As I was able to spend my fourth winter in a row in Chile it was my first trip where I was guiding customers through this beautiful country on the west coast of South America.
Daniel on the last drop of the lower palguin
First destination of our journey was Pucon where we did some warm up paddling on the surrounding rivers. Ellies B&B offered a lovely ambience with the view on the Volcano Villarica to relax after the long trip to get there.
Peter in the “volcano drop” of the Trancura
In the first few days the group got a taste of some big volume rapids on the Trancura, they mastered the difficulty of running their first waterfalls on the Palguin and they got in touch with some remoteness of the Chilean wilderness on the Maichin.
the highest drop of the upper Plaguin, photo: Michael Sommerauer
After Christmas, which would have been described as a summer garden barbecue party in Europe, we started to travel south. With a stopover at the Rio Fuy where the group improved their waterfalls skills our next main destination was the Rio Futaleufu, which is called one of worlds finest kayak destinations for a good reason.
upper Fuy, photo: Michael Sommerauer
Driving down south took us a whole day and leaded us through pleasant fjords using three ferries as well as down the Carretera Austral and through the “Parque Pumalin” – a gorgeous nature park in the Chaiten region. Unluckily the typical Patagonian constant rain didn´t spare us but once arrived at the Cara del Indio camp we considered ourselves fortune by claiming the last free Cabana that evening.
pole position on the ferry
After a good sleep we started to have our first real big volume paddling day down the Bridge to El Macal section on the next morning. As we barely find any comparable whitewater back home I observed some hectic paddling till we reached the take out. So we decided that another day of warm up paddling down the same section would be necessary till everyone got familiar with that kind of exploding waves and whirlpools and felt ready to venture through the canyon and down the complete 46 kilometer long whitewater section of the Futaleufu, just in time for closing paddeling on New Year´s Eve. Tired but happy to collect the “golden medal” of the Futa we rewarded ourselves with an original Chilean “Asado” – a whole lamb grilled for several hours by the owner of our Camp.
Almut in her great Palm gear and Dagger Mamba at the put in for the Rio Azul, photo: Fabian Krummreich
So the group started off their paddling year 2014 by getting more and more comfortable on the extraordinary whitewater of the Futa day-by-day. Due to the continuous rain even the Azul came a little bit up and became an enjoyable run. So relaxing in the traditional Hot-Tub high up on the cliff over the Futa was the last missing thing of the Futa-experience which got ticked off the list before we had to loac up the truck to start our journey back up north again.
the boys having fun in the mud tub of the Termas Amarillo, photo: Fabian Krummreich
On the way our plan was to paddle the Michimahuida, which offers an entire day on the river filled with numerous rapids and scenic waterfalls coming in from the glacier on the sides in the remote Patagonian wilderness. Unfortunately the river was running a little bit to high for us on that day so we took out after the first few kilometres just where the road leaves the river and spent the rest of the day in the nearby “Termas Amarillo”. While half of the group kept relaxing in the nice and clear naturally hot water of the Termas few others felt more pleased resting in the natural mud pool. In the end of the day the sun finally managed to burn all those clouds of the seven five days away and brought us a beautiful last evening on our wild camp on the beach close to Chaiten.
last wild camping spot on the beach close to Chaiten, photo: Fabian Krummreich
Back in Pucon we spent our last few days on the more and more drying Rios Fuy, Trancura and Palguin and tried to absorb as much sun as we could before we had to fly back to winter in the cold and dark Europe.
Almut boofs one of the nicest drops of the lower Palguin
Chile is and stays on of the best places on earth to escape Europeans winter season for all paddlers who enjoy paddling class IV whitewater. One can find everything paddlers heart desires – from steep volcano rock built low volume creeks to excellent big volume whitewater. As one of the safest South American countries Chile fascinates with its clean and clear rivers, tasty food, dry and warm climate and tons of breathtaking landscape.
Almut following me down the upper Plaguin, photo: Paul Meylahn
Chile is a place I’d wanted to go since I’d watched VHS videos of the Futa and Claro when I was 15 years old. It really didn’t disappoint. The country is beautiful, the rivers are varied and the waterfalls clean. There’s literally a lifetime of paddling and exploring to be had there and I’m sure I’ll go back. If you’ve never been, then add it to your list. You won’t be disappointed.
After an amazing 2 months out there, I came home with bits and bobs of footage from my GoPro; so I made a little video (oh OK, RootDown did most of the editing). It doesn’t show even half of the cool stuff I was fortunate enough to paddle, see or experience out there, but hopefully it’s a little taster and a bit of fun. I hope you like it…
Here’s a few photos from my time there… again, I don’t feel they show the full story of my trip, but take a look and enjoy! There’s more on my Flickr.
Most of you have probably seen ‘kayak kiss’ the viral video that shot Palm Team paddler Ben Brown into the main stream and onto TV screens during major sports events like the US Super Bowl.
