Re-Cap 3 Rivers Rendezvous Whitewater Festival 2014 - Team Paddler, Luke Vollmerhaus

So, another Pincher Creek 3 Rivers Rendezvous is in the archives and it was one of the best yet (in my humble opinion). This year I believe there were close to 350 paddlers who came down south for this increasingly popular event near the sleepy southern Alberta towns of Lundbreck and Pincher Creek. As the festivals name suggests, there are 3 great river systems in close proximity to the campsite/event venue, the Oldman, Castle and Crowsnest drainage's.
This year, we were graced with near perfect water levels across the board and as far as May long weekends in Southern Alberta go, great weather. The days were mixed with clouds, warm sun and short rain showers (and one epic thunderstorm).

Photo: Lori Vollmerhaus // Paddler: Andy Vollmerhaus // Location: Castle Falls (I think…)

There are many great aspects to this event. Due to the semi remote location of the festival there are lots of paddlers who rarely get to hop on these southern runs despite their spectacular beauty and awesome white water. There’s also an enormous variety in difficulty of white water available, everything from barely class 1 for your beginner to staunch class 5 for your experienced adrenalin junkie.

It is a festival of contrasts, there are loads of wide eyed new paddlers down there, looking to take their first whitewater strokes, often being led by clubs from all points of the Alberta compass, there are the groups of intermediates who just love to paddle, socialize and really embrace the entire paddling culture in a way that gets me so stoked, the old dogs) who are there to help, cruise and go with the flow a bit, and then there are the frothing at the mouth chargers who want to run big water, big drops and get ‘rad’ so to speak. With all that going on one could assume that there would be ego, cliques etc, but for some reason (and maybe it is just paddling), but at this festival all these people rub shoulders with each other, talk up their runs for the day, drink beer and maybe even shoot off the occasional firework or three at the wee hours of the morning together. You can’t help but get caught up in how pumped everyone is to have come out of the Alberta deep freeze and have all these wonderful rivers running and so close to the campsite.

There are more paddling festivals throughout the year but this is certainly one of my personal favourites.

I hope everyone’s season is off to a stellar start, keep it safe and rip it up!

Cheers,

Luke

Team Paddler Luke Vollmerhaus and His Mexican Vacation

Okay, so clearly I am doing something wrong when in the last 10 days or so we've had two Nikki Rekman Sales team members reporting from sunny Mexico.

Here's a trip report from Luke Vollmerhaus that will having you yearning for Spring or hoping on the next plane to visit warmer waters!

Hey Paddlers!

I hope everyone’s winter is treating them well and anyone playing in the backcountry of the Rockies has been VERY careful.  We’ve seen some of the most reactive avalanche conditions in years this season.

Anyhow spring is just around the corner (it’s a marvelous +10⁰C here in Calgary) and I managed to make it down to Mexico at the end of February to hit the beach!

We stayed in a town just outside of Puerto Vallarta called Sayulita, less people more waves! We were super fortunate with weather and had blue sky days the whole week we were there. I was lucky enough to have both my family (Andy, Lori and my brother Jakob) and my girlfriend Allison along for the trip.

I could barely wait to taste the salt water so when we arrived my first move was to get a board and hit the ocean. The local surf shop had some great SUP boards. The waves were small the first couple of days but this was an excellent warm up and an easy catch for the SUP board. One comment I have to make at this point regards the ocean floor in this area. The bottom was comprised of oyster beds, for any non-surfers out there this means you’re surfing over a bed of small knives. This is a little hard on the feet and surf-wear, I was incredibly impressed with my Kokatat Surf Trunks which stood up to the beating without issue, no awkward streaking out of the water holding shreds of shorts for me!

During the first days of our trip we took a couple of small SUP tours out of Sayulita’s bay, an incredibly beautiful area, warm water and we even had the privilege to see humpback whales spy hopping!

As the week passed the waves got consistently bigger, nothing impressive but definitely more fun to ride! I got out on a surf board for a couple of days and went back to the SUP later on.  My family had their boogie boards as well as a play boat we dragged along with us, everyone managed a few great rides every day. I even managed to get Allison on a surfboard and after just a couple of short learning sessions she was up and riding like a pro! Her long board practice at home definitely helped.

I must really recommend this area for anyone looking for a sweet cheap vacation, there’s tenting spots right on the beach if you’re worried about accommodation blowing your budget and food is cheap!

I brought my own paddles down for this adventure and got to put Werner Paddles’ Stinger through its rounds in the surf and I must say I was very impressed. The blade surface area provided tons of acceleration when catching the wave and it’s shape made an excellent brace and rudder for cranking the big board through a tight turn.

I’m back in Canada now and eagerly awaiting the spring melt to start our rivers pumping! See you on the water!!

Cheers,

Luke

2013 year in review by team paddler, Luke Vollmerhaus

Hey Team!

So I thought I’d throw together a little summary of my year and pass on my recommendations to all you adventurers! 

