Photos and text by Kyle Dickman.

For the last week, we’ve been in Laos kayaking portions of the Mekong River to research the effects the proposed Don Sahong Dam will have on the main stem of the river. To see exactly where the crew spent their time paddling, check out their SPOT Messenger map. This dam has the potential to stop fish migrations up Khone Falls, with potentially disastrous effects on the region’s fish populations and as a result, food supply.

EP National Geographic Mekong Expedition

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From National Geographic Adventure:

At Khone Falls, the river divides into hundreds of different channels and drops off a 60-foot cascading waterfall. Which channels fish use to migrate depends on the size of the waterfall. Basically, the bigger the vertical drop, the fewer fish use the channel to migrate.

We’ve outfitted Trip’s kayak with a depth-finder and a GPS to map water velocity, depth, and gradient. We’re hoping to figure out what the migration parameters are for different species of fish (as in, big fish migrate up this channel because the water velocity is less than 20 mph, or whatever the case may be). What we find, will tell us if other channels share the same characteristics as Don Sahong, the site of the proposed dam. Don Sahong is hypothesized to be used most by migratory fishes because of its relatively mild whitewater.

We’ve been at Khone Falls for four days now. The first two days we rode mopeds past water buffalo and monasteries to scout waterfalls. On Sunday, we decided to run Somphamit Falls, a difficult stair-stepping 60-foot drop with fish traps lining the banks. Trip fired it up, recorded the data, and sent it to Sea Floor Systems, the California-based company who designed the system we’re using to process the data.

The fish traps suggest fish use Somphamit Falls as a migratory channel, but the data will show us whether they’re making it past the waterfall in dry season or being turned back. Does this channel share some of the same characteristics as Don Sahong? I’ll let you know what we find out.

See more photos from this expedition in the Gallery

Volcan Villarica

by Todd Wells

Photos by: Candace Sanders, Erik Parker, Jason Cohen, Hannah Kertesz, and Ben Kinsella.

Spending the last semester of my high school career with the World Class Kayak Academy (WCKA) has been unlike any of my previous academic experiences. WCKA is a traveling college preparatory school that focuses on whitewater kayaking. One quarter of each semester is spent studying and kayaking abroad, while the other is spent traveling along either the West Coast or East Coast.

My journey with WCKA began at the airport in Dallas, Texas where I met with my nine classmates and four teachers from all over the country. After our brief introductions we left for the eight hour flight to Santiago, Chile. In Santiago we loaded our kayaks and gear onto our 17 passenger van and its accompanying trailer and set out for the two hour drive to the Rio Maipo.

The next day, in the town of Banos Morales, I began my first day of the WCKA lifestyle. Waking up at 7:00 in the morning we started off the day with an hour of work out. Shortly afterward we sat down to a beautiful spread of traditional Chilean breakfast prepared by our local cooks, Israel and Estrella. After breakfast we all prepared for our first of five one hour classes. At first sitting down to a class of five students seemed awkward, but within the first hour of class I grew to appreciate the small and interactive classes. At noon we took an hour break from class for lunch then finished the last two periods of the day. As soon as all of our classes were finished we loaded our boats into the trailer and drove to the put-in for the Upper section of the Maipo River. At the put in we geared up, chose a buddy for the day, and talked about safety precautions and communication on the river. Between the big waves and high volume rapids of the Rio Maipo we all enjoyed getting to better know each other. After a couple hours on the river we returned to our camp for a hearty dinner where we discussed plans for the next day. Finally, before going to sleep, we each spent what free time we had finishing our homework and preparing for the following day.

For the next few days we followed a similar schedule, keeping each day fresh with different classes, original workout programs, and new sections of river. On one of our days off from school we all hiked to a lush valley beneath the towering peaks of the Andes and enjoyed a refreshing swim in a beautiful spring fed lake. After enjoying all that Banos Morales and the Rio Maipo had to offer we packed up our gear and moved south to the Rio Claro.

