Olympic Trials

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 11:22:26 -0400

Flew from Hood River, Oregon where it was cold and wet creeking weather, straight to Charlotte, North Carolina where it is hot and sticky. Got quite sunburnt on my fair skin.

Sarah Boudens was awesome and brought my boat and gear south so I could get in a good practice week before the Olympic Trials. It felt great to be back in my sexy sleek slalom boat, cruising down the Charlotte Whitewater Centre.

There were many good reasons to be here, supporting my good friend Ashley Nee towards her Olympic goal, seeing my parents, and getting back into the race groove for the 2012 Extreme Race Season.

The Charlotte Centre is very different from where I have been paddling all winter. Here you never have to leave your kayak as a moving ramp brings you in your boat back to the top of the course. Since it is an artificially made course the water is exceptionally swirly and unpredictable, but very safe. What makes this such a great destination is that there is whitewater for all skill levels. The top pool divides into two separate channels: the Wilderness Class 2-3 Channel, and the Competition Channel Class 3-4.

In addition to paddling, the centre has incredible Mountain Biking trails, Zip Lining, Rock Climbing and a delicious Riverside Cafe.

The weekend of racing was the Olympic Selection for the Canadians as well as the US. We had only qualified one Olympic Berth in the Men’s K1, where as the US had a spot in each category: K1 Men, K1 Women, C1 Men, and C2 Men.
Our Canadian Selection was held over the first two days of racing, where by the 4th and final run the K1 Men were all in the running- whoever one the last race was taking the Olympic Spot. Michael Tayler, my ORR club mate and past training partner came out in the lead!! At only 20 years old he beat out David Ford 5 time Olympian, claiming the only Canadian spot at the Olympics for Whitewater Slalom!!!!

Michael Tayler screaming to the finish line. My mom was right in the middle of the action, watch her footage of MT HERE.

The rest of the Canadian National Team was also decided, everyone racing very well to qualify their spot for this summer’s World Cups.

The US Team Selection still had one more day of racing, and it was getting very exciting as well. Ashlee Nee had missed a gate on run #4 (adding 50 seconds to her time) and need to lay it down on the following runs. She did it, winning both races on Saturday and qualifying the top spot!

I had a great 3 days of racing, only getting better and better each day! I was feeling a lot more at home in my slalom boat after the week of training and excited to see how I would do. I knew that I didn’t have the training to sprint the entire run and still be in control enough to master all the gates. My plan was to cruise at a good pace and steeze all the moves direct. It finally all came together on the last day coming 2nd on the final run!!

Now I am home in Ottawa for a month. Training and working, so I can head back out west for the spring’s Extreme Races :).

Stephen Forster Stout Tour

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 16:23:11 -0500

Stephen was the happiest and most inspirational person I have ever met. His ridiculous smile was contagious. I miss him so much.
Last year Kyle Hull and Stephen came out to the Pacific NorthWest for 10 days of kayaking. The one day that Kyle had time to call me was in a hotel in Hood River, half way through the trip. They needed a place to dry all of their thermals and wet socks. Maybe a shower too.
During this trip they routed off an incredible selection of waterfalls and rivers: Metlako Falls 85ft (Stephen lapped this 6X in one day), Sahalie Falls 80ft, Koosah Falls 85ft, Bridal Veil Falls 70ft + 30ft, Little White Salmon River, Celestial Falls 50ft!! More vertical feet than an average week of boating...

This year Kyle and I, with a bunch of our best friends all came out to the Pacific North West to paddle in memory of Lil Steve. We rented a house in Hood River, Oregon for the months of February and March, and we have been kayaking everyday. We haven’t completed anywhere near the drops that Stephen and Kyle did last year, but we are pushing ourselves and having a great time.

Check out some photos of this beautiful place and a video from our first couple weeks here!

Kyle Hull, Devyn Scott and I have been working together on all of our edits. We shoot with a Canon 7D, 60D and T2i, and a GoPro Hero. We edit using Final Cut Pro, and Twixtor. I am in the sexy Pink kayak, I call the ‘Pink Slipper’.

Here is a collection of the photos I have shot here in the Gorge.

