Alight, I have the afternoon off so I broke out the computer to add some updates and photos on here. It was a very busy weekend here, working 2 trips a day Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The past few weeks have been awesome. During the week things had been slow allowing for lots of paddling. We did a midnight float trip down the Lower Wind River last week, the night of the full moon. It was a fun class 3-4 run with 3 good waterfalls at the end AND a hot spring on the side of the river. We have been running the Green Truss section of the White Salmon almost daily and still making a road trip every now and then to the Little White Salmon, 20 minutes away. The Little White is dropping and will sadly be too low within the next week.
Our team ended up placing second in the EddyFlower vertical challenge. We got edged out by 400 feet at the last minute. We had maxed out most of the big runs in the area, so on the final day of the competition, 3 of us headed over to the Klickitat River, the next drainage east of the White Salmon. It is a fun, very continuous class 3 run. We did three 18 mile laps totally 54 miles and 3,300 vertical feet. It was a long, fun and tiring day for sure. Not bad for just being off the couch and all. Well worth it.
Also recently BZ Corner local Dave Hammond organized the first annual Big Air Bonanza at the infamous ender spot, Top Drop, on the White Salmon river. This 3 foot pourover was serving up some radical longboat enders. The event was well attended by both spectators, participants and dogs. The particpants dawned the biggest shades, tightest neoprene, sketchiest helmets, most porous drywear and longest boats they could find. The judging consisted of all spectators yelling out a number between 1 and 10 for each move, the numbers were added and averaged to determine the winner. Michael (Miguel) Shields from Allstar ended up with the victory in a Prijon Hurricane. It was an awesome event and I look forward to the next Big Air Bonanza for sure.
Here are some photos from the last few weeks:
Putting on for the 2nd of 3 laps on the Klickitat photo: Fastlane
Me practicing swimming over and under strainers for a Swiftwater Rescue class
Drew about to launch it on Boulder Sluice, Little White Salmon
Drew styling Sprit in the Green Boat, Little White Salmon
Getting big air in the Green Boat photo: Lindsay Green
Me popping it up in the Crossfire photo: Lindsay Green
Devin gettin some air in the RPM photo: Lindsay Green
The view of Mt. Hood from a friends porch.
The Green Truss bridge
The Class 5 climb down to the river to put on the Green Truss section of the White Salmon
Me boofing the second drop of Bob's, White Salmon River photo: Lance Reif
Me firing off Big Brother, White Salmon River photo: Drew Austel
Lance coming off the lip of Big Brother
Drew headed into the heart of Lower Zig-Zag, White Salmon River
Double Drop, the most runnable unrunnable rapid, White Salmon River