I started off the season slow with kayak laps on local rivers; the Elbow, Sheep and High Wood. These are some of my favourite runs in southern Alberta; easy to access, well documented in local guide books and all with flow gauges. There’s plenty of beta on these runs as well as they are all very popular. If you’re in the area and down for a simple bit of fun I’d look them up!

 

The SUP season started off a little slow as well, I did a lot of lake paddling both with clients and on my own. Ghost dam is one of the easiest bodies of water to get to from Calgary for flat water SUP if one wishes to be out of the city (Otherwise the lake communities are great, just don’t forget your PFD, they will yell at you with a megaphone until you get one). I suggest venturing up the arm of the lake that lies on the north side of the highway as it is more wind protected and there’s less power boat traffic.

As the season came into swing I got together with my friends Zac and Liam for a river kayak trip starting in Jasper and finishing in Waterton. Our first stop was a hidden gem; Beauty creek, 40 min south of jasper before the Columbia ice fields this creek drains into the main valley. It has no gauge and there is little beta as it only gets run a handful of times every year. There is however an excellent description in the Stuart Smith guide. The hiking trail runs river right and provides a great view of all rapids on the way up. Because of its location in the forest and narrow canyon wood can be a big issue on this run. Be sure to check all drops carefully, sneaky wood is a paddlers nightmare. Be sure to bring a rope and harness as one must repel into the pool below Lumbarsis to run proper safety. If it’s rained recently there will most likely be water in the creek. You just have to run in and check it when you get to the pull out on the road. 

 

The Ram was our next river. First note of caution on this run, there’s a 50ft waterfall right at the put in. It can be hiked around but it’s a bit of a nightmare due to a 6 ft cliff band and steep shale slopes. It’s easier to run the falls than to hike. So show up ready to rock for this run. Be careful about safety on the next drop (particle accelerator as rescue options are limited. There’s a big seal launch on river left to get around it. This is an awesome run and I highly recommend it to experienced paddlers.

Other highlights from that trip were Cataract Creek and boundary Creek. Cataract has lots of descriptions in the books and on the web and there’s generally lots of beta on it as well. It is a long run though (16 km) so plan for a full day and bring food. There is also a Flow gauge for cataract. Boundary Creek doesn’t get run very often and has only a bit of info on it. It is in the Stuart Smith guide though. It is a very committing class V run.  It drains into Waterton Lake, you either have to paddle or rent a speed boat to get the 6 km to the mouth of the creek (right beside the Canada/U.S.A. Boundary marker).  Then one must hike 3 km up stream to the put in. Bring bug spray. Be sure to scout every rapid on the way up as there are very few scouting points on the way down. Over all it is a beautiful run with some of the most incredible wilderness surrounding it. However it is class V and if something goes wrong it happens very fast. I highly recommend this to very experienced boaters.

When I got back it was time to hop back on a SUP board. The bow river from ghost dam to Cochrane was flowing beautifully and Harvie passage was at a perfect flow for a surf. For the SUP boarder with the beginnings of river training the bow from ghost dam to Cochrane is an awesome run, some fun rapids and cool little surf waves with plenty of flat relaxing water. (Note that the flood has significantly altered the rapid directly below the dam, though this is easily portaged if necessary)

 Surfing at Harvie passage is on hold for the moment as the redistributed the river bed in the area significantly. We’ll have to wait and see what spring flows and cleanup crews put together for us.  

After the flood not much was paddle-able so my final venture was up to the Slave River on the border between the North West Territories and Alberta.  This river is enormous peaking around 7000 cms every season. There are so many different runs you can do on the same stretch of river simply due to its vastness. There’s everything from easy class I/II to big burly (emphasis on the big) class V and it’s all warm water. There are some of the most amazing freestyle kayak play spots on this river. It’s a great place to practice any skill at any level. Huge eddies make excellent training grounds for beginning paddlers. I really can’t say enough good things about this river and I haven’t even mention the community yet. Due to its location north there are few people in the area. The town of Fort Smith (right beside the monstrous river) is small and very charming. The paddling community there is small but one of the most welcoming I’ve ever encountered. The Fort Smith paddling club runs weekly paddles for all skill levels and provides all equipment for beginners. I highly recommend that any and every one venture up North for this amazing locale. I especially recommend attending the Slave River paddle fest (August long weekend) as it is one of the most diverse and awesome paddle fests in the world. In my mind it sets its self apart from other festivals because of its openness to complete beginners. It’s super easy to hop in a boat there with little or no experience and be well taken care of, safe, and have a great time.

My list of adventures unfortunately ends there due to a knee surgery and the time consuming monster otherwise known as university. However I will mention one final destination I highly recommend although I was not able to make it out this year: Skookumchuck Narrows in B.C. There you’ll find one of the best play waves in the world. It’s a tidal influx that creates a current into an estuary. Long story short it forms a huge consistent beautiful wave that is perfect for freestyle kayaking. I really want to get a SUP out to this wave in the near future as it would be perfect for a surf. There’s plenty of camping in the area as well as hotels nearby. Its easiest to paddle into the wave on an incoming tide from the docks and leaving boats at the wave so you don’t have to hike them out at the end of your session. If timed properly you can also paddle out of the wave on an outgoing tide so no long boat lugging is required.

