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SAFE for work version:
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Icicle in April - Ricochet Rounds
For days and days...
Adrian was in town and we were able to get multiple laps on the middle five miles of Icicle Creek. This portion of the run is known as the Ricochet section of Icicle Creek.
Levels were as follows:
Friday 4/20: 3060 cfs and rising 20cfs/hr Wenatchee at Peshastin.
Saturday 4/21: 3100 cfs and rising 60cfs/hr Wenatchee at Peshastin.
Sunday 4/22: 4200 cfs and rising 40cfs/hr Wenatchee at Peshastin.
Many friends were seen and even more good lines were had.
Brief photo dump of the 3 day weekend adventure:
The view from secret camp, way above Leavenworth is worth the drive.
Looking West from Secret Camp towards the source of Icicle Creek and therefore the source of all things good in this world.
One of the best drops on the run: The Plunge. The normal line is starting center river right and staying right until the slide. Then you want to be a couple of boat widths off the right wall with right or no angle. BOOF!
With more water you actually run over the river left side of the ledge.
This rapid is, in my opinion, the best rapid on the river, by far. It has no name, other than "the one above the plunge". Multiple boofs and tight line abound. Get in and get some.
Some Greenery with your Scenery?
More fun below Horseshoe
On Sunday we scouted with a little more water in the Creekbed.
Here, Adrian weighs his options on Horseshoe's outflow.
Horseshoe at a healthy level
Gorgeous weather all weekend
Stopped on the way up to The Wall for a look at Last Exit.
Stay safe.
Video From the Weekends Fun:
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Multi disciple Carnage
I love Carnage, no matter the sport.
Another quality edit that I found on Vimeo. These guys are legit.
Another quality edit that I found on Vimeo. These guys are legit.
Robe Canyon - High Water Run
Prior to this morning I had never run Robe higher than 5.9.
There are a handful of boaters in the Seattle area that regularly boat Robe above 6 feet but I could never say I desired to be among them. At 5.8 and 5.9 the holes get much bigger, the wave trains steeper and the pucker factor magnifies by a factor of around 20.
I kept hearing it was "good to go" and "almost fun" above 6 feet, from a couple of locals, but I wasn't convinced.
Then the day finally arrived; Nothing else was in (at a reasonable level) and I HAD to get on the water. Darren had called earlier in the morning and told me that there would be a decent sized group on the river, so safety would be less of an issue. I tentatively agreed to join.
I called Joe and his response to my inquiry as to the intelligence of the undertaking at hand was: "what could go wrong?"
By the time we got to the takeout I had worked myself up to walking T1 and probably Sunshine, as well as the possibility of walking Hotel California (the longest rapid on the run). I told my rumbling gut I would give it a look.
Some Bellingham boys joined us and all in all we had close to 10 kayaks in the water at the put-in. This time last year I would say it would have been wishful thinking to get 10 people to join you on Robe at a more agreeable level of 5.5 or so. The class V community in Washington is expanding rapidly!
We put on and I was surprised to see that there is a sneak line on RL of T1. The boof at T2 is a must make and the hole at the bottom of Last Sunshine looks like the Boogie Man, Pinhead and whatever demon lived under you bed as a child all rolled into one massive mosnter. The video speaks for itself, it was an amazing day. My only out of boat experience was the portage at Landslide and I got a huge boof off the left side of Off Broadway.
The 6 foot and higher realm is actually a fun place to be... if you're on line.
Robe Canyon - 6.3' from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.
There are a handful of boaters in the Seattle area that regularly boat Robe above 6 feet but I could never say I desired to be among them. At 5.8 and 5.9 the holes get much bigger, the wave trains steeper and the pucker factor magnifies by a factor of around 20.
I kept hearing it was "good to go" and "almost fun" above 6 feet, from a couple of locals, but I wasn't convinced.
Then the day finally arrived; Nothing else was in (at a reasonable level) and I HAD to get on the water. Darren had called earlier in the morning and told me that there would be a decent sized group on the river, so safety would be less of an issue. I tentatively agreed to join.
I called Joe and his response to my inquiry as to the intelligence of the undertaking at hand was: "what could go wrong?"
By the time we got to the takeout I had worked myself up to walking T1 and probably Sunshine, as well as the possibility of walking Hotel California (the longest rapid on the run). I told my rumbling gut I would give it a look.
