TBT Jordan River

Slave River

The slave river has been in the back of my mind since I started kayaking. The article with Steve Fisher crushing big lines and surfing these huge waves was just awe inspiring. Until last season I really thought the Slave river was out of reach to me. It lies in such a remote part of Canada that one would need to work in a northern diamond mine, work as a river guide or just not work at all to make the time to get up to this infamous playground. I fall into the latter at the best of times so it was about time that I attempted to make the journey up into Northern Canada/s North West territories.

It was not with "into the wild" style tactics that I took on the little mission. I had a lot of help from Aquabatics, a store down in Calgary and from a local by the name of John Blyth, who runs the slave paddle fest each year. (you can click on all those links and they'll open in the background). Without the hospitality and generous beta from these guys it would have been a tough go.

It has to be said this place is not close to anything by any means. Bring your food with you, bring bug repellant and if you drive a diesel car bring a funnel as they only have industrial diesel pump. Its a solid 18 hour drive from Edmonton and thats on a good day with no serious Bison interference

Once you arrive in Fort Smith there are a few choices for sleeping, there are a few motels and an abundance of crown land on which you can pitch a tent. I am not sure what the camping rules are there so don't quote me check out the town website.

Unlike most rivers we are used to the Slaves rapids do not total a lot of length making access to the various ledges, of which there are 3, relatively easy. It is the shear width and copious array of channels that make this river so breath taking. The force in some of these rapids really makes you feel  how fragile you are. Some of these rapids take up to twenty minutes to cross.

Despite its volume this river offers something for intermediate paddlers all the way to the pro's. The waves here are spectacular, fast and powerful. Airtime is plentiful and so is sunlight so your days can be as long as you want them to be. there were waves as big as bus-eater on the Ottawa River and some small enough to learn how to spin or cart wheel.

If the drive is daunting there is always flight options in and out of Fort Smith from a number of southern airfields, although I can not see these prices being competitive. This was my first time up here and it is the closes thing we have to the Zambezi river in Canada. I can safely say that this will become and annual pilgrimage for me. 

Leave any questions in the comments

Photo credits: Leif and Natalie Anderson, John Blyth and Rob Murphy

South Ram

After moving to Alberta, and presuming that there was no paddling to be had I was plesently supprised to get an invitation from Mikkel St. Jean Duncan to run the South Ram on Canada Day Weekend here in Canada. This two day expedition was a much needed change from driving 10,000 km's over and back to from the Ottawa and studying away here in Vermillion Fire Fighting school.

Ledge drops

The South Ram is an awesome 2-4+ 2 day section of river, 50-60KM's in length located just outside Rocky Mountain House on Hwy 752. An unlikely spot for such a gem considering you can see for miles in every direction on the drive up. Friday night started with meeting the group, Mikkel being the only one I had paddled with before.

Setting up rappel day 1

Unfortunately the logging road that allows for a simple take out only metres form the river bank was locked with the most heavy set logging road gate I have ever seen in Canada. No bribing the locals with a few beers to get into this one. So we continued another 7KM down stream and parked a couple of cars there.

Dave Crerar ledge drops credit: Jeff Germaine

Mikkel St Jean Duncan peering over the 80 footer

Having run shuttle that night we were ready to go early the next morning and set on our way for what was my first time down the Ram or any river in Alberta for that matter. This river produces some nice challenging grade four rapids in between truely beautiful canyons and mamonth cliff walls. In the weeks previous to out decent the river had flash flood from 40cms up to 700.

Dave Crerar Table Top Falls credit: Mikkel St Jean Duncan

This meant that the erosion was clearly visable and the drift wood was left stranded 30-40 feet above the water level at some points. the first day had most of the challenging white water, with a nice 3 ledge section followed by an 80 footer that we rapelled around, which was then followed by table rock falls, a 40 foot water fall with an interesting lead in. Our final rapid of the first day was a small 50ft slide which took us to our campsite.