Finally looking at next year I’d like to stress to anyone paddling in Alberta that the flood refaced EVERY river. Even if you’ve paddled the run 100 times before, it’s going to be a completely different river so paddle the run like it’s a new river and be very careful, scout more than you think you should and set more safety than you think you need. 

I would also like to thank Nikki Rekman Sales for making my adventures this year possible, it truly has been a wonderful season.

On that note I’d like to wish everyone Happy New Year. I’ll check back with a report at the end of February after a SUP surf adventure to Sayulita Mexico!

Slave River Paddle Festival - put this one on your calendar in 2014!

Nikki Rekman Sales Team Member Luke Vollmerhaus travelled North, way North to Fort Smith, NWT for the Slave River Paddle Festival.  You have got to get this one on your to do list in 2014!
 
What’s up fellow river lovers? I just got back from The North West territories and have some tales for y’all!

Photo: Chuck Blyth

We spent a grand total of 8 days in this beautiful area. Before I say anymore I have to express the feeling of awe that washes over every paddler and land lubber alike upon first sight of this river. The flow rate ranges from 2000-7000 cubic metres per second in an average year and has been known to spike upwards of 10,000 CMS in super flood years. That’s a lot of water, that’s roughly 25 times the size of the bow river through Calgary and roughly doubles the size of the Zambezi at Victoria Falls to give you some perspective. 

This kind of volume creates a very unique river environment and some truly awe-striking features.  Another rare occurrence on this river is to have enormous class 4-5 features available with class 2-3 consequences. There are no trees, no undercuts. The worst that can happen is some bad down time or a big swim, as long as you’re with a buddy it’s a very safe river.    

Photo: Chuck Blyth

Enough about the river for a moment; our purpose in Fort Smith centered on the Slave River Paddle fest. We arrived 4 days before the festival and taught a number of beginner and intermediate youth and adult Clinics. This made for long but very enjoyable and rewarding 4 days. It’s such a wonderful and eager paddling community. I had half a day between the lessons and paddle fest to explore the mountain portage rapids (one of the four sets of rapids on the Slave River). Led by Natalie, Leif and John I got to see and surf some of the local favourites. Sweet Spot is big surging surf wave on the top ledge. It puts the surfer elbow deep in all-you-can-eat air time; the bounces that can be achieved on this feature were so foreign to me coming from the creeking power house of southern Alberta. It’s truly an exhilarating ride. This wave lies behind the notorious and formidable Molly’s Nipple; one of the biggest holes I have ever seen. Photos really don’t do this justice; you have to sit in the eddy beside it, see the ramp 12 feet over your head and hear its roar to appreciate its size and power. Hangover cure and chico are two of the other quality waves on that run at that level (4700 cms) and were a blast to surf.

 

Photo: Chuck Blyth

Friday afternoon started with the Canoe races across the river just below the town. 2 man and 7 man canoes were provided for the racers, the 7 man in particular was a really fun race. On Saturday full festival events came into action, rolling course in the morning, SUP lessons, Raft and dynamic Duo rides and the start of competition. We had the beach ball race (guiding your own teams ball down the rapids and misguiding other team’s beach balls) the advanced freestyle competition and the Tandem Canoe Surf and Rescue competition. The Surf and Rescue involves several teams, you’re first timed on how long you can surf the canoe in the playground wave and then you intentionally bail and another team rescues you. Your surf time and rescue time are subtracted for a definitive overall time. The day finished with a delicious meal at Anna’s restaurant. A Hawaiian themed shindig at the local curling lounge made for a memorable evening. Sunday held more competitions centered on beginner and intermediate kayakers, freestyle competitions, a down river race through the playground wave train and a throw bagging competition were all part of the day. My favourite part about this festival is its ability to cater to all skill levels, there were individuals attending and participating that hadn’t even been in a kayak before the weekend and there were world class boaters who were equally entertained with the advanced race and freestyle competitions.

Photo: Chuck Blyth

Before I said good bye to Fort Smith on Monday they had one last surprise for me. A wave called roller coaster had just started to come in, we decided to stage the Big Air Competition on this wave. It’s a smoother surf than sweet spot but with proper technique releases just as much energy in a bounce. We spent the better part of the day surfing and lounging in the sun on the rocks. Finally the moment came to say good bye to the marvelous, welcoming and incredibly hospitable community of Fort Smith and drive the long road back to Calgary.

Over all it was one of the most intense and enjoyable trips I’ve ever taken, if you ever get the chance to head up north I highly recommend it; it’s more than worth the drive. And say hi to the wonderful folks at the Fort Smith Paddling club for us!

I’d like to say a huge thanks to John, Gen, Natalie and Leif for allowing us to use their gear and home for the festival and courses! You’re all awesome people to hang out and paddle with.