Right in Wigston's Backyard

USB : RIWBY
Upper South Boulder : Right in Wigston's Backyard

Words: Evan Stafford
Photography: Leif Embertson

JJ Hannah lofting on RIWBY

The put-in for Upper South Boulder Creek is about ten minutes from Nick Wigston's doorstep. The take-out is even closer. We gear up in the warmth of the Wigston's sun room. Nicole and Zoe Wigston will run our shuttle. We laugh about how only Wigston could have quite possibly the Front Range's gnarliest stretch as his backyard run. We wonder what the flow will be, but whatever it is we're glad that it has dropped from the high 600's the night before. 350 - 450 cfs is optimal and it looks to be within that range. We drop in for the goods starting with Trainspotting.

ES Focused

Wigston greasing it

After Trainspotting the juices are flowing but the action let's up to class III and you're best to take in some deep breathes of the high mountain air. The gnar known as Gash comes next and we've all already planned on walking. Respect. A deadly rapid and for Leif and JJ this is a new run. No need to fire up the sketch before you've seen the entire run and shown the river what it deserves. Lumberyard is next. Wigston has cleared all the lumber from his backyard and there are no wood portages this day... however that could have all changed with the recent high flows.

Wigglestix stomping in Lumberyard

S-Turn is the goods but has a must make eddy where we station a catcher. You don't want to miss this one. The lead-in to the 40 foot cascade of exploding chaos looms large directly below S-turn. Stick it and maintain control. After the portage we joke about how "maybe at 700 cfs it's just a slide." Maybe it's a slide at that flow but it ain't JUST a slide. It's huge and the action below called Grand Piton Park at 700 would be very, very exciting. RIP Beavers and DeLavergne. Much respect due. At this flow it is just excellent read-and-run class V creeking.

Leif getting buried at the turn

Nick below the turn and in control.

Below Grand Piton we ease our way towards RIMBY. Right in My Backyard. This applies to Nick, but not the rest of us, so from now on I'm calling it RIWBY. Right in Wigston's Backyard. Since it is his backyard, we take some time to clean up the wood situation.

Leif takes the photos while we do the man's work

Then we get our boofs on. Fist of Boof Dojo represent.

ES with some nice seperation

Wigston looking good on his home court

ES about to get handed but still looking good

Not many people are lucky enough to live within minutes of the river, much less of a run this good. Wigston is doin it right, so for the youngsters out there, get out the pen and the pad and take some notes. Next time you visit the RIWBY boof remember whose backyard it is and who keeps it clean. Safety Nick keeping us safe from his porch to the put-in to the take-out meeting.

Teva Mountain Games

This weekend the Teva Mountain Games went off in Vail. It is a 5 day festival of outdoor sports, art, and music. The venue included kayaking, biking, running, dog comps, and the IFSC Bouldering World Cup. It was fun to watch the best in the world compete in their respected sports as well as compete in front of big crowd.

The freestyle competition was the best that Vail has held due to the changes to the feature. Vail installed a bladder system so that the hole can be changed using a touch screen. On friday in prelims 37 men paddled to make the cut to 15 for the semifinals. I had poor rides and just made the cut in 14th place with 126 points combined.

On Saturday due to the reverse order I was the second person in the first heat. I had good rides and my high score was 98 points. As the finals went on other paddlers had great rides and I slowly moved down in the standings. When it was all said and done I was in 8th place. I wanted to make the cut to finals, but I am happy with my performance and that is all that matters.

The finals was exciting to watch. There was high scoring rides and it came down the last rides when EJ had the chance to retake the lead away from Dustin Urban.

Here are the freestyle results. Check out Teva Mountain Games, World Kayak, or Jackson Kayak for more coverage on the event.

Mens
1. Dustin Urban
2. Eric Jackson
3. Nick Troutman
4. Stephen Wright
5. Jason Craig
6. Bryan Kirk
7. Andrew Holcomb
8. Greg Parker
9. Jon Meyers
10. Kelsey Thompson
11. Dane Jackson
12. Jonathan Shales
13. Ben Guska
14. Jud Kaiser
15. Tino Specht

Womens
1. Emily Jackson
2. Tanya Faux
3. Ruth Gordon

Entry Move

Right Airwheel

Left Airwheel

A Tribune to Greatness....

