded with about thirty pounds of gear it still paddled like a long-boat from the days of yore; super-fast and super-stable.
Less than an hour after punching the holes in the BV play park I found myself about a mile from Brown's Canyon, the only whitewater in this section. I decided to back-paddle for a while to warm up my shoulders. The boat even tracked well backwards.
When I dropped into the canyon the sun was beginning to set and I hoped to make it through all the rapids before dark. The displacement hull underneath me liked to find the fastest way across eddylines and swirls in the rapids, and punching holes was super easy.
One of the last rapids is called Sydell's Suckhole, probably named in honor of a giant hole on the left and the poor bloke who discovered it. I ran down the middle and at the last moment sprinted to the right to avoid a thrashing. It was still light and I was making good time.
The water between the canyon and Salida is pretty flat, and as darkness settled in I focused on keeping a good speed downstream. After what seemed like an eternity of island dodging I saw fireworks exploding in the sky ahead. I had almost made it. The twists and bends in the river, however, slowed any linear progress. It seemed like wasn't moving any closer. When the fireworks show stopped I heard a roar coming from downstream. I paddled closer to the right shore, in case I had to catch an eddy, and turned on my headlamp.
What I saw terrified me. The water was moving fast over a horizon line as straight as an arrow, and one look at the cement outcropping along the shore confirmed my fears. It was a dam and I was going over it. I had time for two strokes to gain some speed and then I passed over the lip and cranked a late boof. The sight below me was a monstrous boil that twisted and curled back down into the incoming water. When I landed my head smacked solidly against the cockpit rim and my headlamp went out. I took three solid strokes to get over the boil and then sprinted on toward Salida in complete darkness. I wanted off the river as soon as possible. Hopefully there would be no more dams.
When the lights of the Salida park appeared around the corner I breathed a sigh of relief. I parked on the flooded walkway under the bridge and coaxed my legs back to solid ground. It was 10:17, so I headed to Bensons for a drink. I had some catching up to do.

Los Pinos 08: Photo Dump

After an absolutely phenomenal 07 trip on the Pinos, 08 made for a much anticipated return. Mike Haggadorn, Keven Driscoll and Master Skywalker: Luke Hanson (Former #1 fan of the boy band Hanson Brothers), rounded out the crew of corky kayakers. Making for yet other exceptional, three days of wilderness kayaking.

Kevin, day2

To view a lengthier trip report on the Pinos check out 07's report here: http://coloradokayak.blogspot.com/2007/06/los-pinos-river.html

For 07 Video: http://www.oregonkayaking.net/vidframe.html (Los Pinos the inner gorges)

Below is more of a photo dump of this years trip.

Flow: The best barometer for flow I can come up with is Vallecito. This year Vallecito was peaking at 900csf wile we were on the Pinos, which was lower than the year before. In comparing the two years, I've learned the higher the water, the bigger the smiles and a higher quality of whitewater. The higher water seemed to open up more drops and lessen the portaging. So next time I'm looking into a Pinos trip I'd personally be looking for flows higher then 900cfs on Vallecito, but that's your own call and you still had better have a nice pair of hiking shoes.

Wisky Bootie 1 of 2

Dealing with the Tupperware container. Sometimes it seems so tuff to keep the freshness in and water out.