Some Bellingham boys joined us and all in all we had close to 10 kayaks in the water at the put-in. This time last year I would say it would have been wishful thinking to get 10 people to join you on Robe at a more agreeable level of 5.5 or so. The class V community in Washington is expanding rapidly!
We put on and I was surprised to see that there is a sneak line on RL of T1. The boof at T2 is a must make and the hole at the bottom of Last Sunshine looks like the Boogie Man, Pinhead and whatever demon lived under you bed as a child all rolled into one massive mosnter. The video speaks for itself, it was an amazing day. My only out of boat experience was the portage at Landslide and I got a huge boof off the left side of Off Broadway.
The 6 foot and higher realm is actually a fun place to be... if you're on line.
Robe Canyon - 6.3' from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Robe Canyon - Levels
March has been a bit of a slow month so I have been playing around with some footage of Robe Canyon (South fork Stillaguamish). The river level fluctuates a lot and sometimes its hard to describe the difference between water levels and how it can change some features and make them much harder, while other features become easier.
Last Sunshine is one of the coolest rapids on the river. Not very difficult, but very aesthetically appealing; from the pool above the drop you cannot see anything but the canyon falling away from your bow and lends itself to an air of ominous intent. River level features are left a mystery because your prying eyes are blocked by a large picket fence of boulders. All you can tell from a visual inspection of your situation is that it's loud, the canyon is deep and the river disappears.
Water level dependant, there are multiple lines but the normal line for the commonly run water levels (4.8' to 6') is right up onto the left bank of the river. The flood polished rock wall of the river bank and a large boulder chalked into the main ledge create a beautiful little chute. You can enter the drop with almost zero speed and ride high on the left bank, throw a right late boof stroke and sail into a huge foam pillow.
I love Last Sunshine because it is so visually stimulating. You cannot see anything but the river left wall and the boulder that creates the chute, until you are completely committed to the drop. As you peel around the boulder and line up on the left wall the world drops about 10-12 feet and all you can see is a massive foam pile with all the water shooting back into the river left wall downstream. As of the floods of 2010, there is now a humongous boulder that appears to be in the landing zone. The truck sized rock is safely out of play due to the nature and direction of the current in the landing zone, but the undercut on the downstream river left wall is not. No worries though, a lot of people have had issues with the undercut but I believe they were confidence induced issues as it flushes and you have a decent sized pool to regain your composure in.
Sit back and enjoy some levels:
Levels - Robe Canyon from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.
Last Sunshine is one of the coolest rapids on the river. Not very difficult, but very aesthetically appealing; from the pool above the drop you cannot see anything but the canyon falling away from your bow and lends itself to an air of ominous intent. River level features are left a mystery because your prying eyes are blocked by a large picket fence of boulders. All you can tell from a visual inspection of your situation is that it's loud, the canyon is deep and the river disappears.
Water level dependant, there are multiple lines but the normal line for the commonly run water levels (4.8' to 6') is right up onto the left bank of the river. The flood polished rock wall of the river bank and a large boulder chalked into the main ledge create a beautiful little chute. You can enter the drop with almost zero speed and ride high on the left bank, throw a right late boof stroke and sail into a huge foam pillow.
I love Last Sunshine because it is so visually stimulating. You cannot see anything but the river left wall and the boulder that creates the chute, until you are completely committed to the drop. As you peel around the boulder and line up on the left wall the world drops about 10-12 feet and all you can see is a massive foam pile with all the water shooting back into the river left wall downstream. As of the floods of 2010, there is now a humongous boulder that appears to be in the landing zone. The truck sized rock is safely out of play due to the nature and direction of the current in the landing zone, but the undercut on the downstream river left wall is not. No worries though, a lot of people have had issues with the undercut but I believe they were confidence induced issues as it flushes and you have a decent sized pool to regain your composure in.
Levels - Robe Canyon from daniel patrinellis on Vimeo.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Robe Canyon - No Portage Run
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| Jeremy Bisson at Granite Falls, Robe Canyon. |
Well.. for Jeremy Bisson at least.
I still walk Landslide and have never even thought about running Granite Falls, but thats because I still shop for my underwear in the little boys section of Target.
Charles, over at Aquasports, was awesome enough to outfit me with a brand new Shiva and his parting words as I was strapping it down to the truck was: "Please don't scratch the paint". I said I would have a great time with her on the Middle Middle and saddled up.