For me 2007 was a fantastic year.  I was blessed with lots of the most amazing gnar that the Rockies has to offer - SSV, Inner Crystal Gorge, Embudo, Escalante, Lake Creek, N.F. Crystal, and NSV all dropped the most amazing memories into my life.  I even got several laps including my first no portage descent on the Big South, which we all must revere as the best run in Colorado.  However, two magical days last summer I spent in grand-fulfillment of my creek boating dreams.  

As a newbie cutting my teeth over the years, I spent nights conjuring up a creek with the most amazing alpine scenery.  It was accessorized with romantic camping and asked that a hike be paid as the price of acceptance.  She had crisp crystal clear water flowing smoothly over perfect boofs.  There were waterfalls and clean lines to grease, but as a true test to the soul of each creeker she had rapids where I had to just huck in and play the dealt cards.  Of course, as any huckster will tell you, the dream was encapsulated from the outside world in slick vertical rock walls.  The walls kept things simplest between just the sliding water, cool sunshine, smiles on my bros faces, and rhythmic movement of air in my lungs.  Little could I have known that a weekend last June would be the one to bring fruit to all the years of hard knocks.  The mile long stretch of perfection leaving the Weminuche Wilderness area known as Vallecito Creek is truly the mythical creek of dreams.  

Absolutely, there may be places with easier access or bigger vistas or longer whitewater, but there's just something about her.  And so through the last winter even after finding amazing runs in Washington, Ecuador, and New Mexico, all I could thing about was Vallecito like a happy yearning for the women I've loved through the years.  As such, I have a few pictures of memories to share with y'all.  

Dan Steeves dropped Entrance to start it off and let everyone know how it's done.

Here is the clean part of the Trashcan as you can tell with Joel's smooth line.  The dirty part is just upstream and makes you check your ego at the Entrance pool before proceeding around this blind corner...

It may look like boofing into a pile of rocks, but when done right she's sensuous despite her name.

 

When the man who's very soul may be intertwined with Vallecito offers beta, the lads will gather around to listen.  If you ever need a guide down Valle, I highly recommend the esteemed Dr. Brad.

The sheer intimacy of the place is mind shattering.

Frontrange posse routin' through.  The 303 is coming to your neighborhood.

Thanks to the Durango boys who have kept her beautifully unclogged over times present and past.  

This season, I have a take-out toast for everyone from me which is, "Here's to all you paddlers finding the flows you dream of at night."

Cheers,

Joe

Lyons Outdoor Games

The Lyons Outdoor Games were held this last weekend in Lyons, CO. Aside from dog competitions and bike demos they had a freestyle competition, creek race, and boatercross.

The creek race was held on the South Saint Vrain, a low volume manky creek. I showed up the night before so I didn’t race, but it was fun to watch. Tao Berman won followed by Andrew Holcomb and Jason Beakes. Surprisingly, nobody got hurt.

The boatercross was a 4 person team relay. The course included 25 pushups, a 100 yard sprint with your boat, stepping through tires, paddling downstream, through 2 upstream gates, and then a paddle toss over a gate but under the bridge before tagging the next person. It is an entertaining event for both spectators and competitors. Dane Jackson, Jason Craig, and Jonathon Shales asked me to be on their team and I agreed but it was a mistake. Dane and Jason did the first 2 legs and we behind by a lot. Jonathan went third and made up a lot of time and I passed a guy on the last leg. We were 4th out of 5, but it was better than last.

The freestyle competition took place in the A Hole, a small flushy feature. Almost all the tricks went but they were hard to execute and even harder to stick in the hole. Fortunately it didn’t take much time to paddle up the eddy.

In prelims on Saturday the cut was from 22 to 10. I had two decent rides and just made the cut coming in 10th place with 173 points combined. Last week at Buena Vista I was on the other side of the bubble so it was a relief to make it in. During semifinals on Sunday I went first. My first ride was bad but my second ride scored 97 points. After watching everyone else’s rides I was surprised that I had just made the cut again.

