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| Messages 1 - 38 of total 38 in this topic |
Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 23, 2010 - 07:46pm PT
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The Payette, especially the North Fork, runs hard & fast, even on a normal year.
It's kind of a record season(late weather) this year.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
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Jun 23, 2010 - 07:48pm PT
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what the devil is that jutting water at 20 seconds in?
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 23, 2010 - 07:48pm PT
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Film makers' ploy. or he crashed his Bronco. again.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Jun 23, 2010 - 08:32pm PT
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The Smith's Ferry to Banks stretch of North Fork Payette is 15 miles of almost constant Class V water. It is a test piece that you don't want to swim in.
A highway goes up one side of the river and an old railroad up the other. There is pretty much nothing but jagged rocks along both sides.
As Skully mentioned: the video is taken during very high water. Amazing how quickly those boats are moving.
A kayaker friend of mine named Rolf took a swim in that stretch at, a lower water level, a few years back. He had been down the river a few times, but was out of practice. After losing his kayak and swimming a while, he finally caught an eddy and pulled his battered and weary self out of the river.
As Rolf crawled up to the highway, Idaho kayaking legend Rob Lesser drove up and stopped.
Rob got out and walked up to Rolf and said: “what the hell happened to you?”
Rolf replied: “Lost my boat and took a big swim.”
Rob retorted, “no you didn’t. If you took a swim in this stretch of the Payette, you’d be dead.”
Rolf replied: “Fine! I’m dead! Can you help me find my boat?”
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 23, 2010 - 08:37pm PT
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Was it Lesser and Wasson that first ran that stretch, way back in the steam age?
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 23, 2010 - 09:01pm PT
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Good story, Fritz! Some guys get ALL the best lines, eh?
Yeah, the North Fork is HIGH, man. The Melt is On, bigtime.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Jun 23, 2010 - 09:40pm PT
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Guido: From "Idaho Whitewater"---it was Banducci, Wasson, & Rick Frenald that "did the deed" in 1979. The first continuous descent of all 15 (Banducci writes 17) miles. Rob Lesser was the local boy who showed them many of the secrets of the river and had all the scary war stories. He passed on boating that day to take photos for Outside & Canoe mags.
I've known Rob Lesser a long time. He is still kayaking in his mid-60's.
Nice guy. When you talk with him: it doesn't seem to matter that he's boated the jaws of hell many times.
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nature
climber
Tucson, AZ
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Jun 23, 2010 - 11:38pm PT
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Oh
my
f*#king
god!
wow!
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Jun 23, 2010 - 11:48pm PT
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wuzzy...do you ever work? RJ
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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Jun 24, 2010 - 12:11am PT
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ok.. one question....
How did they get that shot?
Guy riding the river.....
camera traveling along side.....
is there a road right off the river? (doubt it)
That was cool...
Thanks for the post...
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 24, 2010 - 12:14am PT
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There IS a road along that section of river.
ID 55.
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Delhi Dog
Trad climber
Good Question...
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Jun 24, 2010 - 12:20am PT
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"How did they get that shot?"
My guess is they had a cable suspended and the camera rode along that.
Quite impressive...
the camera work is stellar, I checked out those other 'teasers' and they're all a trip.
...that is some big water with some wild standing waves...
Thanks for the share, hope I can see the movie when it comes out...
Cheers,
DD
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2010 - 01:02am PT
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A friend of mine Fred Coriell is one of the boaters. One summer he ran the North
fork 10 x in a row - in one day!! Hardcore. Of course not at those levels shown in the clips.
There was a big rainstorm 4+ inches, much fell on snow and voila!
JR - work is not what its cracked up to be. But yes I do.
Hope you are doing well!!!
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Cpt0bvi0u5
Trad climber
Merced CA
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Jun 24, 2010 - 04:39am PT
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Wow thats gnarly as hell! Looks like a great time!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jun 24, 2010 - 04:56am PT
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Big, but it seems to me I've seen steep stretches of the Fraser River in BC run bigger to the point where I remember thinking it couldn't be run at all - probably someone has though.
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Flanders!
Trad climber
June Lake, CA
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Jun 24, 2010 - 09:46am PT
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nice one Tom, scary X 10 !
Doug
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 24, 2010 - 11:03am PT
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Doug, glad there is no slippery "log crossing" eh?
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jun 24, 2010 - 11:22am PT
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Yeah it's scary for sure but it is also incredibly beautiful! Thanks for putting this up TFC.
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Mark Hudon
Trad climber
Hood River, OR
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Jun 24, 2010 - 11:47am PT
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Tell ya what, I'd rather solo El Cap with a 7 mil than do that!
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Delhi Dog
Trad climber
Good Question...
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Jun 24, 2010 - 12:39pm PT
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^^
Gravity is an interesting thing to play with isn't it...?
Mark works against it, and the boys in the clip work with it.
But a 7 mil...think I'd go with the flow...
DD
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 24, 2010 - 12:53pm PT
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Fritz
I remember an adventure when Lesser, Wasson and Jocelyn Slack, (wife de Wasson), were on a delivery from San Diego to the Sea of Cortez with Jeff Foott on his 34 ft powerboat.
The boat, "Rose Bud" was a clone of a Grand Banks and well set up for coastal waters but a wee bit of a chore offshore in bad weather and big seas. I recollect Jeff relating some rather "interesting" rides running down some nasty swells. Appears, there was often too little hesitation in leaving a secure anchorage to continue the passage south.
Not that many places to get out of bad weather and once you commit you are in it for the ride no matter what. Only one way to go and that is south. Yee doggie hang on here comes another one.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Jun 24, 2010 - 04:15pm PT
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I recollect Jeff relating some rather "interesting" rides running down some nasty swells.
