Skykomish River
A couple of weekends ago Greg Nicoll took this video of a run we did on the Skykomish from Cable Drop to Split Rock when the level was round 950 cfs. On the second lap of Boulder Drop he had the camera turned backward so it shows a different angle. And, as usual for any kayaking video, [...]
Continue reading about Video: Low Water Skykomish and Boulder Drop Kayak Run
If you’re a beginner to intermediate whitewater kayaker around the Seattle area and are looking for people to boat with you might want to check out this sticky thread on Professor Paddle for beginners to organize runs. I always tell people to join the Washington Kayak Club too, because even if you don’t see runs [...]
Continue reading about Beginner Whitewater Kayaker Thread on Professor Paddle
Team River Runner is a stellar non-profit organization that helps wounded veterans and their families “find health and healing through whitewater” by teaching them how to kayak. My kayaking friends from Texas who came out here last summer (on a trip I have yet to blog about, of course) – Ben Kvanli, Jennifer Kerr and Kelly Howard, [...]
Continue reading about Support Team River Runner – Teaching Wounded Veterans to Kayak
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 [...]
Continue reading about When Things Go Wrong on the River – And How to Get Out of a Hole
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 [...]
Blair Williams and Rob McKibbin were doing the Index to Split Rock Skykomish run a few days ago when the level was 5,000 cfs, which is actually kind of a tricky level for Boulder Drop, the big Class IV drop – the entrance can be a little less complicated in the 6,000 cfs range I think. [...]
Continue reading about Video: Playboat Kayaking Carnage on Boulder Drop, Skykomish River
Back on a gorgeous day in February I joined up with Pete Gott and Rob McKibbin on a venture to see if they could do something spectacular in the whitewater kayak surfing department by towing Rob behind Pete’s motorboat on the Skykomish River. Amazingly, Rob was doing 360s within the first few tows, although I [...]
Continue reading about Video: Rob McKibbin Tow-Surfing the Skykomish River
Unbeknownst to me, Dave Morrison was taking video last Saturday on our Skykomish River run through Boulder Drop. Here are the videos of us going through Ned’s Needle at around 2,000 cfs, a friendly level at which the horizontally recirculating eddy below the drop is not really in play. (I hear that at over 4,000 [...]
Continue reading about Video: Boofing Ned’s Needle on Boulder Drop, Skykomish River
Before I write an enthralling post about what I learned from my accident on the Skykomish River yesterday, I wanted to give a heads-up about what appears to be a really cool organization, Peak 7 Adventures. It’s a non-profit ministry that teaches underprivileged and at-risk youths how to whitewater kayak, raft, climb and backpack, and they [...]
Yesterday Brett Barton, Rob McKibbin and I met up with Rick Paag and Chuck Kapise at Split Rock wave on the Skykomish River. Here’s the video of those guys surfing it at around 5200 cfs (Chuck’s not in this one but I have a bunch more to post later that he’s in.) The actual best [...]
Continue reading about Video: Surfing Split Rock Wave at 5200 cfs