Barrier Dry Suit

Who doesn’t like a dry suit right, you can roll out of bed don whatever base layer set up you have going on, with woolly socks, slap on a pair of boardies and your good to go for the whole weekend.

I was pretty keen this year and tried to get out kayaking as early as I could, and even managed to persuade some locals to go paddling when there was still a foot of snow on the ground.

With the barrier you got a good thick material that can take hiking through the busy, pockets to store stuff and material socks that don’t freeze when your hiking in the snow!!!! It comes in a wide array of sizes so you can go Ottawa gangster sylez, or snug, running around the banks style.

I have been rocking a barrier for the last few years and have had no complaints, it's super dry, the colours are bright so your hand signals are easy to see, even in dark canyons and if someone does swim the bright colours show up pretty quick and despite what some people might say you can get in and out of this dry suit on your own, as long as you wax the back zip regularly.

Van Island

BC got absolutely rocked by rain storms in late June and early July this year which meant land slides, floods and too much water to safely kayak anywhere in BC, so we took off to Vancouver Island to check out the so called goods out there.

 

About 100kms and a ferry ride landed us in Comox and ready to go. Pavel Bendel brought us to one of the most beautiful camp spots I have ever been luck to experience, located on a natural jette leading to the centre of a local fishing hotspot. We set up camp here and blasted off as many rivers as we could.

Due to the small population and lack of kayakers in the area there is not too much beta on the area and we took our time to really enjoy every bit of water we could.

Van island seems to be an outdoor enthusiasts dream come true, surfing, climbing, hiking, kayaking,  riding and chilling all on one small little island. Oh and it runs pretty much all year. 

Elk River

Leap of faith is one of the nicest waterfalls Alberta has to offer and due to the awesome experience of working for the oilfield I managed to get screwed with levels or trip timing all season. Finally towards the end of the season Mikkel gave me a shout and we all headed south of Calgary and into the Crowsnest pass area to finally get a trip down to this awesome river. The Elk is situated in the bush with some of the most awe-inspiring scenery. Our campsite had us perched a top a 100+ ft cliff looking south over the southern landscape and down into the US.

Driving around this area really wakes you up to the effects of logging in the area. Although the industry boasts of reclamation and tree management, it still shocks you to see the vast areas that do get cleared in the name of logging. Although we caught the Elk incredibly low, we still ran laps on it for the weekend and got some cool shots. This area is beautiful, and a must to check out if your around the area.

Season Write Up

This year has possibly been one of the greatest years to date for myself. I moved to Canada four years ago with the dream of being able to kayak and snowboard for the rest of my life, a pretty unrealistic dream for most, but especially for an Irish man.  A recent you tube video has been showing up on my face book, recently, a recording of Alan Watts, a philosopher, and he talks of what you would like to do when you grow up. I hadn’t a clue. Most of us want to be happy and have a sweet job that lets us lead a sweet life which ultimately, is hard to achieve.

Rather than speculate as to some far fetched idea that I could become a self sustaining athlete or have a job that let me kayak or snowboard all year round I decided I would like to be in a job where I am happy or excited to got to work every day. In order to do this in a modern society a lot of us have to migrate towards the urban environment and work for some sort of industry, which is inevitably adding towards the destruction of the environment, which in turn leads to the ruin of our playground. It is a reality, a harsh but true one.

Two years ago I had to make a decision as to how I was to achieve my goal, immigration were on me to get a job that wasn’t season and so I chose fire fighting, which ultimately allows you to do what you love while fulfilling the modern need to earn in order to play. This year that dream came through and although it isn’t a playboy philanthropist bankroll that has resulted from this decision, it sure is a step in the right direction.

Where previously I have been fully immersed in the non urban constituency of kayakers and snowboard/ski enthusiasts I had to step away in order to get this new life rolling, as they say one must sometimes take a step backwards in order to move forward. This break from the bubble that is that transient, sport based lifestyle has opened my eyes to the level of commitment; the larger sports communities invest in making sure they live their life. They work to live, not live to work, although living for the weekend was something I once feared, these weekend warriors have truly shown me what it is to love your sport.

This season I have paddled with a large number of different kayakers, whether at competitions, amongst oversized groups racing down awesome class 4 or as part of the closely nit group of friends I have met here in Canada. Each and everyone of my newly met acquaintances have shown me what it is to WANT to kayak. Not that I didn’t want to kayak before. I just never saw the level of commitment these guys had to making it happen. It made working the jobs I had to, in order to achieve permanent residency, and ultimately my new life, bearable.

 We kayaked rivers in Alberta and BC, we camped in some of the most beautiful spots I have ever been, set foot on rocks only travelled across by a number of people before us. We lost a good friend, and made many new ones. Although I didn’t make it to the Grand Prix, or to surf bus eater for hours on end like seasons gone by, I attained a new level of ability and awareness both on the river and off. 

Alberta is not the oil refining, environment destroying land mass that I had been led to believe. It has given me the opportunity to paddle with so many people and see so many beautiful rivers and ultimately fulfil the goal of kayaking and snowboarding for the rest of my life. This season without a doubt has been my best, thank you to everyone that made it as good as it was, you know who you are and we will continue to paddle together for seasons upon seasons to come.

Cataract Creek - Alberta

Peter and Mikkel

As you drive West, and away from the Albertan flat lands and into the foothills, the world around you changes and you no longer feel like you are miles away from any potential kayaking. As we ventured on towards Cameron creek, the day got progressively later and with a little more encouragement we put on to Cataract creek. 

