truck surfin, Slate River (photo: Atom Crawford)

So I know that the blog-o-sphere is loaded with posts from Colorado this year with the record snowpack and all. However, I couldn’t leave for this year’s OR show without sharing some images and memories from a recent trip back to my old stomping grounds. This trip back was particularly awesome because I was able to travel with my good pal Paul Bartholic. Paul and I have enjoyed many years of Colorado kayaking together since 01 and it was time for a little revival. We hit some kick ass venues for both kayak and leisure including OBJ, Red Rocks, Daisy Creek, The Almont Lounge, and of course the Arkansas River while visiting some good friends along the way.

Mex at OBJ (photo Atom Crawford)

We started off by stopping by CKS and the Arkansas River. The level was around 3,000 cfs and we hit no rocks in Chaffee County. This was a big change from the bone zone drought conditions that we have become accustomed to this summer in the South. We ran about 17 miles from the Numbers to BV in like 2 hours, that’s pretty fast with the high water. Also, we were able to enjoy some QT with our peeps from Salider and Buena Vista, what a sick crew out there!

Paul at the biggun (photo Chris Larsen)

Next up we blasted over to Crested Butte to meet with our boy Chris Larsen and enjoyed a few days of classic CB creeking. Also up in the mix was Mexico, our boy from back in Ashevegas. Mex is spending his summer running about the CO wilderness like a wild marmot. I think he’s gonna head back to fire up the Green Race this fall. We camped at the OBJ campground and drank many PBR (standard kayak elixer) to keep our spines in line after the abuse that OBJ dished out. After a few days of running about the alpine realms we loaded up the Rav4 (a pretty sweet shuttle rig actually) and went over to Red Rocks to witness the shitness. Of course I am referring to the Widespread Panic’s immensely sick show that they laid down on Sunday. We were glad to meet more of our crew from AVL like James, Sunny, Jon, and Allison. Check out this stream of the whole show if you think you can handle it: http://panicstream.com/streams/wsp/2008_06_29/player.html

PBR at Red Rocks (photo Bryan Owen)

The morning after the Panic we found ourselves waking in the back yard of Bob who lives somewhere near Red Rocks. Paul and I loaded up the Rav again in search of some boating. We hit the classic Rio Taylor near Almont Colorado, joined by CKS hommie Joe Carroll. Joe was my roommate for a while in Colorado and he is a great mellow dude and a solid paddler. If you ever need to ask about the rocker profile of a Prijon Gambler or maybe you’re inquiring about the recreational opportunities of the Ark Valley, give him a call at CKS.

OBJ almost bottom slide (photo Bryan Owen)

To finish it off we blasted back to the CB zone to enjoy even more OBJ action. This time we were joined by Kyle and Mike Hagadorn for a sweet day of creek boating. Also, check out some pics from professional photographer Michael Clark who happened to capture some other great shots of our crew: http://www.michaelclarkphoto.com/ohbejoyful_071208.html

salud-

Bryan

Bryan above OBJ waterfall, photo Atom Crawford

After attending last years Lyons Outdoor Games I was excited to return this year for another great event. Last years event hosted the first ever South Saint Vrain creek race and was the biggest reason that I was keen to return to Lyons. I was thrilled to see the organisers had also put a lot of work into making the hole a lot better for the event. The quality hole and on top of a great creek race made for an A class event even though water levels were slightly lower than last year.

First up was the creek race. After spending the previous day on El Dorado canyon the South Saint Vrain seemed clean and cruisy, the front range of Colorado is definitely some of the mankiest stuff you’ll find anywhere. The race starts with some technical low volume boogie water which is one of the hardest parts to keep your speed through. At the half way point you get into the steeper section ending with the most difficult drop of the run. Racers were given two runs with only the fastest run counting.

Race results looked like this:

1. Tao Berman
2. Andrew Holcombe
3. Jason Beaks

Competing at Lyons can be very tiring physically as both the race and the rodeo are held on the same day. People that say freestyle hasn’t progressed in the last couple of years haven’t paid much attention to what’s happening on the pro circuit. The biggest changes have been in where and how big paddlers are able to throw their tricks. Even in an extremely small hole the audience witnessed the pros perform almost every hole move that has been created to date.

Freestyle Results looked like this:

1. Nick Troutman
2. Stephen Wright
3. Eric Jackson
Posted by: Kelsey Thompson

To View more images of/from Kelsey, visit his gallery: http://www.astralbuoyancy.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=1259

So, I know this is pretty outdated, but I had all these photos from my trip up to the worlds. I figured I might as well share them with the world. Besides, this will give people a little bit of an insight into what goes on at kayaking events. And it’s actually a pretty good description of what goes on at any paddling trip and I don’t care what kind or what level paddler you are. The 2007 Freestyle world championships was a super fun event. It was great to meet up with so many old friends and meet so many new friends. I hope you all enjoy this little album.

Peace,

Yonton.

Here at Astral we are always looking for new outlets to get our products on the water. This past week I was approached by The Dr. Scotty Orville from Athens, GA about participating in this years RE: Generation Festival, headlined by Sound Tribe Sector Nine. The annual festival is located at The Deerfiels, a lage outdoor venue about 30 minutes east of Asheville near Mill’s River.

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Hey everyone.

Tyler Curtis