Though we spent less time on the Claro, we all had plenty of fun between the perfect waterfalls of the Siete Tazas (Seven Teacups) section and the crystal clear swimming holes less than a hundred feet from our campground. The Claro is one of the most beautiful rivers that I have ever visited, but it is a very popular tourist destination and its banks are heavily littered in trash. As part of WCKA’s dedication to community service all the students and teachers spent four hours one afternoon removing litter from over a mile of the river. In those four hours we removed over 20 full trash bags, and at the end of the day rewarded ourselves with a dip in one of the pristine swimming holes. At the end of our stay at the Rio Claro we packed up our gear and drove even further south to Pucon.

Here in Pucon I continue to enjoy living the World Class lifestyle of school, kayaking and culture, and I only look forward to what the next four weeks here in Chile have to offer.

For in multi-part Chile update and more whitewater stories visit toddwellswhitewater.blogspot.com

Capo Retig boofing on the Siete Tazas

The team in between classes

Falling off the Middle Palguin

picking up trash on the Rio Claro

Miestro Capo on the Palguin

photos © Kyle Dickman

text courtesy of EP and Under Solen Media

Epicocity Project is known for paddling some of the world’s most endangered rivers to promote conservation. But last week they kicked off an expedition on dry land - The Elephant Ivory Project - a project aimed to save wild elephants from the illegal ivory trade.

This fall, the explorers will team up the Center for Conservation Biology at the University of Washington to collect DNA samples from elephants in the remote African jungle. These samples will help to complete a DNA map of illegal ivory poaching hotspots. With this data, scientists can pinpoint where illegal ivory is coming from and send resources to stop it in those areas. For that expedition, the Epicocity crew is venturing to a country considered too dangerous and remote for scientists to travel - the Democratic of Congo.

But before they make that trip, the team needs to research where the illegal ivory is being sold… And that’s why they’re exploring Thailand.

“Day one in Bangkok and I’ve already been offered ivory,” team-member Trip Jennings said.

The EP team is in the epicenter of it all. Bangkok has the largest ivory market in Asia - with most of that ivory coming from African elephants. Just few days in Bangkok and they can see that the ivory trade is booming. Poachers kill elephants at a rate of 10 percent per year. With just 470,000 elephants left in the world, it means that in just a few years wild elephant populations will disappear.

The EP team is determined to stop that from happening. But in order to be successful, they have to know what they’re up against - and that means researching the ivory trade in Bangkok and talking to the folks who are leading the conservation effort… And of course meeting some elephants.

To find elephants, they drove into the country and met a man taking his elephants out into the forest to eat. He let them take a ride.

“Elephants are amazing creatures - intelligent, gentle and powerful. It’s heartbreaking to know that poachers kill more than 100 elephants every day,” team-member Andy Maser said. “But it’s not hopeless. Twenty years ago, with a global upwelling of support, the ivory trade was stopped, nearly overnight. We can do that again.”

So, what can you do?

1. Support the Elephant Ivory Project. 100% of your donation will go directly to the expedition and it’s 100% tax-deductible. Let’s save some elephants!
2. Visit www.elephantivoryproject.org to learn more. Knowledge is power. Poachers kill more than 100 elephants every day. It doesn’t have to be that way. Pass it on!
3. Don’t buy ivory! The U.S. has the 2nd highest demand for ivory. Think about it

Read more stories from the field on the Elephant Ivory Project blog!

by Tyler Curtis

Photos by: Jakob Sedivy

To celebrate Xmas we decided to head north to get on a few runs, which I haven’t paddled for a few years! Our first pit stop was the Rio Laja. This short section of whitewater is pure gold. It is combat paddling at its finest with little to no eddies and a continuous gradient which is full of sticky pourovers. None stop action for 3-4kms. The greatest part about his river is that you can walk the shuttle in a quick 20min.

At this point it was starting to get late so we decided that it would be the perfect place to camp for the night, enjoy some grilled sausages and beer, and celebrate Xmas eve. Nothing like a good fire, good friends, and sky full of bright stars!

