Soul Gypsy

This spring has been a cold/rainy/snowy one for us all up here in the PNW. It never really warmed up until about a week ago, but that isnt to say that the rivers havent been running. Luckily the rain has kept flows up pretty well, and finally we are getting some snowmelt. The PNW never has disapointed me.. there is something about this climate and the rivers around here that allows for something really good to be in… pretty much all the time. If it isnt local, then its usually only a couple hours away and is probably incredibly high quality. This spring has re-affirmed my thinking that the PNW is easily one of the best places to live as a kayaker. Even during school there is usually class4-5 that is running and possible to rally after classes are
done for the day
.
A good crew before a fun couple games of bowling.

Early spring is all about runs like Robe Canyon. With so many good class 4/5 rapids in a bigger volume feel, this river is up there with the best.
The Robe Canyon race was a great time and Robe offered some awesome early season entertainment.

Jure Poberaj and myself took 6th, While Tao claimed the title.
Finally my classes ended for the summer, and i couldnt have been more stoked to get some kayaking in. So stoked we motivated to paddle a small rapid right in downtown bham on whatcom creek.

Luckily Bellingham has some incredibly good whitewater just outside of town. The Middle Fork of the Nooksack offers an amazing class 5 run with great boulder garden rapids, then continuing into a beautiful gorge and some great bedrock drops. It is probably one of my top 5 favorite rivers in the world.

Dropping into the first big rapid of the gorge “leap of faith”.

Looking back up the rapid.

I then spent a weekend with the local bham crew, Ryan Bradley clued me in to a waterfall (35ft or so) about 2 hours from bham that nobody had run.Leif Embertson, Ryan and myself headed up there and found it to be at perfect flows. Kindey creek is a small trib to Cascade creek(more of a river actually), and is located up the Skagit river drainage.

The falls! BROWTOWN!

Coming into the lip…. treats time. I went first, and good buddy Leif followed right behind with a sick De-la style boof-stomp.

Leif laying some mad treats… kindey creek style.

As spring continued, I made a short trip down to Hood River area to race on the little white and hopefully run a stout on my birthday(june 5th). Yup 22 years old now. I met Up with Evan Garcia, Todd Wells, Sam Friehofer, Erick Johns, Olin and kiwi Ryan Lucas for some good times. Evan and I raced together on the LW race… unfortunately the last couple weeks of school diminished my fitness level and as Evan pulled away from me in the front, i fell behind wheezing and coughing. Any day on the little white is a great day however.

LW race… coming hot into boulder sluice.

Evan in front going quite a bit faster than myself after claiming two titles at the gran prix! He’s killing it.

Sam Freihofer gettin steezy on boulder slucie!

Todd Wells showing that the LW is his home river and he isnt afraid to throw some downriver freestyle in there.

Evan doing what he does best…. true treat layin on spirit.

After a fun day on the LW, we proceeded to have a fun little gathering at the beaver lodge. We woke up only slightly hungover on my birthday, and got motivated to go fire off a stout. We drove up to the Lewis river, with one thing on our minds, the Upper Lewis Falls. This thing is a stout 25 footer into about 20… with a tricky scrapy lead-in. Evan and Todd ran it and styled it, followed by Erik, then myself and Ryan and Sam. We all had good lines and it couldnt have been a better birthday present to be stoked at the bottom of a super fun drop with all my friends. Pura vida.

Layin treats on the perfect juicy 15 footer above the stout. this was a super fun little waterfall.

Myself boofing the top drop big! I landed so hard my skirt exploded, and i ended up running the next 20ftr with no sprayskirt. Luckily i was able to hang on and didnt fill up too much.

Flying off the top drop…. weeee! if you look closely you can see Todd and Erik down in the pool below.

My view at the top of the second drop with no skirt attached! Luckily i was able to get a good boof.

The view of myself from the top.
Here is a short teaser from the day.

After a great birthday I headed back up to bellingham to find that one of the local creeks was in at a good flow. Clearwater creek is a tributary to the Middle Fork Nooksack and offers some really fun sandstone bedrock boofs.

Dropping into the slot rapid, a fun narrow little slide.

Just another sweet bedrock boof, Clearwater style.

Any rapid named “boofs per minute” is fine in my book.

One of the lower boofs on boofs per minute(BPM?)

Here is a short video of Clearwater, or as we call it… C-DUB.

Then I went to scout a drop that has been on my mind for sometime… Racehorse Creek falls after being first D’d by boomer a couple years ago, i figured it was time we went and checked it out. I scouted it, and found it to be at perfect flows. I sent evan a picture and they flipped a U-turn on their way to MT, and made their way up to Bham.

Ryan and Evan ended up being the ones with the balls to step up to this drop, and trust me… its really stout.

Evan on the top drop, a sweet sliding thing to a good 25 or so footer. Treats!