Group on slide end of day 1

2 successful runs

Camp site day 1

The second day started with a beautiful sunrise meaning all our new Level Six Dry Gear was warmed up and ready to go for our second day, not being the most experienced over night kayaker warm clothes were definitely a plus considering I tried to survive on Mr. Noodles and Chunky soup.. Lesson learned. The second day brought with it one of the more challenging portages I have ever experienced, along a trail a mountain goat would be happy to survive. This left us with a 2 hour paddle out and a truely epic finish walk out to the cars.

Morning of Day 2

Table top Falls from below credit: Lianne Germaine

Some eager locals took quading to a whole new level

All in all this was an amazing introduction to Albertan paddling and what this foreseeable future has in store for me. Thanks again to Mikkel and his possy, and the eye opening experience they brought me along for.

Pretty satisfied, Dave Crerar and Mikkel St. Jean Duncan after a 80ft. rappel

Ottawa 2011

So it has been 5 awesome years working for Wilderness Tours and Ottawa Kayak School here on the Ottawa river. The Ottawa was my first stop when I first got to Canada and it has been my home away from home over the last few years I have been here in Canada. I can not stress enough the versatility, homeliness and the unique culture surrounding this river. Weather just heading to the Ottawa to paddle for a brief time or to start a career in the outdoor industry you would be hard pressed not to notice to close knit nature of the Ottawa Valley.

Unfortunately it is time to move on, onwards to ALberta to sample what the rest of this amazing country has to offer. Already within a week and thanks to Mikkel St Jean Duncan I have been shown around some of Alberta's classics and have really managed to test out Level 6's new Reign Top on the Ram River and expect to test it out a whole bunch more. Check in again soon for the video....

Dave Crerar 2010 creeking

This is some footage from my 2010 creeking trips...

Untitled from Dave Crerar on Vimeo.

BTYI premiere and new trailer

Saturday 13th of November, Waterford, 9pm be there.

BottomsUpKayaking - Better Than You Imagined - Trailer 4 from Five 2 Nine Productions on Vimeo.

Winter Write up

The end to one of the hardest years of my life has finally come. I have done my final exams and have started putting the finishing touches on what seemed like a never ending thesis. Although college has demanded almost 60 hours a week, yeah more than a full-time real job, I have still done more paddling this season that I have before. With college coming first partying was put on the back burner and kayaking took on the role of making sure I didn’t lose my mind. This did mean that I got some really cool paddling sessions this season.

 

Matt from Wales

Ireland is not typically your go to destination for kayaking, we have all of Europe to our right and Africa a short cheap hop from most international hubs in order to keep us occupied. But as I couldn’t get the time to travel this year I made the best of what our little island has to offer, and depending on rain it can surprise you.

Adrian Shanahan

Dave Crerar

Freestyle was a number one priority this season and I spent a lot of time dialling in cleans at my local spot, which is a particularly weird feature. This meant putting on the Level 6 mitts and firing it up in the coldest temperatures I have ever experienced on the water. But its worth it when your training pays off and you get the pat on the back from friends or you see your new training rides coming together in competition.

Dave Crerar

Paddy Mc Govern

There is a lot of scrapey creeking to be done here at home, you gotta make the most of the rivers, really get your skills up, if you don’t use the river you can get bored easily. But just as we have to motivate ourselves to keep training on our small play features you can get some days when it all pays off. The last of this seasons rain fell last week and we got a  few runs done before it all drained away for the summer.

Nick Doran

Dave Crerar

It’s now time to get back on the road and kayak harder rivers and bigger waves. First stop is Ottawa to work for Wilderness tours in order to earn some cash, then BC and up to the hills for some snow. It’s always a very busy time when you are leaving home. Flights to be booked, visas to be sorted and gear to be ordered. It’s great having the help of such generous companies like Level 6, Squarerock/ Jackson, Werner, Predator and Teva who not only keep us looking good but also allow us to travel light.

 Ross Redmond

Dave Crerar

So only six more weeks getting the last words of my thesis written and earning some more euros before I start out on my biggest journey yet. Ill check back in soon. DC

Dave Crerar

Dave Crerar

Old Man River

Photo Cedits:

Nick Doran

Moe Kelleher

Dave Cerar

Ross Redmond

Sinead O'Donnel 

Francis O'Donel