Another Day on the Falls and Some Time on the Rocks

After two great weekends on the road it was nice to hang out locally, at least for a day or two. Friday was Billy's last day at MDA so some work friends went out for a happy hour then headed back to my to hang out before heading to see the Hackensaw Boys in Arlington. James and I rocked some pretty sweet jumpsuits and Billy dawned the classic pink ruffled shirt. We arrived to a large crowd of fans at Iota, but did our best to boogie ourselves some wiggle room.

Curt at Pummel Photo: Brett Mayer-Aschhoff

Saturday was a beautiful day and the water was higher than we had seen in a long time on the Maryland side of Great Falls. We had a great time making runs down the cenetr of Pummel. I had probably one of the crziest lines on the notch that involved going off backwards in a barrel role and landing on my head. Man that drop looks much bigger upside-down and head first!
Some bad lines were had but we all escaped unscathed. We topped the day off with some pizza and then headed to my house for a campfire, smores and a few frosty brews.

Hackensaw Boys rippin it

I was up at 6am on Sunday packing my car with David to head out for some climbing at Seneca Rocks. We were there by 9 and climbing by 10. I wanted to get in some leads but this was only my second day outside climbing since the fall. So I was happy cleaning gear today. We got on some fun climbs and scrambled around on the top before decending to terra firma.

David heading for the anchors on 7-11, Franklin, WV

David and I grabbed some adults beverages and joined Eric and Sarah at the Front Porch for some delicious pizza. We recounted the events of the day and enjoyed each others company. The plan was to head to Franklin, WV to do some sport climbing on Monday. It poured all night as we slept in our tents, I was second guessing my decision on taking a day off now that it was looking like it was going to be a rainout.

It turned out that Franklin was mostly dry and very climbable. We got in some great routes, I got out on the sharp end for the first time since my fall on December 28th, 2006. I have a lot of ground to make up in my mental fitness, but overall it was a great feeling leading again.

I See Green People

Before I even got serious about kayaking I had always looked at the Green River Narrows as an incredible river that was far beyond anything I would ever be able to paddle in a kayak. However, over the last year, I have put in many many long days and weekends paddling all different types and sizes of rivers. All of this time spent learning the intricacies of the way water acts and reacts when it falls quickly over rocks culminated in my mind as I was loading up my kayak and gear Friday afternoon.

Brett, John, Billy and I were headed to the Green. The Green River Narrows lies outside the small town of Saluda, NC about 45 monutes south of Asheville, NC. We all met up at various places along I-81, eventually all meeting at a Walmart parking lot in Lexington, VA. Friday evening was spent at John's folks place in Wytheville, VA. The hospitality of super nice people and a really cool converted barn house only slightly helped to calm my nerves as I lay there looking at the wood panel ceiling and recounting the pictures and rapid descriptions of the river we would be paddling the next day.

Brett at Frankenstein


Curt at Boof or Consequences

Racer getting a face full of rock at Go Left or Die

On race day we tried to get out in front of the racers but had some difficulties because the water wasn't turned on until 9am. So we got to Go Left and got out to watch some of the racers come through. Its quite intimidating go through rapids you have never seen knowing that you can't mess it up because there are racers barreling down behind you.

John dropping into Chief

GORILLA!

Racers at Gorilla and Scream Machine

Curt at Nies' Pieces

Billy in the tube at Groove Tube

Curt at Hammer Factor

The Green River race proved to be an excellent show of super-human strength and ability. It was amazing watching the country's best paddlers giving it all they had for 4 or 5 minutes down an extremely difficult and dangerous section of river. Even the pros mess up sometimes and there was plenty of carnage to be had.

Female racer at Gorilla. Photo Ben Edison

Maybe one Saturday in November I too will be paddling my butt off alone down this steep gorge, chasing the clock and ignoring the guy in the chicken costume and the hundreds of other fans yelling and screaming. But for now I will be happy getting out on an awesome creek with my good friends and enjoying some unbelievable whitewater.

Imagine seeing this while headed into a very stiff class 5 drop!