Papstapalooza 08!

What a great awesome weekend! Bryan, Graeme and I went out to Papstapalooza this weekend. The weather was supposed to be marginal but it turned out great! The river was at about 2500cfs. Big and powerful. There were three events. Two boatercrosses. One starting below Misicot Falls and one above. I entered the below with four other guys. Yeah I know I have said no more boatercrosses for me but you know how that goes. Keep in mind this was my first time ever running this river. I had my plan...go right at Chicken Ender and all would be well. Starting off in the squirrely water below Misicot I think everyone of us flipped in the same spot. I tried a roll and didn't make it. I reset and hit it. Took a few strokes and flipped again. Rolled and check my location...I was way left of Chicken Ender. My thought at the time was "I am sooo screwed" I paddled hard to the right to catch the line thru First Sister and caught the green just to the right of the pour over above First Sister but not right enough. The green I caught fed me kiddiewhampus right into the center of First Sister and trashed me. Even tucked I whacked the back of my helmet and pulled. Tom was the only one out of the five of us to finish the race. The Advanced went much better with an incredible miss on Misicot. If you enlarge the photos you'll see the man, I think his name is Bruce, who went into river right of the line. He fought it out and finished the race. Plenty of flips but no swims in the Advanced. Craig Esposito winning! The night time events were great! The two bands rocked and the swag given out was great! Awesome people and a great time. Be sure to check Bryan's Blog and the Team Papst site for more photos. BTW Jim...I would have loved to have taken you up on the offer to paddle the river before we drove home and even though you said wake me up early at 7 I didn't have the heart to. Let me know if you guys are headed up there again! Team Papst did a great job organising this. During the events team members were helping new paddlers with impromtu skill sessions and the safety was top notch! All that and they can really grill a Johnsonville! Thanks Team Papst for an AWESOME weekend!

The inflatable race...rules were ..1...it can not be a "boat". 2...all team members must be with the inflatable at the finish. This has never been attempted before at Piers Gorge and expectations were high. Before the race all throw bags that were available were collected and distributed to the shore support...carnage was expected. The first swimmer was ejected at Chicken Ender. From then on it just got more interesting. The highlight for sure was Terminal Surfer. Team Papst on a twin size air mattress was headed right towards the hole...Jim looked at his team mates and said in a calm, steady voice. "Hey guys...we are soooo screwed!" Watching from behind it looked awesome! Rich was reported to have done a somersault over Jim when they hit the hole. All three washed out and were OK! The next into the hole was Tom and Paul in a tandem..kind of tied together double with an inflatable "girlfriend". Tom in front came thru but Paul and his "girlfriend" Judy got munched in the hole. Tom bravely paddled hard in the front but was pulled back into the hole and trashed. They had plenty of company as Team Renegade hit the hole and kind of exploded. At this point Bryan, Graeme and I were the only team to miss Terminal and looking back we could see swimmers with a backdrop of pool toys flying up and all over in Terminal. Most swimmers made it out OK...Tom got recirced three times before getting free. The toys took about 20 minutes before all were released from Terminal. Would I do it again? Oh Yeah!! That just rocked! Plans for next year are to set up the video at Terminal and require all to pass thru. Kudos to Chevie who followed us down in an inflatable kayak for her first run of Piers. She hit every line perfect...even backwards past the Sisters!

First Outdoor Lead

I have been wanting to outdoor lead climb now for awhile and it hasn't fit into my work schedule to join people I know. On an impulse I answered a post for someone looking to climb in Red Wing today. Chase turned out to be an excellent partner for my first lead climbing. He had a great attitude and my first lead went very well. I did my first ever outdoor lead on Jenna's Chimney. I then top roped Cinq Jour D"Affille, and I gave Jump Start a try...I didn't get too far on that one and then lead on Sunburst. By then I was pretty tired and didn't make that all the way to the top. Chase's goal for the day was to do Jump Start and he styled it! Outdoor climbing is very different from the gym. I really liked it! Thanks Chase!

