Rob McKibbin did a first descent of Pinnacle rapid on that run, according to JP’s post on Professor Paddle it was a lot harder than it looks in the video.  I talked with Rob the other day and he said it was not as hard as running Landslide rapid on Robe Canyon at 5’9″, which he did last week for the second time – Landslide being a much longer rapid that for most mortal beings is a portage, especially at that level.

I don’t know everyone in this video but definitely saw Fish, Ellie Wheat, Dave Moroles, Rob McKibbin, and it looked like Joe Howard.  I give Ellie thumbs up for doing this in a small Burn, it’s what I have and we’ve both been checking out creekboat volumes recently – the small is only 63 gallons, that’s 11 gallons less than the medium Burn and it makes a big difference when you’re running beefy drops.

I know Rob has run this once before, but other than that I think the only other person was Tao Berman like ten years ago.  Jon Dufay and Scott Waidelich (Fish) were at the bottom, here’s Scott’s video of Rob’s run from that angle:

I seriously think I had a few years taken off my life from watching Sam’s entry to the falls.  Turns out it’s much harder to watch your friends run really difficult stuff than I would have imagined.  And of course it doesn’t help when they do it upside down….

But everything turned out OK.  Here’s Fish’s video of Rob and Jon doing Paranoia on that same run, with Sam giving his two cents about Log Choke at the end.

I’m probably not the first person to say this, but I really think Jon Dufay needs to be renamed Jon Boofay.

Dave Moroles testing out Lunch Hole on the Skykomish

Scott Henderson posted a really poignant account a while ago on Professor Paddle about how he nearly didn’t make it out of a hole on the Middle Middle run on the Snoqualmie – a mostly Class III run with a pretty easy IV section that most of us Seattle area paddlers are used to bombing after work without too much thought beforehand.

It’s really worth reading the thread – linked to here – not only because he shares a story that is not the easiest to share, but also because of the responses and advice that follows from other paddlers.  Here are some take-homes that I got from it:

Staying and Getting Out of Holes:

Based on this and some other stories I’ve heard, some of the closest calls you might run into could be on “easy”, Class III type water, and/or on a run that you’re really familiar with.  So don’t let your guard down.

If you’re stuck in a hole, balling up and letting yourself go deep instead of fighting the water should help you flush out.

From Scott’s post and one of the responses, it appears that if things go badly enough that you go limp you also have a better chance of flushing out.  (Let’s not kid ourselves, this option really sucks.)

Kyle Kovalik posted something that I’ve heard is also helpful:  “If you can get flat… swim accross the eddy line into the downstream current, rolling your body as you do (from a breast stroke to a back stroke or vice versa). This works best in flattish pourover style holes.”

Practicing swimming in whitewater is a great idea.  Not fun (I personally suck at it and tend to swim 5 times farther than anyone else, not on purpose) but definitely useful.

This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive explanation of how to get out of holes, but I’ve also heard (and kind of experienced when my sprayskirt blew on Lunch Hole on the Sky a couple days ago) that if you’re still in your boat, pulling your skirt and letting your boat fill with water is another way to possibly get out of a hydraulic.

Getting Back in the Game

Anyway, the main thing I got out of Scott’s post and the ensuing thread was not so much how to get out of holes (although that is useful), but more about the mentality of how to approach kayaking in general.  It’s such an intense sport, and when we’re into it we tend to fall in love with it and go full bore.  But, it’s also dangerous enough that we need to always be aware of the risks in order to last in it long term.  The flip side is, if we focus on those too much we’d seriously just stay home – it’s kind of like reading statistics about every innocent soul who pulled out of their driveway and got T-boned by some dummy going 110 miles per hour on a residential street, and then deciding to never drive again.

The reality is there – yes, it could happen (and getting caught in a vicious hole or pinned on some rock is probably way more likely than becoming a cautionary tale in suburbia) – but if you’re going to boat you kind of have to just take that as part of the deal.

Reading the Professor Paddle thread and from conversations with other boaters, it seems that nearly everyone has had a close call at some point and either had to deal with what is pretty much post traumatic fear, or even take some time off of boating to get their head back in the game.  Some of it is pure psychological conditioning (abject terror = very bad, do not repeat), so I thought the advice that John (doggievacation on PP) gave was good even though I overlooked it the first time I read it.  He said:

“… boat when you feel ready and stick to nice, familiar runs.  Make sure you have fun EVERY TIME you boat and steer clear of any drop that makes you feel panicky.  If you can do that, I think you’ll find the worm will fade on its own, but go with your gut and take your time.”