In finals we each had 3 rides. The best ride counted to determine the final place. Nick Troutman’s first 2 rides were awesome, but nobody else had high scoring rides. I was still in 5th going into the third ride and knew I had to do something different. I decided to throw my harder tricks first when I had energy and I saved the easy tricks for later in my ride. This worked and I was moved into second place with 120 points, but everyone had another ride. Stephen Wright stepped it up with a 148 point ride which put him in second and then Eric Jackson also had his high ride at 124 points moving me to fourth. Jonathan Shales had his high ride as well but at 110 points it wasn’t quite enough.

Men’s Freestyle
1. Nick Troutman
2. Stephen Wright
3. Eric Jackson
4. Greg Parker
5. Jonathan Shales
6. Dane Jackson
7. Bryan Kirk
8. Clay Wright
9. Andrew Holcombe
10. Kelsey Thompson

Women’s Freestyle
1. Emily Jackson
2. Elaine Campbell
3. Natalie Kramer
4. Eleanor Perry
5. Amy Leppo

Creek Race
1. Tao Berman
2. Andrew Holcombe
3. Jason Beakes
4. Erik Jackson
5. Clay Wright
6. Todd Anderson
7. Bryan Kirk
8. Nick Troutman
9. Kelsey Thompson
10. Geoff Galhoun

BV Pro Rodeo

Saturday was the first annual BV Pro Rodeo. The South Main Project, an environmentally friendly neighborhood created by kayakers, hosted the event at the top hole of the play park. Twenty two pros came to the event to compete for a $2000 cash purse.

The hole was dynamic and flushy and only 5 advanced to the finals, so competitors had to be on to make it. In the first heat Jonathon Shales and Dustin Urban had great rides. I had good rides in the second heat which put me in third place, but there were still many great paddlers to come. In the third heat, Nick Troutman and Jason Craig threw down to bump me into 5th place. The last competitor in the fourth heat, Dane Jackson, had high scoring rides which placed him into second. It came down to the last ride in prelims and I just missed the cut which earned me the name “bubble boy” for the rest of the day.

Top pros that didn't make the cut include Erick Jackson, Stephen Wright, Bryan Kirk, Andrew Holcomb, Clay Wright, Jed Selby and the list goes on. It was interesting to see younger generation dominate this competition. We will have to see how the rest of the season goes.

In finals, the best of two rides advanced to the top three. Jonathon Shales and Jason Craig didn’t make the cut and finished in 4th and 5th. From there the best of three rides determined who won. Dustin Urban had an awesome first ride at 122 points. Nick Troutman came close with 119 points to finish second and Dane Jackson finished third.

Here are the results that I remember. Complete results should be posed at the BV Pro Rodeo site soon.

Mens
1. Dustin Urban
2. Nick Troutman
3. Dane Jackson
4. Jonathon Shales
5. Jason Craig
6. Greg Parker
7. Stephen Wright

Womens
1. Emily Jackson
2. Ruth Gordon
3. Katie Urban

Below is a short video of the highlights from my competition rides.

CKS Paddlefest 2008 Video and Photo Recap

CKS Paddlefest 2008 was awesome and a huge success for participants and the Colorado paddling community! We had many participants in the numerous clinics and educational events, great movie premieres, the 'dating game', on water demos, live music and much more. The huge storewide sale was complimented by the fact that customers could check out all the new gear while interacting with Manufacturer reps and professional athletes like Dan Gavere (Werner) and Eric Jackson (Jackson Kayak).

Check out the Paddlefest Video! (below)


A main element of Paddlefest is the used boat and gear swap where paddlers can buy or sell any of the 5 essentials. This is an excellent way for newbies to get very affordeable, quality gear and for paddlers seeking to buy new boats or gear to sell their used to buy new. This year we had a HUGE selection of boats at the swap from many eras and in all price ranges from $50 - $ 700. On average, you could get a great playboat, creekboat or river runner for about $300.

Kids love Paddlefest and there wer lots of kids and family friendly activities! Bring yours next year but just dont let them watch the 'Dating Game'...that one is for the adults.