Wahclella Falls, Eric Boomer has the only Descent of this at a higher flow. You must rope in to run it.

Xavier off of Metlako Falls on Eagle Creek.

Martin twisting off of Metlako Falls on Eagle Creek.

Ryan Bailey, Celestial Falls on the White River

Todd Wells, Kyle Hull, Erik Johnson and Griff cutting a tree out of the lead in of Outlet Falls on the Klickitat River.

Outlet Falls on the Klickitat River.

Check out more videos and photos at www.airbornathletics.com

Smith River. Kyle's Backyard

Thu, 9 Feb 2012 00:12:44 -0500

After Christmas I headed back out west to meet up with Kyle at his house in Northern California. We spent 2 weeks kayaking his local runs, and getting ourselves sorted before heading north. Kyle lives 20ft from the Smith River, and his house is the take out for two of the best Gorge runs around. Here is a GoPro HD Edit of me cruising down the Middle Fork Gorge.

Now we are in Hood River, Oregon, where we have rented a house for two months for the Fired Up For Forster Huck Fest. We have been here for 4 days, and I have already bumped up my highest waterfall with Celestial Falls, paddled the Wind River, and hiked Kyle’s boat up Eagle Creek to watch him huck Punchbowl and Metlako Falls (95ft).

What will Day 5 be like...

Keep checking for more updates!

Also check out this Lower New River edit!

www.airbornathletics.com

Grand Canyon 2011

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:24:28 -0500

As the end of 2011 rolled around I was extremely lucky to be invited on a winter Grand Canyon Trip. On November 27th myself and 15 other individuals put on the water at Lees Ferry with 22 days worth food and supplies, 5 rafts, 10 kayaks, a lot of camera gear, and a great excitement for what was to come.

The crew was a wide variety of kayakers and raft guides as well as some with no whitewater experience. Although most of us were strangers we all were friends and worked well together by the end of the trip. We had a constant flow of 20,000 cfs the entire trip, which gave us beautiful big waves and huge boils to play around in. Lava and Hermit were the biggest and hardest rapids to safely cruise our rafts loaded with all of our gear down. And in Lava we had a massive flip, as one of the guides underestimated the amount of water pushing right over the massive ledge hole. We have great footage of the raft being completely submerged by the hole and power flipping as it popped up. Luckily everything was perfectly tied in and nothing was lost, only one oar was broken!

Because we had gone with an outfitter to pack all of our food, we had plenty of leftovers and delicious desserts- no one was ever hungry. Hiking up the side creeks of the Canyon were definitely my highlights. The weather was perfect, sunny and mild temperature so we could run the hikes and not over heat. Deer Creek, Havasu Creek, Silver Grato, and the Elves Chasm were my favourite hikes. Beautiful rimmed out views and cooling off in the creeks pools and waterfalls.

TIPS:
-Bring Rubber Boots
-Bring a She Wee (peeing standing up out of your drysuit is revelation)
-Pack extra luxury’s, you have the room! (Pillow, Mittens, lots of Socks, Candy, Drinks)
-Extra Batteries!
-You cannot pack enough moisturizer and chap stick (dryest hands ever)
-Use the Paco pads as Yoga matts
-Bring extra Hot chocolate mix
-Diva Cup!
-Do the Silver Grato and Elves Chasm Hike
-Sleep under the stars, not on the boats though (freezing)
-Pocket Hand Sani for the Groover
-Paddle a long sexy boat for the big waves
-Spend the cruisy flats on the raft
-Hike every day
-Bring musical instruments to the Upper Blacktail Camp Cave
-Write a story in the Little Colorado River and Deer Creek AMO Can’s
-Skinny Dip at least twice

We have stellar footage of all the big rapids and captured great time lapses of the Canyon, which we are compiling into a video edit and will be releasing at the end of March 2012. Check out www.AirbornAthletics.com for the entire Grand Canyon photo Album.

Skookumchuck 2011

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:10:45 -0500

Team Airborn -Devyn Scott, Keegan Grady, Kyle Hull and I drove accross the country from Ottawa just in time to catch the high Skook Tides. Here is a short film from our 4 days at the Tidal Wave near Egmont BC.
Enjoy!