Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2021 i Kayak Session Magazine

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” former US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously said. That includes kayaking grade V and magazine covers. So, where are they? The narrative that there are fewer women involved in the sport or that fewer women want to run hard or consequential whitewater than men has always existed. And while that might be true when it comes to the numbers, that perspective doesn’t do women— or whitewater— any favors. There have always been- at least a few- women shredding alongside the guys. Risa Shimoda, Nancy Wiley, Shannon Carroll, Buffy Bailey, Mariann Saether, Nikki Kelly, Tanya Faux, Deb Pinniger, Emily Jackson, Adriene Levknecht, Nouria Newman... There are too many to name them all. The current generation grew up with their…

PCRs, holiday permits, residency papers… traveling these days isn’t easy and takes twice as much energy. But it’s all worth it when you are floating down the beautiful waters of the southern rivers of Chile. An entire year of the pandemic had us dying to get out on a trip, and after a good season of spring kayaking in la Araucania, it was time to follow the water and head south. "Even in the middle of summer, you can see water flowing and falling from every hill. That is Patagonia's biggest gift. Clean and abundant water." We only had 10 days to travel around, and we wanted to make sure to get the most of every day, so we decided to start our trip on the mighty rio Futaleufu. The…

How did you find your way to whitewater? My dad used to be a raft guide on the New and Gauley rivers (West Virginia) for Class Six in his college days. He got connected with Class Six through my uncle, Tom Wagner. Tom taught my dad to kayak, and paddling has been a family hobby ever since. We have spent summers rafting and kayaking as a family since before I was born. My dad and brother taught me how to roll in the pool in my parent’s backyard, and I spent at least five years kayaking with just them. I would chase (flail behind) my brother through slalom gates, and he would take me to work with him as a “film runner” on the South Fork of the American. Once…

A PADDLING PARADISE The Columbia River Gorge (CRG), located in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, forms the natural boundary between Washington and Oregon. The region has grown into an outdoor recreation mecca, and, as a result, the towns of Hood River and White Salmon have a thriving and growing outdoor industry with outdoor recreation opportunities that attract visitors from around the globe. The Washington side of the CRG is home to many world-class stretches of whitewater, including Rock Creek, the Wind, Little White, and White Salmon drainages. The area's unique hydrology and climate provide long and predictable paddling seasons for the White Salmon and Little White Salmon, where flows are buffered by snowmelt and springs —meaning nearly year-round paddling opportunities. The quality of whitewater and the availability of…

Russell Davies vividly remembers running his first big waterfall, Lower Mesa Falls on the Henry's Fork, a tributary of the Snake River. It was an experience that changed his life forever. He ran the left side double drop and can still recall looking back at the falls and the overwhelming sensation of being present in that moment. He quickly set safety and turned to watch as his friend Davis Gove opted for the right line. For Russell, Davis is an instigator in his paddling evolution and the person who introduced him to running big waterfalls. "I watched Davis go over the lip, hit the reconnect, and then disappear in the turbulent water below," Russell said. He watched Davis's boat surface and realized he was no longer in his kayak. When…

PYRANHA | SCORCH The Scorch is the boundary-smashing culmination of decades of evolution, combining and refining features from industry-leading designs like the Burn (uncompromisingly sharp rails),9R (volume distribution and bow rocker), and Ripper (fast and nimble planing hull); the hybrid rocker profile adds to this with the progressive bow rocker being efficient on the move, planing over even the burliest of features, whilst the stern kick-rocker gets the back edge of the boat out of your way on the lip of drops and ensures you skip out over whatever lies in wait below. Medium and Large available now, Small and Scorch X coming soon! SIZE: M . L | LENGTH: 267 CM/8'10" . 276.8 CM/9'1" | WIDTH: 63 CM/25" . 65 CM/25.5" | VOLUME: 310 L/82 (US)G .…

Tom Dolle runs the first descent of Babory Falls in the Cantal district of central France. This area is renowned for its cheese making, but not so much for its rarely runnable rivers. When the occasion to go paddling here arises, some make sure not to miss it. With a total height of 18 meters and 15 meters of freefall, this falls is part of the “Jar-din de Saihlant." With a determined team and an abundance of rain, the stars aligned. The rock formations around the waterfall brought the kayakers all the way to Iceland for a day for a spectacular first descent.…

18-year-old Ava Christensen has paddled 200+ days for the past 3 years. From Charlotte, NC, and currently a senior at World Class Academy, Ava represents the next generation of river-runners subscribing to the mentality of simply wanting to run as many different river sections as possible while exploring the world around them. An old-soul, Ava impresses with her easygoing off-river attitude and her sharpened technical skills. I caught up with Ava while she was catching some California spring run-off. YOU ARE FROM THE SOUTHEAST USA, AN AREA RICH IN WHITEWATER HISTORY. IS THIS WHERE YOU FIRST LEARNED HOW TO KAYAK? I was first introduced to paddling in Charlotte, North Carolina, at the US National Whitewater Center. My family would always go rock climbing there, but I found out I was…