This was a three day weekend for me and I was ready to get some awesome boating done. We have been in a bit of a drought over the past month so I was a little worried about what would be in. Luckily Robe Canyon got some water and my plans were set.
I justified taking the Shiva down Robe by telling myself that there was no conceivable way I could give Charles an honest opinion of the new Pyranha boat if I didn't a least try to kill myself in it once over the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday somehow got off to a late start both days and trips didn't start until well after noon, so I was motivated to get out early as possible on Monday and make it count.
Jeremy and I met at 10 and decided to walk down to Granite Falls to giv'r a look. I thought she looked hideous, Jeremy thought she looked mildly attractive.
We jumped on the river and I was once again reminded of why I am willing to make the drive up there from Port Orchard. Its just beautiful in that canyon. Robe Canyon is unlike any other place I've boated. It changes on almost a weekly basis during the winter and even the biggest rocks in the canyon move around.
Robe Canyon is 7 miles of Awesome. 3 of those miles are class V rapid after class V rapid. The nature of the run is every bit of pool drop; no matter what happens in the rapid above, you'll have a nice pool to clean up in afterward.
A short hike into the put in and around a mile of class II gets your shoulders warmed up for the meat of the run. Instead of describing the rapids, see for yourself:
T1
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| Tunnel Rapid 1, Robe Canyon |
T2
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| Tunnel Rapid 2, Robe Canyon Last Sunshine |
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| Last Sunshine, Robe Canyon |
Hotel California
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| Hotel California, Robe Canyon |
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| Hotel California, Robe Canyon |
Hole in the Wall
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| Hole in the Wall, Robe Canyon |
Dead Deer Drop
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| Dead Deer Drop, Robe Canyon |
Face-Plant
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| Face-Plant, Robe Canyon |
Catchers Mitt
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| Catchers Mitt, Robe Cayon |
Landslide
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| Landslide* |
Garbage
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| Garbage, Robe Canyon |
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| 20 Footer/Cat's Paw, Robe Canyon |
Off Broadway
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| Off Broadway, Robe Canyon |
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Last Conversation, Robe Canyon |
Granite Falls* Below the normal takeout. This isn't even a portage, you just don't run it.
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| Granite Falls, Robe Canyon |
Jeremy and I rallied down the run stopping only to let me take pictures every now and again.
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At Landslide I immediately paddled to river right and began my walk of shame. Jeremy paddled over to river left and started scouting his line. Landslide it a bit of a Beast. It has two distinct sections and apart from Hotel California it's the longest rapid on the run. The entrance move is probably the scariest move, or at least the one that is the least predictable. There are two lines here. The hero line: right down the middle over the ledge and submerged for the next 30 yards. Or the new line along the right side that spares you the main ledge but doesn't do you any favors when it comes to hole dodging.
Assuming you're in your boat at this point. Your paddle is in your hands and your face is indeed intact; now you get to ask yourself an important question. "Do I feel lucky today?". The second half of Landslide is one of the more intimidating drops I've looked at. It makes me sweat while i portage it for Christ's sake. A massive eddy line pulls around to river right as the river piles into the river left bank and makes a hard turn. The river then flows over a good 6(ish) foot ledge with a horrible cross current at the bottom. You then squeeze between the left wall and a massive boulder and are rewarded for your hard work with a rock smear on a sieve that could swallow a Green boat. My hats off to you boys for running this thing.
Jeremy has yet to walk this rapid during his stint here in the Seattle area and this was the first time that he even rolled in this rapid.
Jeremy rallies Landslide:
We both took the new Brad line in Garbage and had good lines and from here out its pretty low stress creeking. All the while Jeremy was trying to decide if running Granite Falls was a good idea. It is most certainly not a good idea, but I couldn't tell the man that. So I said: "let's do this!", and by "lets do this" I meant "I'm gonna watch you do this safely from the shore."
Jeremy Bisson scouts Granite Falls:
Jeremy Bisson RUNS Granite Falls:
All in all this was an awesome cap to the three day weekend. Three laps on Robe Canyon, all at different levels, lots of great boaters out and about. Pretty decent weather considering this is Washington and we're in the middle of winter. Huge props to Jeremy for firing it up and for just being generally STOKED!
Oh, as a side note, Jeremy did this with a loaner boat with 4 cracks in it and a Lightning paddle that has blades worn down smaller than most Q-tips these days. Just sayin...
Quick video from the day.
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