The street scene at Paddlefest

EJ (Eric Jackson) got out in the instructional pool to help people 'bombproof' their role. It was fun to see techniques from EJ's Rolling and Bracing in real life.

The Kid's paddling clinic at the BV town lake (one block from CKS) was a great success. Kids love kayaking.
Corey Volt dressed up as....himself!
Paddlers gathered at the Ska beer garden for afternoon and after paddling socializing, food and refreshments.

Live music was free on both Friday and Saturday nights.

CKS Paddlefest is conviniently located 2 blocks away from the 4 amazing features of the Buena Vista Whitewater Park. Check out a recent video from the park below!

Here it comes! Each day the weather gets a little warmer, and, little by little, the water levels rise. As many runs are still inaccessible due to high snow levels in the mountain passes, we wanted to find some water other than the local runs, but we couldn't make too long of a trip because two of our crew members, Mark Reed and Miles Small, had to work the next day. So, we learned that Bailey (North Fork of the South Platte) is good to run down to 160cfs and it was running at 250. It turns out that a run on Bailey at 250cfs is a perfect low-water class IV/V- season warm up. Check out some pictures!

Aubrie and I dinkin' around at the put in

4 Falls scout (Mark, Miles and I)
Aubrie on the bottom section of 4 Falls
Mark on the bottom section of 4 Falls
Checkin' out Supermax
Ready for takeoff on the bottom of Supermax (AKA Tampax)
Mark riding the pillow on the bottom of Supermax
Mark on the last drop of Supermax
Miles, gettin' wicked
This is what Miles does when he gets excited...
BOOF!

Aubrie cleaning Tampax!

There are three or four other rapids (not pictured) that should be scouted if you're new to the run, including Deer Creek Rapid, so take care and scout the blind corners. A Colorado guidebook will inform you more fully on the put in, take out, and rapids worth looking at. Beware of the top sections of 4 Falls and Supermax!

Fil Payne

Season kickoff - Escalante

Put your seats in their front upright position, make sure your seat belt is secuely fastened, and hold on tight cause its gonna be one hell of a season. You can tell every year when the season is getting close when the buzz traffic increases regarding the level on Escalante. And for good reason Escalante is a great early seaon warm-up, has great camping, and the whether on the west slope is generally pretty nice this time of year.

Below are some pics from a few weekends ago. Enjoy and go get sum...

Captian Keck

Corkscrew

Ben West - 57 Chevy

Lawrence Simpson - 57 Chevy

Ben West - Escalante Falls

Chris Larsen - Escalante Falls.

Magnetic Wall

Joe Keck - Trying to keep the plastic side down on Escalante Falls

Mmmnnnn meat on a stick

Vancouver Island & More Pt. 2

Back with the last a final update of back-2-back epic weekends. If you haven't seen part one, then click here and catch up! -Good, so we dropped into what we thought was the first descent of Granite Creek. Apparently, it had been done before, but the crew "had" hiked out before this gorge (?) , who knows, no biggie, we all know how that goes. So we dropped into this creek, going off of a fellas word that there were "big, runnable falls". The first obstacle was tackled by Scott, a manky drop that neither me or Ben wanted to run. Next was the picturesque "Leap of Faith" Gorge. We chucked & hucked the two, leaving them unrun till higher water.

CrissCross will make ya wanna...

Scott probin' the mank in the beginning. Granite Creek

So after a blur of a weekend in the PNW, I headed down back to Arizona, thru my gear in the bed of my truck and bombed over to Three Rivers again. Temps were suppose (and did) to jump to the low 90's in the Southern Sierras. This spelled great flows on the Kaweah drainage. We got on all the forks of the Kaweah and chilled with WKCA. Partying, whitewater, and new canyons made for a great, poison oak infested, 4 day weekend. Check the pics.

Firing up the rarely run (major access issues), S. Fork Kaweah

Sketchy rapid on the East Fork Kaweezey. Driftwood

Mike Fisher, testing the high flows on a 90+ degree day.

No footy today, but stay tuned for info on when and where. Paddle safe....