Evan went first on the big one, a crazy 15-20ft drop onto a slide that ends in a tiny pool. He had a good line turning sideways at the end and “hockey stopping”

Ryan went next and immediatley convinced me that I wasnt going to run it. He entered only about 6inches to a ft to the right of evan and lets just say it didnt end right.

Ryan rag-dolling down this slide. It will be a great carnage of the year shot indeed. Luckily he was fine and we went back to Bham to celebrate everyone being ok.

A photo by local Photographer Rhys Logan. here http://www.rhystomahawk.com/photography-blog/2011/6/10/this-title-sucks.html is a link to his website and check out the amazing shots he got that day!!!

The next day after a fun-filled night we headed to the best that ballingham has to offer…. The middle fork at a perfect flow.Rhys came and shot some awesome photos again… check out the full story here

http://www.rhystomahawk.com/photography-blog/2011/6/13/raging-yakers-round-2.html

Gnar-Car and Gypsy-Wagon headed to the put in of the MF.

The Crew gearing up for some Roosting brown MF.

Another sick shot by Rhys… dropping into the MF gorge. Me, Sam, and Evan.

Sam and Eg in the warm-up rapid for the MF gorge. Then it gets real in there. Rhys killing the photos.

And Just around the Corner “leap of faith”, the first rapid of the gorge.

Evan made a small day edit from the MF.

As a matter of fact, the MF is running right now and I must go get my boof on. Signing off here, until next time-Fred

Stay tuned.. there will be tons of amazing videos coming to Bomb Flow TV soon. We will be dropping our Chile footage Bomb Flow TV Episode 1- Chile soon as well as all the stuff here in Bomb Flow Episode 2- PNW style.

Now get out there and go kayaking! its summer after all!

Starting this spring, Evan Garcia and I will be presenting Bomb Flow TV. A monthly online series with some of the best footage from the coolest places to kayak. here is the teaser.

Bomb Flow will start off with incredible canon 7D footage featuring the best of times from a season in Chile. Evan, Myself, and Anton Immler filmed tons this past Chile season and have tons of high quality footage to offer.

Well I know this post is pretty late but i thought i would put up some pictures, a video and a little story from the few weekends I spent there this past October. Dipper Creek was 1st Descented by The Range Life guys back in 2008. They walked up and down the creek and scouted it all out to make sure it would be good. Thanks to them this creek has now become one of my favorite. Dipper is located past the Elaho drainage up the Squamish river in British Columbia. In 2009 I went to dipper and had the time of my life, and 2010 was just as good and a little more scary with higher water. Dipper Creek is the true creeking experience. It flows from a glacier high in the Tantalus Range and weaves its way into the most committing and beautiful gorges ive ever been in. The gorge walls on your sides are shear 400 foot cliffs. The creek starts off with a bang with a stout double drop “Double Dip” then continues quickly into “Big Dipper” a stout 70 ft tall slide that ends in a huge hit as you slide into pretty much green-water. Then it goes something like this… 20 ft slide… perfect 30 ftr, Long stout slide “Roudy Flatwater”… and it just keeps going. The majority of the time in the creek there is no way out unless your friends are on the rim and vertically extract you. It includes a very involved portage which although not a very long portage, takes about an hour to complete because of all the roping, rapeling and sketchy climbing involved. It then goes into another gorge where you still cannot escape. And in the midst of all this there has somehow been a way through the creek the past 3 years. Luckily. The next gorge is one of the coolest places in the world indeed… vertigo gorge. You drop into an incredible teacup with huge mossy gorge walls, but only after you drop a pretty stout 25ftr with a hard to boof sliding entrance that lands in a small pocket. Basically this creek is the true creeking experience because the rapids are scary, you are comitted, there are portages, and its incredibly beautiful. Its a great time!

Brian Burger, Niko Peha, and Ethan Smith chillin at the campsite at the take-out of dipper.

Still from a timelapse I shot… Cool glow from the campfire!

The massive tree at out campsite…. the loggers left this one standing.

You know its cold when…. Morning at dipper in october.

Brian pretty stoked to paddle!

Me, Jonas and Ben stoked to have finished the Upper and Middle Gorges with no real troubles.

Waking up at 7am in a rain-soaked tent after a classic BC night… Just hoping that the vertigo gorge is not too high after some rain.

Brian Burger dropping into the depths of Vertigo Gorge.

I wish I had more pics for ya… but most of my focus was on video.

Speaking of…

Here is the Vid.