This is not what I had in mind when I dreamed of paddling the rio Apaporis. But here we are, held captive by a still armed faction of the FARC. We look each other in the eyes and wonder what comes next. But strangely, it’s a good feeling because I am actually seeing these four other people in my group for the first time. Jessie is becoming best friends with war-hardened, scar-faced soldiers. Jules is so interested in every aspect of their life spent entirely in the jungle, it seems he hasn’t noticed that we’ve been kidnapped. Chris is chilling and reading in his hammock like he’s on holiday. And Aniol, who did his best not to be on this mission, is speaking directly to the rebel commandant and has…

"YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SITTING AT A DESK TO GET CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME (CTS)– YOU CAN BE SITTING IN YOUR KAYAK INSTEAD – CTS IS THE MOST COMMON REPETITIVE USE INJURY DIAGNOSED EVERY YEAR!" If you think you think your neck, shoulders, and elbows are vulnerable to injury from paddling, don’t forget your wrists! Carpal tunnel syndrome is a classic overuse injury resulting from repetitive flexion and extension of your wrists. For most paddlers, this happens every time they feather their blade. WHAT IS CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME? Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a neurologic condition caused by compression of the median nerve as it runs through the carpal tunnel of the wrist. The carpal tunnel is a band of ligaments that cover and protect the nerves, blood vessels, and…

NEWS AND HAPPENINGS DURANCE FESTIVAL 2021 IS BACK! JULY 30TH - AUG 1ST This year, the 2021 edition of the Durance Festival Whitewater Sessions will take place July 30th-August 1st. Bigger and better than ever, this year the menu features the now-classic WRSI Guil Gorge Chrono Creek Race on the Chateau Queyras Gorge, heaps of clinics (Waterfall Freeride, River Sup, Girl Power, Safety, Open Canoe), an exhibitor's village with tons of gear to test, a Sup Race, an open-air cinema in the evening, and a giant stoke float on Sunday called La Grande Descente. Not to mention a second-hand market and an intermediate event, the Freefall Paddles Lower Guil Rally! There is something for everyone, so bring the friends, the family, and enjoy. For more info, visit durancefestival.com. LEVEL SIX…

"THE GREEN AND THE DAM HAVE CREATED A COMMUNITY HERE" I'm sitting above Gorilla, on Western North Carolina's Green River, and although I've run this rapid a few hundred times, my heart is racing at the prospect of peeling out. Both generators on the Lake Summit Dam are running full bore for what feels like the first time in ages, and it's 19" on the stick gauge, or a little more than double the normal flow. At 200%, Gorilla is known as the Silverback, and it's a beast. Instead of five distinct moves with eddies between them, it turns into a single, stacked sequence—a rushing highway of whitewater where every feature flows straight into the next and mistakes anywhere will cost you. I haven't run the Silverback in seven years,…

After you get comfortable with throwing ends and figure out your body position and balance while doing cartwheels, it is time to start looking for a bit more! A good next step is the splitwheel: By adding a rotation on the bow and joining it with a change of direction, you will be able to turn the boat while throwing ends. This is where rotations kick in and freestyle starts to be fun in a whole new dimension. According to the ICF definition, a splitwheel is two consecutive ends at a vertical angle of between 45° and 100° linked together by at least a 160° horizontal rotation near the vertical point of the first end on the long axis. Okay, so what does this mean? Where do you start? 1.…

My first memory of a whitewater park was watching the ’72 Olympics in Munich. I was eight years old, and I have two distinct memories. Watching Mark Spitz win seven gold medals and watching kayakers race slalom at Augsburg. It is only fitting that I am writing this article, 50 years later, in the parking lot of US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, at the Olympic Team Trials for this year’s Olympics. My daughter, Emily, write about Whitewater Parks. This article isn’t meant to be a history lesson; instead, it is more of a concept review and, perhaps, a look into the future. To this day, I will suggest that the best whitewater park ever built is still the 1972 course in Augsburg, Germany. My parameters for what makes a…

Looking over a section of wild river flowing an irreverent blue bound by a gloriously messy green-yellow mix of ferns and mosses, all under towering ancient trees, I squinted through waves of rain in near disbelief at its beauty. Later as I drove down the river, leaving Olympic National Park, the landscape abruptly changed from wild forest to clear cuts and tree farms. The extreme juxtaposition shocked me. Continuing down the valley, signs in neighboring communities read “Stop the Wild Olympics,” and I realized I had much to learn. What, I wondered, makes this peninsula, which author Tim McNulty describes as a veritable island of rivers, so special, and why would anyone want to “stop” it from being wild? I always try learning about the places I visit, though I…