A number of people have inquired about the rapid on the cover of the 2012 Astral catalogue. Here’s a short account from that day…

One event that I was honoured to be a part of this year was the Whitewater Grand Prix.  You’ve probably seen alot of the competition media from this event, but the paddling that we did in between the competitions was every bit as incredible.  One of the highlights for me was certainly running the giant rapid on the Mistassini River in Dolbeau-Mistassini, Quebec.

I dropped into this thing with young Aniol Serrasolses, and was stoked to pioneer the middle line of the rapid.  Check out this edit of Tyler Curtis, who took the first D of the group, along with the Bomb Flow team running the rapid.

When it was our turn to go, I was excited to try boosting off of the giant exploding tongue in the middle of the rapid.  I studied my line-up for a long time because it was a 60,000+ cfs river, and then when the helicopter was in place, Aniol and I went for it.  He went right, I went middle, and we both came out about as fired up as you could possibly imagine!

Here is the result.  Photo by Bryan Kirk.

And here is a preview of Astral’s 2012 catalogue cover… submitting to the chaos.  This one is shot by Patrick Camblin.

And here is the headcam of the run.

Thanks for making the best PFDs in the industry Astral!

Good Lines,

Chris Gragtmans

submitted by Chris Gragtmans

Well, in spite of the frigid temperatures and nothing short of a blizzard that covered the entire southeast, the Chattooga River “swift paddle” occurred once again in 2011.  This year was smaller than in years past, but 15 or so brave souls still showed up to hammer down Section IV from Woodall to below Soc-em-Dog.

I’ve been playing around with my new GoPro, and decided to spin it around backwards for this run.  Here are a couple of memorable still grabs from the day…

Mass start is always the most fun!

Pile-up as I spin Fergus Coffey out, he stops, I stop, and everyone crashes into us!

Scott Magley breathing down my neck at the Stekoa confluence.

I’m always relieved to pass safely through Crack.  It’s a spooky rapid.

Everyone pumped at the finish line.

This was a pretty crazy day for me, because I did about 27 minutes of lactic, redlined paddling and could not feel my hands the entire time.  After we finished, the agony of the blood coming back into my frozen hands made me anti-social for a few minutes.  I’m sure that was the case for others as well.

Yet another great year, and I look forward to paddling on all this snow as it melts into liquid form!

Well, here we are again.  As of today, there are 53 days until the annual Green River Narrows Race.  I’m super stoked about bombing down that river once again this year, and the word is that we’re going to have upwards of 150 competitors out there from all over the world.  Just writing about this event raises my heart rate, and I hope everyone is working hard to get themselves ready for it.

I am a bit limited on my training time due to a 17 hour final semester of school at UNCA, but I’m trying to set myself up well as always.  I’m working with Crossfit Asheville until the Green Race to try to get my fitness where it needs to be.  They’re super cool people, and have helped me out tremendously already.

Here are a few pics of my first run down the Green with the big boat this fall:

**Photos by Jakob Käfer**

The ultimate race weapon…

Taylor Fearrington bombing through Frankenstein.

Damn it feels good to be back.

Piaaaahhh!!

**Photos by Jakob Käfer**

Fast and clean.  November 7, 2009.

Peace.
Chris Gragtmans

What up whitewater boat riders!

Just wanted to check in from Colorado and share some of the goings on as of late…  I’ve always kind of given Colorado a bad rap, and it’s been a fun 2-3 day stop on the way to Cali, but never the final destination for any trip.  I decided that it was about time I gave the Teva Mountain Games Homestake Race a shot, and hit a number of runs I’ve missed out on in the past.

Looking very out of place in Texas.

Pat and I made the long journey out in a Dagger Suby a week before the race, and crashed with the myth and legend, Chris Schell, when we got to Denver.  The 10 days since have been a ridiculous barrage of steep whitewater and good people.

We started things off well with some laps on Homestake Creek and Gilman Gorge on day 1, and Tommy Hilleke was cool enough to let us make Glenwood Springs our base camp for the next couple of days.  That was awesome and I can’t thank the Hilleke family enough.

Pat hiking up for another lap on Homestake.

By far one of my favourite parts of the trip has been paddling the Barrel Springs section of the Colorado…  The Colorado is running super high with snow runoff, and I think the Upper/Lower Death combo is one of the burliest big water rapids I have ever run!  I was praying that my sprayskirt wouldn’t implode and my paddle wouldn’t get ripped out of my hands as I plugged into that massive hole.

The entrance to the monster.

Both runs were incredible out there, and it’s tough to beat the feeling of becoming a part of something that makes you feel so inconsequential.  The Barrel Springs rapid was huge too and super fun.  Possibly my favourite run in the state…

Another great thing about that section is the fact that we could paddle it straight to the Hilleke’s doorstep.

Pat on the float down out of Glenwood Canyon to the city.

Myself hiking up to the house in a state of satisfaction.

We also did an epic mission into the Crystal drainage and checked out some sick park and hucks.  It was the craziest off-roading I have ever done, and fortunately the rack only flew off Tommy’s truck once.  Here are a couple of pics from that adventure…

Crystal Mill Falls… such a sweet drop.

Reattaching some roofracks.

The epicocity of Colorado backcountry.

South Fork Crystal!

Please don’t miss the eddy above this.

Hope everyone else is getting on some good water.  Video coverage of these drops as well as Yule Creek and Homestake Race coming soon!

Peace.
Chris

I just wanted to send you a quick update about a waterfall that I was able to run in Alabama last Thursday. Here is the link to the blog post about the drop:

Team Riot Blog – DeSoto Falls

I have really enjoyed working with all of you this past year as an athlete and representative for Astral, and I look forward to another great year in 2008. I hope you’re doing well, and I’ll be in touch!

Sincerely,

Chris Gragtmans