Dave Crerar - thanks Steve Arns

The beginning of the run is deceptively mellow, however this does not represent the character of what is to follow. The rapids, named after old greek characters gives you the sense that this run does provide a challenging quest through the East Kootney's.

Mikkel

Cataract creek boasts an awesome two tier drop with the top part being of class VI quality, thus forcing one and all to seal launch into the canyon and continue down the 25 footer.

You launch from the seal launch into pool/ flow above the drop

With the double drop behind us it was on down the river, the most notable other rapid was one of the last, leviathan, a rapid with a tricky entry followed by a shallow, sharp two tier slide. with the take out in sight it was time to think about camp fires, beers and catching up with friends.

Cameron Creek - Alberta

With poor weather on the horizon, we headed towards Waterton, a diamond in the rough in my opinion. Waterton has an old Swiss feel to it, the picturesque town is in the middle of a national park and so is kept pristine. As it was May long weekend the town was busy, but we turned north just before the chaos and headed up the steep road to our put in. This river is famed amongst Albertan paddlers and gives those that are washed out of their local rivers due to snow melt a chance to paddle quality class V.

Right from the get go, this river offers up some quality creek boating. Most lines involve a number of moves and are a mix of drops and slides. The first section only takes about 45 minutes but it has your stomach in knots and your brain fired up with excitement.

Once past the first section, the river becomes a little more committing and you are faced with steep scree banks on river left, and dauntingly high canyon walls to the right, which only heightens your sense as you plough on through this gem.

There are a multitude of note worthy drops throughout this run, with a must-make boof into a cave and a aptly named Razor Remone to finish off the day.

Cameron Creek is without a doubt one of the best runs in Alberta. A most for any experienced boater!

 

Alberta Freestyle

This is the Brierley's wave in Rocky Mountain House Alberta, its a dam controlled feature and, according to local knowledge it runs from snow melt until early September. They are holding their home town throw down here on July 13th - 15th.


Alberta Freestyle from Dave Crerar on Vimeo.


Alberta has also just started up a freestyle specific organisation, and they have started running courses, this area is one to watch for the future....

Sheep River - Alberta

 Dave Crerar

Pavel Bendl

As the pincher creek festival got up and running our group was steadily increasing in size, as is the norm at kayaking festivals. I was definitely a little keen this weekend and suggested  hitting up two different runs on the way down to the festival camp grounds.

 Dave Crerar

 Even though it may have been with a few grumpy Canadians in tow, we left Calgary bright and early on Saturday morning and headed to sheep creek. 

Mikkel St Jean Duncan

 Dave Crerar

This is a nice early season warm up, with some class III and IV thrown into the mix. This was a perfect river to get rid of any remaining cobwebs, with some slides, drops and some standard ninja boating.  

 Dave Crerar

With some experience, this run does not take too long and we were up and on the road again by 1pm to meet up with a few more buddies and continue kayaking our way to Pincher Creek festival grounds. 

Photos: Dave Crerar and Leane Germaine

Sheep take out

Elbow River - Alberta

Mikkel St Jean Duncan

Over the pincher creek festival weekend I managed to tick off a number of runs. One being the Elbow falls section of the Elbow river, which is conveniently just 45 minutes outside Calgary. So after finishing up work and rallying down to meet the crew we managed to make the most of a beautiful spring evening here in Alberta Canada. 

Dave Crerar

Mikkel St Jean Duncan & Dave Crerar

Mikkel St Jean Duncan

The Elbow river can be run at a multitude of levels, but at the moment is is rocking a cool medium to low, but it makes for a lot of fun either way. We managed to catch the sun just at the right time so it stayed warm the whole way down, and even allowed enough light to rally the final slide boater-cross style a few times.

Dave Crerar

Mikkel St Jean Duncan & Dave Crerar

The elbow is definitely one to check out and is just another example of what Alberta offers the paddling world.... click here for more pics.... 

Photos by Dave Crerar and Leane Germaine

Pincher Creek Festival

Pincher Creek This past May long weekend saw the first of Western Canada’s whitewater festivals. Pincher creek is an area in the southern part of Alberta, located in the South-East and boasts some incredible views and some incredible white water.

This area provides an almost erie contrast in land formation. Looking East you can see Alberta famed expanse of flat or rich land, and to the West the Rockies soar straight up out of the flat lands providing a wall of sorts that separates Alberta and British Columbia. For those of you that are regular Gauley Festival attendees, Pincher Creek festival provides a similar sort of atmosphere.

The ambiguity of the event provides an amazing sense of community and really shows the strong presence kayaking has in Alberta. Although there are not as many vendors at this event, a number of stores provided demo’s and Aquabatics provided guided trips and clinics for those interested over the weekend. For those looking to push their limits there was a great selection of rivers all within a two hour drive from the festival camp grounds.

Being new to Alberta these events provide a great way to meet new people and get a grip of what this area has to offer. With the helo of a few knowledgeable locals we managed to tick off four runs over the weekend, some with as many as eighteen people on the water at one time. Although a logistic task of sorts, it was great to see so many people out pushing their limits and regardless of level everyone seemed to rendezvous back at the camp group for home made dinners,camp fires and tales from the days boating.

 A big thank you to all the organizers, Aquabatics, Endless Adventure, Undercurrents, and Just Liquid for sponsoring the event, and putting on such a great show...