It usually takes time to get over traumatic experiences, and just like acquiring muscle memory for the roll, part of that psychological conditioning involves pure repetition – in this case, of something good.

Anyway, it’s really helpful to be reminded of how easy it is for any of us to become complacent on a run, or accustomed to getting out of hairy situations without too much carnage.  The fact is, the wrong hole at the wrong level, at the exact wrong angle that puts us in the wrong spot could happen to anyone, at any time, so I really appreciate Scott sharing his story.  It applies to all kayakers at any level, and it’s especially helpful coming from the viewpoint of someone who has had a lot of experience on whitewater.

That being said, paddling scared isn’t exactly a huge help either and there’s no way we can foresee everything on the river, so the best attitude is probably a good blend of realistic caution and a healthy dose of  ”Oh, what the heck.”  (I know I tend to focus on the latter because it requires less technical skill.)  Speaking of which, I’ve started dropping into Lunch Hole, a la Dave Moroles and Rob McKibbin.  If these blog posts end unexplainedly, that might be why.

Here’s one of Blair’s videos that shows what a workout a big hydraulic like Lunch Hole can provide, about two thirds of the way through it – it is a super sticky hole in the mid-3,000 cfs range.

Icicle Creek Kayaking - Leavenworth Wa from Skipow Visuals on Vimeo.

This video is mostly Marco Colella and Rob McKibbin (I guess they’re OK boaters ), plus some others including Darren Albright, Dave Moroles, Adrian Wigston, and Dan Patrinellis setting safety.  It’s also a good reminder of how awesome the Leavenworth area is in general, especially in the spring and summer.  When it’s 72 degrees in Seattle and you’re feeling a little bitter because on a sunny day you still feel like you need to take along a sweater for when the breeze kicks up, in Leavenworth you step out of the car into 80 degree weather and a warm, dry wind – not to mention, it’s gorgeous out there.

Last Wednesday when the weather forecasters were calling for a torrential dumping of lowland snow around Seattle I was happy to hear that Dave Moroles was still game for trekking out to the Skykomish for a run – and Rob McKibbin said if we showed up he would have to go, of course.  It turned out to be a great paddle, with not as much snow as forecast but still around a foot at the put-in and around 34 degrees the whole time.

I have to say the gear we have access to these days is just incredible – with six layers stuffed into a Goretex dry suit, a skull cap underneath my helmet and some Glacier Gloves (my absolute favorite), I actually rolled early on just to cool off, and my hands stayed warm the whole time.  I would have a hard time believing that was possible if I didn’t actually experience it.

Anyway, I got a kick out of these pictures of Dave and Rob – pretty classic.  As usual I was reminded of why this is such an incredible area to whitewater kayak in, not just because of the rivers but also because of the amazingly good boaters like these guys who are a blast to paddle with and always encouraging, even if you do completely miss your boof and nosedive directly into Ned’s Needle and then miss your first roll, in a creekboat, for heaven’s sakes, like I did a few days before this.

Speaking of which, Samson Kim, I followed your advice about keeping the blade in the water as you approach the lip of the drop and actually got a decent boof this time around, so thanks!

Thanks to Matt Kurle for posting the video on his YouTube page, I think he took the video too.  I don’t know everyone in there but I definitely recognize Dave Moroles, Joe Howard, and I think Rob McKibbin.  One of the things I like about this is that you get to see seven people in a row do the same drop – it’s interesting to see the differences.

I don’t know if I’m allowed to say how long this swim really was due to him and Rob both going after his gear and ending up on opposite sides of the river, but let’s just say it’s pretty impressive that by the end of it he was throwing those loops (or almost-loops – whatever, they looked good) on Split Rock wave.

Speaking of high water Skykomish runs, Joe Sauve posted this video on Professor Paddle that he took when Rob, Adrian Wigston and Sam Grafton ran the Skykomish a few weeks ago when it was in the 55,000 to 60,000 cfs range – well above the flood level range of 30-something thousand cfs.  The first is in Quicktime and the second is in MPEG format:

http://professorpaddle.com/media/videoview.asp?File_Id=6142 - Quicktime

http://professorpaddle.com/media/videoview.asp?File_Id=6143 - MPEG

Sam’s in the blue boat, Adrian is in the yellow boat, and Rob goes down between those two but he’s really easy to miss because the waves are HUGE and he’s in his little red Dagger Kingpin – as usual.

The funny part about this day is that the point was for me, Dave Moroles and Charles Graves to run Upper Icicle down to Ricochet or the Sieve with Rob and Sam, and then somehow we decided that after watching these guys run the Wall we would run the in-between sections of Tumwater first (skipping Chaos and POW), kind of as an afterthought.