The success of that was in no small (excuse the pun) part down to Go-Pro cameras and Ben is a master of making the sorts of videos that the rest of us aspire to with our wobbly and grainy footage. It also has something to do with the sort of water he paddles being that bit more impressive than most of us manage.
We’ll Go-Pro have stepped up again this week, launching their new Hero3: Black Edition, and guess who is one of the lucky athletes featured in the promo – Mr. Ben Brown!
The narrative is a bit of ’a day in the life’ kind of affair, with kayaking featuring along side other sports like freediving, surfing, skiing and more. The previous Go-Pro High Definition camera was cool but wow, to say a camera quite literally sings and dances is quite true of this new model – slow motion, amazing angles, great definition, bright and light: It looks amazing.
Anyway, enough of an advert, we are just super stoked to see our man Ben in there, representing kayaking and cutting it up amongst the likes of Kelly Slater and Aaron Chase. Keep firing it up the Waikato warrior!
Just had a mail from north of the border to say that new kayak movie goodness Sneaky Freeky Creeky is ready to order.
It’s been a while since the Scottish boys have combined together footage of their considerable adventures and Dave Biggin has come up trumps again, highlighting through the highlands and beyond why Scotland really is a world class whitewater venue…. if theres water!
Here’s a sweet little trailer, but if you want to get the full show and be inspired to paddle in Scotland get along to www.wheresthewater.com and get yourself a copy.
Hi all. We’re back in the UK and work has begun on the film we’re making of this summer’s Norwegian Odyssey.
It’s called Vaniljesaus (Pronounced Vanilla Jesus), and will be released online here on the Palm Blog within the next few weeks. For now here’s a sneak peek….
I have been in California for the past six weeks enjoying one of the craziest seasons in history. A record snowpack has meant a super long and late run-off and the paddling has been nothing short of amazing! We have hit most of the classics from The South Feather to West Cherry as well as a few of the lesser known drops hidden away in the Sierras. I have been rolling with the posse’ from River Roots and Bomb Flow and the content we have collected is epic!
For the duration of the mission I have been wearing the new Atom dry top and Stikine thermal ‘bunny suit’ along with the now trusted Amp vest and the performance has been spectacular. The new breathable fabric on the Atom performs super well in and out of the water and is really comfortable to paddle in. It keeps the cold, snow melt water out but lets your skin breath when hiking on the exposed granite here in Cali. I can’t recommend this top enough, it is easily the best dry top I have ever used.
Anyway, here are a few pics from the travels – more to come!
On a mission!
BB
Line up the 50 footer, lose the paddle, close eyes & hold on!
HIGH speed testing on Tenaya Creek.
The intimidating Heath Springs 2 on the Royal Gorge of the American.
It’s the weather report every kayaker waits for, and every non kayaker dreads…. A Heavy Rain Warning. Earlier this week, the remnants of a slow moving easterly cyclone and a cold and wet front roaring up from the Southern Ocean collided over the North Island of New Zealand. This was bad news for Easter holiday makers but it was good news for us. As per normal when heavy rain is approaching the cell phone lit up, plans were hatched and a restless night ensued…. The rain arrived as predicted and it was game on. Our destination for the day, The Wainui River…
I had been itching to get on the Wainui after missing the first descent several years earlier due to food poisoning that I picked up the previous night from drinking a large number of dodgy beers… Or something like that! Since then there has been a number of descents and the reports filtering back have been all good! Stories of epic slides and big drops were more than enough to wet the appetite…. Finally, on Tuesday, it was my turn!
- Only a kayaker knows the feeling! The moment we live for…. rolling off the lip of the big one.
- Inside the beast… About 50 feet into the freefall and preparing for impact!
- Tucking in and hanging on….
- This drop in the middle of the Wainui is about as good as they come… Who says kiwis can’t fly.
- Pretty stoked, and a little dazed and confused!
- Watching Simon take his run.
- Jamie taking flight.
- Big old air boof on little brother.
- Airing it out on little brother.
- The other end of a 30 foot boof… This would explain the stiff neck!
- Simon styling it!
- One epic slide after another…
- Letting gravity do the work on another rowdy Wainui slide.
The West Coast of New Zealands South Island is world renown for its steep creeks. During the Southern Hemispheres summer months the West Coast ranks amongst the worlds premier paddling destinations. What is lesser known is that the North Island also has some world-class creeking hidden amongst her rolling hills….
During the Autumn in New Zealand, South Westerly Low Pressure systems tear up from Antarctica bringing with them strong winds and heavy rain. Whilst this weather is not really conducive to many outdoor activities it does grab my attention because with this rain comes the possibility of some of my local creeks starting to flow…
The rains have been battering New Zealand over the past few weeks and with the Northern Hemisphere adventures rapidly approaching I was pretty eager to get amongst my local runs for one last time before heading North.
Here are a few shots for you to check out from my backyard…
