Happy New Year!!

Well Happy New Year! Well we made it through another year and now you can start praying to the rain Gods for another good year of paddling. I forcast rain for the new year. Like snow days, work will be canceled. You'll be able to get in your boat from your doorsteps and ride the waves down the coulee's into the Oldman. Yup, flood conditions 3 out of 5 days a week. It'll flow from April to September, with a new surf wave forming along the Whoop-Up Bridge, when that concrete slab to the south of the bridge collapses into the river. Yes sir folks, another good year of paddling!
As well, I'm sure you all scored some wicked paddling booty this Christmas! A new boat, a sweet paddle, some wicked clothing or a pair of nose plugs?!?

Regardless, I'm sure you're all ready to try it out! Pool sessions for January will be from 8:30 - 9:30 on Thursday nights. Come all! Let's see your cool swag!

And for the paddlers that showed up last week, sorry that you got booted! I chatted with the lifeguards and they regret the mix up. Apparently they put the pool sessions in a different spot. New Year = New Problems. We cleared it up and they're gonna leave a note to hopefully clarify the problem.

See you in the pool!

Grayscale

Sean Allen and Spencer Cox's new video is coming out in a few weeks. The trailer has some goodies from South Drywood in it Many of the other shots are from Alberta/BC border runs, I think. The notch on the Elbow in flood is in the trailer somewhere as well.

I am not sure if footage from Boundary creek made it in.

Here is the trailer from kayakwest.com

http://www.kayakwest.com/frames/pages/grayscale.htm

You Tube Carnage

For those that haven't yet discovered the wonders of youtube.com

Flows are up!

Check out the flows. Many of them are up due to snow melt from our good friend the Chinook (thanks Chris for forwarding on the tip from Chuck in Pincher). We may be trying for a local run Thursday and then Castle on Saturday. Castle has peeked and is on it's way down, but we are hoping it will stay above 30 for the weekend. Make sure and comment if you are interested in going on one of these trips.

Open Pool

There will be open pool session again this year starting in October. Right now, it looks like for Oct, they will be from 9-10PM on Thursday nights. The times may change in later month's, but it depends on scheduling. You can get current pool schedules at

http://www.uleth.ca/sportrec/aquatics/schedules/schedule.htm

Check this regularly, for monthly updated pool times!

See you in the pool! Janson will be there on Oct. 5th!

Boat Prices

I've finally gotten the price list for the club boats. As is club policy now, we continually offer club boats for sale to club members, with the idea that an active paddling community has paddlers who own boats. The prices remain current until the executive change prices, which I expect may occur in the spring of 2007.

The boats can be found at

http://www.savefile.com/files/109799

They are saved in an excel spreadsheet with relevant stats. If any club member is interested in a boat, please contact myself, either through email or phone.

Thanks!

Please Take It!!

As we were doing inventory this weekend, we have decided to get rid of some stuff. It will end up in a dumpster if no one wants to claim it for themselves (current members only).

We have an old wood paddle (90 degree offset), a left-handed paddle (1 blade is damaged, tip is broken off), a right-handed paddle (1 blade is damaged, tip is broken off, but has been re-shaped)

As well, we have 3 old nylon skirts and 1 old neoprene skirt (C1 shape? For a smaller cockpit) that are up for grabs.

Please!! If you want any of these contact myself or Clay. If we get no responses in a week or so, then they never existed!

See you in the pool! (when we have times posted!)

Dragon Boating

The local dragon boating group is having an open paddle at henderson lake. Meet at the boat dock around 6pm this Tuesday or Thursday if your interested.

Boat Prices

Boat prices for club members will be posted shortly. This prices will be current for the rest of 2006. If a club member is interested, we should have them in the pool by Sept. 11th.

See you in the Pool!

New Club Purchases

The club used some of it's rental money from the summer to purchase a riot sniper, a riot turbo and 4 new paddles. This should complement our exisiting boats by adding both a larger and a smaller boat. As well we needed the new paddles.

We are also hoping to purchase a new canoe and some more PFD's for spring.

Finally, some maintenance work was done on the trailer. Some new paint and electrical work was done to keep it in a functional state.

See you on the River!

Kicking Horse River

Well Clay and I made it up to the Kicking Horse, as well as Chris and Nathan. Although I can't comment on how Chris and Nathan's run went, I can mention a few things about our trip.

WOW!! WHAT A RIVER!!(Find Clay and his boat in this picture!)

This river is really the perfect river. Hard, continuous, easy access, somewhat easy portaging with beer at the end. I can't wait to paddle it again.

We first ran Hunter Creek to Glenogle. At low flows, this was a technical run that was very interesting, but the easier section that we ran. Not that it was easy! I haven't been this freaked out since I found out my wife was pregnant! (kidding) The big rapids, Portage and Shotgun come up quick and they are still pretty big at low flows.

Next we ran Glenogle to Golden which was a more technical section. The rapids get harder and harder until you reach the bridge where they reach the pinnacle with a rather nasty rapid. As you can see from the pictures below, maybe a bit too technical under the bridge!

*As mentioned in the comments, this is a dangerous class 5 rapid with a high risk factor. If you miss the portage point, it becomes quite difficult to get off the river, as we found out. I decided to walk this rapid and spotted Clay from above the rapid with a throw bag. Although this provides added safety, it does not eliminate the risks. Paddle within your ability!

(good start)

(where did he go?)


(not good)

(still not good)

Well after watching a 47L kayak get sucked underwater after it begins to resurface and a bit of an epic we were back on the river. After the bridge it's a pretty action packed section with technical moves to position yourself with good lines. If you could sweat while kayaking, I was sweating. It then finishes with some nice calm water and tourists who love it when you do a roll.



All and all, it was a great river, but I'd hate to be on it and be over my head (there were a couple of minutes where I felt like I was) as it's not a great place for a swim. Well I hope you enjoyed my trip report and we'll see you in the pool this winter! I'll post pool times when I get them.

Trips August 15th to August 31st

Some possible trips North including Kicking Horse or South into Montana might be coming up... hoping for Kicking Horse this Saturday. It's consistant class III and IV, so a confident roll is prerequisite.

If anyone else doesn't mind others joing a trip with them, please leave a comment of your paddling plans for the next two weeks under this post.