Note to self:  Running anything in Tumwater at 4900 cfs is not in the ‘afterthought’ category, at least not for me.   It’s a good example of how sometimes things just escalate.

Anyway, not long after this video was taken Dave, Charles and I were putting in below the Dam.  Rob, Sam and Darren were a few minutes ahead of us, and Dave was looking a bit grim, understandably – he was in a playboat, and the highest I’ve done Tumwater is 1850 cfs.  Not surprisingly, about 7 seconds after getting on the water (and maybe 12 seconds after telling Dave in a chirpy little voice, ‘Everything’s going to be fine!’), I was upside down in Dam rapid taking what felt like mallet hits to my helmet.  I think I could have rolled up anyway because I’ve rolled up after some pretty massive hits before, but suddenly my paddle hit a rock and the next thing I know it was in two pieces in my hands.  It was a bit like, ‘Hmmm, never done this before’.

I didn’t try rolling up with half a paddle (although I realize now that’s a great thing to practice), so I got to swim pretty much all of Dam rapid – not recommended!  I was really fortunate to walk away with just some major leg bruises because the water is really fast and super shallow at the top – it turns out Darren had flipped there too and taken some major clonks before rolling up.

Anyway, once all the excitement was over (thanks to Dave for retrieving my boat, and Charles for making a solo run down part of Tumwater looking for my paddle that he didn’t know was broken) we ran Icicle from RV down to Ricochet (I walked Limbo, being pretty much topped out on adrenaline for the day) and Charles got this cool video of me, Sam, Dave and Rob running Roadside Attraction rapid.

Thanks to Charles Graves for filming this!  (Due to having to skip the paddle after tweaking his back out getting stuck in a hole for 30 seconds on Tumwater that morning looking for my paddle that broke in half and resulted in my swim through Dam rapid – ouch! But that’s another blog post….)

Anyway, Sam’s in the lead, I’m in the blue and white boat that flips (huge surprise) followed by Rob in the red playboat and then Dave.  Notice how I completely don’t paddle going into that drop that flips me, and then you can hardly see it but after I roll up I do the next drop backwards.  Which surprisingly often works out pretty well – I’ve done it enough times that I’m telling Rob my goal is to eventually do all of Tumwater backwards.  And now maybe Icicle too.   Anyway, first time on Icicle and it was definitely a stretch for my skill level but it was a blast and I would love to do it again, as scary as it was.  (If you haven’t done it yet, it’s definitely a lesson in the ‘it’s bigger than it looks from the road’ department.)

P.S. I should mention that we put in at RV and I walked Limbo and took out at Ricochet.  Then Sam broke HIS paddle on Son of Ricochet.  It was just one of those days when things break, I guess!  Also, Icicle was 875 cfs on the Professor Paddle virtual Icicle gauge.

Many nice photos like this one on the River Gypsies Burn review post.

Leland posted a link on Professor Paddle to his nice review of the 2010 Pyranha Burn, here’s a link to his blog post with the entire Pyranha Burn review on the River Gypsies website.  There are a lot of good photos and he goes into quite a bit of depth about the various paces he put the boat through.

To my unschooled eye it’s hard to tell much difference between the old and the new version, but he and some commenters on the Professor Paddle thread definitely seem to be able notice them.  I think it’s pretty hard to go wrong with the Burn overall, Charles from AquaSports in Redmond says it’s the one boat that in 15 years he’s had only one person return because they didn’t like it, and everyone seems to rave about it as a creekboat.

After doing Tumwater the last two weekends I can definitely say I learned to fall in love with my previous-version Burn, even though I’m still portaging POW and man is it a pain to lug around!  Yesterday I was definitely weighing the disadvantages of possibly losing a tooth on that rapid versus the hassle of dragging the Burn up and over boulders on the river right portage – which is actually even easier than the perilous scramble down to the river if you do that portage on river left.  The tooth won out, but it was a close call….

Anyway, in the past I’ve gotten a little resentful taking the Burn out on the Skykomish to get used to it because I love to do that upper run in a playboat, but as soon as I got on the Tumwater run I loved it.  Mike Peele, who did Tumwater for the first time with me the previous weekend had the exact same reaction about his Burn – we kind of looked at each other at the same time and said, “I love this boat!”.  Although, a lot of people do that run in playboats (and Rob McKibbin of course makes bobbing blithefully down Class V+ Exit rapid look easy in his Dagger Kingpin).  But he’s around to keep the rest of us humble.