Dan has seen the light

[Alex]

I don't have any footage, since I forgot my camera at home. But our very own Dan has seen the light of the whitewater. Got taught a few lessons as well. I will let him tell the story when he processes the footage.

The mighty Colorado proved to be very mighty last weekend

[Bo_Beck]

I don't have any footage, since I forgot my camera at home. But our very own Dan has seen the light of the whitewater. Got taught a few lessons as well. I will let him tell the story when he processes the footage.

The mighty Colorado proved to be very mighty last weekend

Eagerly awaiting!

[oldno7]

Geez, that's terrible------------------





I hope his cameras o.k.

[CarpeyBiggs]

damn you alex. now i'm obligated...

[CarpeyBiggs]

Dan has seen the light...

yes, i did see the light... it was a very bright light. the light one sees when one experiences pure primal fear...

The mighty Colorado proved to be very mighty last weekend

Indeed.

So here's the deal. Alex has been inviting me on these trips for something like 2 years. Our schedules have never synched up. Finally, last week, we made it happen. 4 day trip down Ruby/Horsethief and Westwater.

Short of the long, the trip was brilliant. Awesome people, and one helluva camping system. It probably doesn't fit my style very often, seeing as I'm a cheap-ass dirtbag, but these guys know how to roll in STYLE. Never eaten so good in my life, even at home. Might give the mapleton boys a run for the cooking money...

Back to the whitewater... When in alaska, I purchased an Alpacka Packraft. They are these ultralight portable rafts, about 4.5 pounds, used for getting into wilderness rivers for floating. They aren't exactly designed for big water. Nonetheless, I thought it'd be fun to give it a try on the more mellow sections of river.

First couple of days cruising by, just pleasant paddling. Day 4 starts out with some easy whitewater, so Alex convinces me I should give the rapids a shot. Turns out, the rapids are huge, but about as much fun as you can have with your pants on. That is, until, you get to big class 4 waves that have huge laterals that newbies don't have a clue how to handle, and the little 4.5 pound pooltoy gets flipped over, sending dan swimming down some nice boulder filled alleys of whitewater.

Alex swears I was only down for like 3-4 minutes. I don't know how long it was, but I got my ass handed to me either way. Finally, I swam to another boat and got hauled out, just in time for Skull Rapid. Another guy plucked the boat out of the river, but the paddle... Let's just say it served me well, and hope someone else will love it as I did...

Enough talk, here's some video. Pics to come soon...

[accadacca]

Cool video!

[Sombeech]

Nice vid. Alex disabled the block on YouTube for the whole school just so I could watch it.

That raft looks like a little dingy compared to those waves, looks like a lot of fun. Wish I could have made it.

[Alex]

Hey that was an accident!

[accadacca]

Hey that was an accident!

[CarpeyBiggs]

photos are here:

http://www.danransom.com/TripReports/?p=281