The Voices in my Head

When I very first started kayaking with my sea kayak I went to a pool session. There I met Ellen, one of the instructors. She paddled over and introduced herself and then asked if I even knew how to get in my boat. Yes, I was that new. She was great! She took me thru different ways of getting in the boat and taught me a wet exit to get out. Showed me self rescues. Ellen is a natural teacher. That summer I paddled my sea kayak but I never did learn how to roll. The next year I took a whitewater course as my interest was being directed towards kayak surfing and to do that I needed to learn whitewater. I remember on the lower Kettle I had to ferry across a strong current for the first time. I knew it was going to be flip city as soon as I hit it. I wasn't disappointed. While upside down in freezing cold water I heard a calm voice in my head. "grab the combing and slide your hands up to the grab loop and pull." The voice was Ellen's. When learning a sport such as kayaking your instructors will be "there" with you in your critical moments. The words, encouragement, the instructors expectations of you as a paddler will propel you thru the situations you encounter. Ellen's voice hasn't been the only voice I've heard. Sometimes it's words of encouragement from your paddling partners. Sometimes you need to replay those words in your head to try to banish the negatives. Motherhood is just another form of instructor. Your words, encouragement, expectations, and example will be with your children in their critical times in life. When in difficult situations the snap judgements will be based on the foundation you have laid in your children. Today being Mothers day I had dinner with my son and we hiked Glenn Park in River Falls and talked. My son and I can talk about anything. Today he explained that almost everyone he knew had issues with their parents of some sort or the other. He told me the only issue he has with me is he wishes I would wear my hearing aid. I guess that isn't too bad as far as issues go.

Kettle 1800cfs

Kingpins were definately "The" boat on the river today. Aaron, Bill, Bryan, Caleb, Kim, Nate, and I hit up the Kettle today at 1800cfs. Very fun level. We spent over 4 hours running the river and just having a blast. Who cares if it rained? Check out Bryan's Blog for some really sweet photos of the day!

Day Two...Snake Two

Today's snake I can deal with...check the last photo. He was sunning himself on the rock in Donut. Today I met up with Ben. I haven't seen him since before he went to study in New Zealand. Good to see him back and rocking the river. On our second run we met a mother and son. Laura and Erik. Since I didn't know how he paddled Ben and I eddy jumped him down to Triple and then ran Triple. In RR I told him what to expect and he just jumped right in and threw it down. We all marathon tag teamed Donut until it was time to go. Great way to spend the morning before going to work.

Paddling with Snakes

I loved the film Cross Country Skiing with Snakes...I saw it this winter at the Expo. Today I caught a quick hour before work at the Verm. RR beaver was out. The heron is following the fish and is now hanging out in S-Bend. Donut was pretty manky. Threw me a few times and once was down into Fishermans. Since it was still early I went to walk it back up on river left. I climbed on the lower ledge and set my paddle on the ledge above while I kind of rock climbed with my boat. I got eye level with the ledge my paddle was on and went to grab it and move it up further. As I was reaching for my paddle shaft I noticed another shaft right below it in the grass. It took only a nano second to realize that it was a snake with a body just a bit larger than the shaft of my paddle. I snatched my paddle and threw myself off the rocks and into Fishermans pool expecting fangs of fury to fly at me at anytime. It didn't happen. I walked the boat back up and paddled down again and got some good play in Donut. Last year I saw a rattlesnake on the Verm. This one didn't rattle and I only saw a portion of his body so I really can't positively ID the snake but I'm guessing it was a bull snake. Good news about bull snakes is they run off the rattlers. Whoo Hoo! If you can call that good news?

Birdwatching

The annual fish migration is on. Carp were attempting to up the drop at Donut today. I was hoping that Donut would be at the 190cfs level which in my opinion is the biggest it can get without losing it's shape. Unfortunately it was beyond that and the rails were huge and squeezing the foam pile. My partner said "You first" Sometimes I dislike that "ladies first" rule...it's more of a guideline. Anyway I jumped in. He followed suit. It was big and flushy.

Kettle Fest

It was a cold and snowy Saturday...oh wait...that's what the weatherman predicted. Saturday ended up being sunny and beautiful and Sunday even better. Due to torrential rains on Friday night the Kettle jumped up to 3200cfs on Saturday and 4000cfs on Sunday. Big and fast. With people from all over Minnesota and some special visitors from the Milwaukee/Waukesha area coming to check out the root beer water in Minnesota. They definately found it to their liking with Craige Esposito taking first in the rodeo and Jim Jenson taking second. Melissa Grover took first in the womens. Good times with great people!

Just a few photos from Saturday.