Well recently i’ve really been slacking on blog updates. I am back in the cold, rainy northwest corner of washington state waiting for some snow to melt so i can get out on the rivers. Reflecting on my time in chile, it was easily some of the best months of my life. I worked hard on the filming side of things this trip so most of my pictures in this blog will be from friends. Pucon is really the epicenter for great creeking in chile. It’s an amazingly cool little mountain town with an incredible amount of beautiful an fun rivers right close by. The rivers around Pucon offer a couple different styles of creeking…. big waterfalls on the palguin… granite slides on the nevado…. ridiculously fun boulder garden rapids on the rio puesco… technical low volume drops on the carhuello…. stacked basalt waterfalls and slides on the turbio… the list goes on. I spent quite a bit of time in pucon this year and we had some really good times, and sometimes we even had good lines.Volcan Villarica on Christmas day in HDR. Shot from Ian’s place in Pucon…. A beautiful sunset with a great backdrop.

Another HDR shot from the same location!

The Turbio is a small creek outside Pucon that only runs with heavy rainfall. It is a very unique creek that carves its way through a basalt canyon with lush vegetation. This place is the closest place to Jurassic Park that I have ever seen. It rained hard and we woke to a perfect level for the Upper Turbio Stout.

Looking at the “stout” at the top of the Rio Turbio..

Stoked to have run such a cool complicated rapid. Good times. Photo:LJ

Evan about to bomb off the 25ftr then directly into the slide! Photo:LJ

Stoutmaster Erik Johnson on the Turbio stout.Photo: EG

Like i said… hes a stout master.. Erik layin treats. Photo:LJ

This rapid is very unique with a 25ft waterfall then straight into a technical slide with a big hole at the end. It’s a good one.

Volcan Villarica at night… Long exposure. Photo:Fred

Middle Palguin is the Local “stout” Its the best, cleanest, softest, safest and one of the most fun 70 fters out there. It doesnt get much better than this  for tall waterfalls. This waterfall is easily one of my favorites because it always seems to be good. At high water, it sends you to the depths into a frothing choas… but usually lets you go with no scratches. At low water as long as you have a decent line, it is just so soft and smooth. Middle Palguin has a place in my heart for sure.

Fusilli, Thinhrum and Myself getting ready to fall off Medio.

Thinhrum seal launching into the Middle.

EG the killa running stout 10, soon to fall off middle directly afterwards. Photo: Eric Parker

Myself all in the Hyrup with a little boof-stomp action.

Myself on my first run of the season… get that bow down. Photo by Tom.

Just a little preview of what went down on the filming side of things. Getting those dolly shots dialed at the MP lip.

The Palguin Race added some fun to the summer!

The Upper Palguin race… Erik in the top hole about to steeze out a loop, myself upside down boofing the second drop, with Seth directly under me. Luckily no one got severely injured.

Evan and Jared enjoying some delicious Crystal beer on Christmas day.

A bunch of dirty gringo kayakers having a nice Asado for Christmas dinner.

The crew all dressed up in drag ready for a fun time on New Years.

The Puesco is one of my favorite rivers in the world. It flows from the argentina border towards the small town of Currarehue (about 20 min outside of pucon). It has continuous steep gradient all the way from the base of Volcan La Nin to the bottom of the valley in Currarehue. This gradient is not occupied by waterfalls, but rather a couple hundred really fun boulder garden rapids. This is truly an amazing place and I cannot explain how fun the puesco is!!!

Another beautiful sunny day on the Rio Puesco. I love this place it is incredible. One of my top 2 rivers in the world.

One of the 3 million great boofs on the Puesco in the middle of the Tres Truncos rapid. I love this river!

Skiing on Volcan Villarica in December… what an incredible view! I was able to ski the volcano twice when i was there.

Don’t fall in… The crater on the top of the volcano.

The view from the top… the town of pucon, lago villarica and lago caburga with more volcanoes in the background.

The Rio Nevado is probably one of the most fun rivers out there. It starts with an incredilby fun granite slide, then continues with fun waterfalls and unique granite boofs and slides. It runs through a beautiful canyon and is really the mini-cali of chile.

Cheers to another great day on the Nevado… at the takeout of course.

Brownin on the slide! Photo :EG

A little stern mounted GoPro Action here… The slide again.

“crack drop” Photo:EG

GoPro shot of “Wall Falls”

Coming over the Lip of “Demshitz Drop.. the tallest and most stout rapid on the nevado.

Stern Mounted GoPro…. Dropping Into Demshitz drop!!

Evan laying some incredibly g-d out treats on Nutrients… one of the best boofs around.

Griff and I Chillin in the beautiful lower nevado gorge!

Rodrigo’s First D on the Carhuello. This thing was a stout!

The Crew In Latitude 39, our favorite restaurant in Pucon with ice cold beer and delicious food. Me, Evan, Thin, Anton.

And on the last night before Thin and I left for the US, we drank Pisco and in true chilean fashion Evan cut my hair into a flourishing Chocapanda or in english Mullet!

The Pucon Season this year was super fun and we were able to paddle some of my favorite rivers in the world. Pura Vida!

My footage from chile will be online sometime but in which form we are not sure yet stay posted….