I've been on a 600', 10k ton cruiser in 80'+ seas driving down long ramps and stuffing into the next wave over and over for half a day. Pretty much put me off blue water sailing. 'The Chief' here had it easy on subs.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 24, 2010 - 06:25pm PT
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There ARE nice DRY rocks nearby.
Quite a few are choss, but there's the odd jewel, here & there.
Did I mention they were dry? Rage on, floaters.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jun 24, 2010 - 08:17pm PT
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Awesome stuff
Nearly makes me seasick to watch.....and I don't get seasick!
Puts the little class 3 Kennebec stuff to shame.
Not to draw a comparison but the Middle Fork Kings was way high and fast on Memorial Day. Looked un-doable to me. Probably just a warmup for these guys.
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Gunkie
Trad climber
East Coast US
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Jun 24, 2010 - 08:57pm PT
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At least it doesn't look like too many strainers. Strainers scare the sh#t out of me. All these east coast creeks are festooned with strainers as soon as the water gets a little high.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jun 24, 2010 - 09:03pm PT
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uhhhhh
what's a strainer?
or do I have to guess?
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Jingy
Social climber
Nowhere
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Jun 24, 2010 - 09:17pm PT
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Thanks for the info...
I just watched this again...
At times, when the shot is from far away.. it almost looks like the riders are computer generated.. but... I know that the dementions of the river, waves and rock are all huge...
Looks like fun...
oh, and great story about Rolf... "... if you did that... here.... you'd be dead....!!!"
"Ok.. then I'm dead... can you help me find me boat?"
classic
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Jun 24, 2010 - 09:24pm PT
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My apologies.
I made some date and name errors yesterday when I was talking about the first continuous descent of the Smiths Ferry to Banks stretch of the North Fork Payette.
I have corrected my post, but let me add-----some more trivia.
When Rob Lesser decided to photograph rather than kayak the first continuous descent in 1979, he drove down the river and stopped to take photos at what he knew were critical spots.
At the long crux drop named “Jacobs Ladder,” Wasson lost his boat and took a survival swim to shore. At nearly the same spot: Rick Fernald “pinned” the front of his kayak under a rock on the highway side of the river. Lesser was able to wade out and wrestle the boat free.
After Jacobs Ladder: the party had no more major problems.
The first continuous raft descent of the stretch was in 1987 by people who would latter start Aire Inflatables. Their early catarafts had the ability to “punch through” the holes, and maneuver around the rocks.
The video taken of the descent is pretty amazing. I doubt if it is still on the market though.
A continuing problem on the Class V section of the North Fork Payette, is that directly above and below it are Class III "tourist floats." Common sense keeps most unprepared boaters off the Class V, but of course not everyone has common sense. A drowning occured last summer when a load of recreational rafters (ship of fools) ignored advice from concerned onlookers, and came to grief in the last section of the Smiths Ferry to Banks run.
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Double D
climber
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Jun 24, 2010 - 10:55pm PT
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Ho man, that's just wrong. Thanks for sharing Tom.
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nature
climber
Tucson, AZ
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Jun 24, 2010 - 11:01pm PT
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High Traverse - imagine if you will.... you (the boater) are a spaghetti noodle and you're now soft and got poured into a strainer. You're stuck in the strainer/rocks/trees while water pours over you. With a little luck you are upright. But considering if you don't get help and you'll be dead soon you might just prefer to be upside down to get it over with quicker.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Jun 24, 2010 - 11:11pm PT
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Yeah
I was afraid that was what was meant!
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 25, 2010 - 12:11am PT
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As long as they don't blow up the Salmon again, I'm cool with the floaters.
Fricken folks never heard of a portage? Boat people have been doin' them for Thousands of years.
Like I said(typed), rage on, you crazy bastards.
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Fritz
Trad climber
Hagerman, ID
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Jun 25, 2010 - 12:42am PT
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Skully: We portaged the 2006 thunderstorm-induced log-jam that blocked the heavy tourist traffic on the Middle Fork Salmon.
Of course, I wrote a story about it. Yeah I'll post it one of these days.
Outside and Mountain Gazette rejected it.
We moved 3 rafts and one kayak, and all the crap that rafters take on a 7 night/eight day trip, about 1.5 miles down a trail. It was 8 round trips for the best of us. We talked a horse-packer into doing our final load of a "self-bailer" raft and our beer-filled coolers.
Unfortunately, the day we did the "portage from hell:" the Forest Service blew up the log jam.
We still felt better about ourselves, that we had: "self-rescued."
We also had a head-start on the hundreds of stranded boaters that started the day after the explosion.
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Captain...or Skully
Big Wall climber
Transporter Room 2
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Jun 25, 2010 - 12:56am PT
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HoMan! I'd have sued 'em for creating a "Hazardous Situation".....after all, You were Downstream.........Hey, you're Citizens, too, right?
Wilderness is too precious to blow up.
Cheers to you guys. Self reliance in Wilderness, or Death.
Otherwise, It's just Disney all over again. Yeesh.
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Fuzzywuzzy
climber
suspendedhappynation
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 28, 2010 - 11:03am PT
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Fritz -
Great shots!
Thanks!
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Phil_B
Social climber
Hercules, CA
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Jun 28, 2010 - 12:48pm PT
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That's some BIG ass water. I just got back from a week on the Lochsa in Idaho and we scouted some of those rapids on our drive up. I guess the only good thing about those flows is that the shallow rocks are not an issue.
Guess I know what I'll be buying myself for a birthday present when that movie comes out.
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