Last Weekend - Top Tye Awesomeness

The Skykomish was running just under 5000cfs and the water at the takeout of the Tye was about an inch below the tree trunk.

Three laps on Top Tye followed by a cool down lap on the Skykomish made for a great weekend.

No clearance for normal Llama traction yet, but the van got a super sweet paint job.

Stay Stoked!

Video - Top Tye Creek

Top Tye Creek!!!





Top Tye Creek is kinda like those ice creams that I used to get at Dairy Queen as a kid. They take an ice cream cone and dip it in molten chocolate that instantly hardens into a hards(ish) shell. You’re taking awesome and making it AWESOMER. This is possible with some things in life; ice cream first and foremost, then cars I guess and finally Creeks. Top Tye is one of these.

Top Tye Creek is AWESOMER.

Back in the day, this was considered a beast and is in one of Tao’s videos: ‘Twitch 2000’. They make it look pretty intense but this creek is definitely in the boatable range for anyone who is decently confident in their ability to hit a delayed boof and doesn’t mind a little beating now and again. I would say a solid class IV boater who feels good on CC Lewis would be fine in here.

There is an entire section above this portion of the run that is even bigger. No one in this day’s group were feeling froggy enough to jump, with the obvious exception being Rob.  Rob McKibbin ran every major drop on the river this day and while I don’t have it on film; it’s the first top to bottom, no portage descent that we know of. I could be wrong, maybe the older crew has beaten him to it, but I kind of doubt it.

Top Tye is a great place to tie your creeking shoelaces. It’s steep, with must make boofs that will teach you the error of your paddling ways. It’s also very much a pool drop run though, so even if carnage happens there’s a good chance you’ll stay in the eddy below the feature.

There’s a fine line with flows here. Too little water and the F* you rocks are out in force, screwing up the best intentions. Then there’s the high water days that take all the fun out of your heart and fill your stomach with dread. But those days are good too, sometimes. This weekend the river level in the Skykomish was around 8800 cfs and dropping. The sapling, that we use as the gauge down at the takeout, was about 4-6 inches out of the water. This is a low flow, perfect for first timers and veterans alike.

I apologize for all the POV but it’s so hard to get out on the bank for a run like this. It would be like stopping at the bottom of each hill on a rollercoaster. Not gonna happen!

Enjoy:

Stay Safe

Snow Gnomes - Robe in January

Yup, more Robe pictures.

A group of us made it into Robe when all else was too low. Snow on the ground, Ice in the trees and bright blue sky made for a memorable day on the water.

We used an alternate putin:



The forest on the trek down to the river was gorgeous.

Signs of man.

The boys breaking the frost off of their sprayskirts

Theres quite a few small hot springs in the area, none are large enough for full immersion though.

Sean Lee in T1.

Garbage.

Brett Barton in Garbage rapid.

Christian knight in Garbage rapid.

Icicles at Catcher's Mitt.

Good day on the water.

Stay Stoked, Stay Safe.

Video - The Big Quilcene

Only took 5 months to edit...

For a full write up of the trip and lots of pictures: The Big Quilcene

Rider of the Year - Carnage Entry

Here is my contribution to the Rider of the Year awards.


Dan Patrinellis - Carnage ! Entry - Elkhorn Canyon on the Dosewallips River, Olympic Penninsula, USA from Rider of the Year Awards on Vimeo.


But after watching some of the other carnage entries, I feel like I should have had training wheels on my boat...

Sam Grafton - Promo Reel 2012

Sam Grafton likes to charge.



Spread the FIRE!!

Music Credits:

Styles P & Mr. Big - Hold on Little Girl

Wick-it the Instigator - The Golden Trap Gangster

Cooperfest!

The Cooper River - WA

Sunshine, warm water, friendly locals and fun drops.

 

The Cooper is a fun class IV creek right outside of Cle Elum, WA. It's also one of the few places in Washington where you can creek in a shorty or a paddle jacket and one of the last creeks to run into the summer/fall season.

Adam Ales and I drove up over the pass for the day, to see what was happening in Cle Elum, I didn't know that I would be spending the weekend at Cooperfest 12'!

We thought we would start the weekend off right with a nice flat tire...

The Cooper starts off with an awesome slide and then it just turns up the volume and shoots you out the other end.

Entrance Slide:

Phil lines up for the next ledge immediately downstream.














A couple fun rapids and then you're in the pool above S-Turn, one of the larger drops on the river.



S-Turn has a cool entrance move: starting middle with right angle you can boof onto a big pillow and then ride out a huge brace to the finish line.

There is a super fun boof right above the last ledge in Norm’s Resort.





Norm’s Resort always has vacancies and would love to valet your creeker for you.

You come to the very end of the run, feeling happy and satisfied. You see locals sunbathing on the sandstone rocks creating the river left wall. From the pools above Wall of Voodoo, if you’re fortunate, you get to hear the “oooooohhh’s” and “ OHHHHHHHHHHH’s!!” of the crowd that always forms around carnage.

Good and bad lines in Wall of Voodoo:

Phil Kast likes to get rowdy.

Rob drops in to help out.

Then Leif cleans house:

 




 
Just two dudes make'n out. No big thing.

 

 

There's shuttle rigs, and then there's shuttle rigs...


Stay classy Seattle.