I had heard about the expanding road into the Melado Valley, which is a tributary to the Rio Maule Valley and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to paddle this super remote river surrounded by beautiful Chilean Andes Mountain scenery. We first stopped in the town of Amerillo to get some beta on the water level, pick up a few things to eat for the night, and see about finding someone to help with shuttle. After some talks with the local mini-market owner, Luis Alejandro Salinas, he volunteered to join us for a night camping in the mountains to help us with our shuttle the following day!

We then spent midday in the local swimming hole hanging out with the local hoodlums and being the gringo attraction for everyone.
After a punishing 3 hour drive into the valley to the end of the road and put-in for the Rio Melado we found another choice camping location. We packed it in for the night and readied ourselves for the long day ahead..

In the morning we woke to a temperature of about 4 celcius..Cold! A quick breakfast of dinner leftovers and we were onto the water. The Rio Melado is a spectacular run. There is no real difficulty to it as it is the perfect class III-IV river with outstanding scenery. Everything can be scouted from your kayak. The whole run was about 18km in length and took us most of the day to paddle..
This was truly one of the great wilderness runs of Chile..

I will let the photos tell more of the story and the next up date is on its way.

Tyler Curtis

by Tyler Curtis

It was the time of year again to pack up the paddling gear and jump a plane to the paddling paradise of Chile. It would be my 11th season in a row traveling to this amazing country and with my vast knowledge of rivers and recently released Guide Book ‘Whitewater Chile’ the possibilities for great whitewater was endless. A large number of paddlers headed for Chile this winter and the rivers were relentless in delivering punishment. The swim count was out of control and broken paddles became the normal everyday occurrence. A ton of rain fell in Chile this season making for high water levels and epic creeking!

I arrived at the Santiago airport to meet with my favourite paddling partner Logan Grayling who I would be kickin it with for the trip. Chilean buddy Peletroke cruised to the airport to load us into his rig and immediately head south to the hucking capital of Pucon! Our first day on the water was the Rio Nevados, which has to be my favourite run in the area! A perfect water level and sunshine day pumped us up for what would look to be a great Freeboat kayaking trip..

Day two we wanted to turn up the volume and go stout. We packed in some breakfast and headed for the Palguin for a date with the Palguin Medio waterfall. So excited! This would be my second visit to this perfect waterfall and my energy was huge! A quick look at the 23 meter waterfall was all I needed to fire it up. I slide into the water and paddled myself to the lip and rode the shit proud. Landing at the bottom my skirt blew off and I became another number in the growing swim count!

Logan cruised next with a similar story. His paddle was ripped from his hands and he also became another swim statistic. What a great start. Day two and we both claim swims..

Days three we headed for a quick run of the Upper Palguin. Rallied the portage a few times for fun! Always an interesting run, never the same and never clean.

Stay tuned for more..

Tyler Curtis

This is Christina Russell reporting from frozen Oregon. Yep…we’re still frozen. I’m back in Bend from a spat of moving my things in to my new floating boat-house on the Colombia River…boy was it cold up there. The damp cold gets to me! It was -22 degrees last night and the rivers in Bend have frozen over. Today, the high was 8 degrees and with it being so cold, I spent my day INSIDE, snuggled up in a fleece blanket….with a fantastic cup of blueberry tea. These past few days of cold weather have reminded me that when we paddle, we need to always dress for a swim. And right now, a swim could mean death if you are dressed inappropriately. Last winter, I had an icky swim on the Green Truss. I believe I posted photos of the incident but I thought I would take a moment to relive it and go over the things I learned from it: My swim occurred on a day when the air temperature wasn’t over freezing. The White Salmon had swollen to an unknown level (we can only guess the flow), and the rocks on the bank were covered in Verglass. At the put-in, I considered the conditions I knew existed and wore thermals, fleece pants and a fleece jacket, two pairs of socks, and a fleece vest under my drysuit. I felt prepared and felt super solid on the run…at least until my swim. ha ha. Funny but not. Anyways, my swim occurred at the base of the waterfall called Big Brother. A fun 25 footer with a cave on the bottom river right. I stuck my line and as I was paddling away from the drop, I flipped on a boil….bummer. I got pinned on the outcropping next to the cave and missed my roll. I ended up swimming in the cave at a flow that (we were told) no one runs the drop at. What can we take away from my swim?

a. Always dress for a swim

b. Paddle with people that are also dressed for a swim- its your safety as well as theirs

c. STAY CALM. I was in the water for over five minutes and despite being dressed well, the cold definitely got to me. I couldn’t feel my hands or my legs and I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to swim if I let go of the throw rope

d. Make sure everyone in your group has a throwbag

e. ALWAYS CARRY A KNIFE

f. Know when it’s a smart things to hike out- After my swim, I lost my lifter pad (which means I paddle like crap without it) and I had absolutely no energy. I opted to hike out and wait for the crew to finish the run. I’m not proud of the whole thing but it definitely was humbling. This was the second time I seriously thought I might die. It’s taking me a while to get back to where I was mentally but I’m getting there. I learned a lot and will be more prepared when I swim next…we are always in between swims.

Stay safe out there and DRESS WARM!

Merry Christmas,

Christina Russell

Hello from snowy and cold Bend, Oregon! The down jackets are out and so are the pogies….nooo! Darn those pogies but hey, they’re are  brilliant. It’s now officially that time of the year when you haven’t quite adjusted to the cold and you choose to blast the heat in your car and get geared up in the front seat. Did I mention it’s also time for the hot chocolate mug to become a permanent fixture in the creek boat? YES! You can’t possibly go creeking without having a hot cup of cocoa in your boat. Let’s see what else is new? Oh! I dyed my hair purple he he he! You should see my helmet liner! Anyways, back to the actual kayaking portion of the post….

Recently, a crew of us from Bend headed upstream to our “locally famous” drop known as Benham Falls. It is a solid class five drop riddled with lava tubes. It’s technically not a falls but it sure is huge. Rumor has it that a TV crew filmed a rubber dummy getting dropped out of a helicopter above the rapid and its arms and legs came up miles downstream at the end of the lava tubes. From top to bottom, 30% of the water is lost in these tubes. Definitely not reassuring if you happen to go for a swim. That said, I’m pretty sure that my Astral vest would save my ass if I went for a swim! I love my vest!

The put-in was snowed in and the all wheel drive barely got us there. The water temp was sitting around 42 degrees and the sun was out.  We geared up and checked out the drop. There was a little wood but nothing in the way… special thanks to Irina of Bend for taking the photos!

Here’s a photo from a year ago when we ran it. The flow was substantially higher when we recently did it but you can get an idea of the scenery and the mechanics of the drop. Just add 300 more CFS and understand that the ledge drop in the middle of the river is a 14 foot drop. Perspective is the craziest thing.

(Below) Look at those beautiful Jefe’s!

Special thanks to everyone at Astral for your continued support and enthusiasm for making the best flotation on the market. Stay warm out there and remember your mug of hot chocolate!

Christina Russell

Check out this video that Gareth Tate put together from the Toxaway and Raven Fork Rivers. He had the opportunity to hit these NC classics the week before the Green Race with a world class team of paddlers from NC, CO, TN, and the Czech Republic.  Gareth is one of our local crew who grew up making goat cheese in the Piedmont of NC with his family. Now he spends most of his time running the steeps of WNC, hammering on his bike, and teaching swiftwater rescue curriculum for Landmark Learning

paddlers:  Gareth Tate,  Drew Duvall,  Laura Farrel,  Jakub Nemic, Chris Baer, Chad Pickens, Billy Jones, and others.

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

by Christina Russell

Meadowcamp from my Perspective from Christina Russell on Vimeo.