Thursday, April 28, 2011
Team Gorilla Tape from Team Member Terran Veihe on the Green Race
I'll start with the training. I had been paddling the Green a lot this summer with some Atlanta boys, Jiri, Zach, Andy, and sometimes Tim and Blake. There were plenty others but these were the ones that Andy eventually talked into racing with him. He hadn't done it before and I don't know what gave him such a crazy idea. We all had cracked boats and dubbed our group Team Gorilla Tape as this has proven to be the most reliable form of repairing our cracked boats. I was probably one of the last to commit on racing since I wasn't comfortable on the notch and still terrified of it but then again no one ever really gets too comfortable on The Notch. My girlfriend Megan was encouraging and said never count it out. So I didn't. I'd only run the notch a couple times in 2 years so after chimping Gorilla so many times (walking the notch and putting in between the notch and gorilla) I finally fired it up again and it felt amazing. So day one of training (basically bombing with the exception of setting safety at go left and speed trap) my boat severely cracked, Gorilla tape saved the day. I ordered a new boat and had to wait a month before getting back up there. We all eventually got new boats. I had lost time and from now on I was committed on running the notch every time. Lots of weekends staying up there getting 2 laps a day. I was feeling super solid out there. The weekend before the race I was comfortable enough to try the left line at Pencil Sharpener (Flying Squirrel). All 3 times went smooth and I thought it seemed easy. Had one dawn patrol run without stopping once and it was amazing. Ran the whole Narrows in 49 minutes and we were still the first ones in the parking lot at the take out. The Friday before race day I had another smooth run and felt super ready for the race. If I could do what I had just done but faster then I'd be feeling pretty good. During my training my timed goal had gone from 5:30 to under 6:00 to under 7:00 to just finishing alive.
Very mixed feelings race day morning. Backing out had actually crossed my mind but I had come too far. I get my bib #123 and start time of 2:19. Hiking in felt like hiking into a completely different river. I had been about 50/50 on the first rapid Frankenstein so I went to the start line an hour early to observe. Then it was time! John Grace counted down after a short interview of me giving some BS about it was my first run but I watched lots of YouTube and drank a Red Bull. 5.4.3.2.1.go! I dug out like a bat out of hell and nailed Frankenstein. Observing had paid off. Tunnel vision set in and I make my way through the boogie, through pin cushion, through whale tail, through boof or consequence main line, (the sneak is faster and I will practice that next time) a firecracker goes off 20 yards in front of me and I know shit is about to get carazy. I come into go left with some speed and am unable to set up properly. I went over the log and melted down off the right side and pitoned myself right into a side surf which had only happed twice out of all my previous runs. The crowd goes wild and I think crap I really can't believe this is happening. My bow spun around into the hole throwing me into a front ender which was actually pretty fun. My stern set down and I went out the correct left notch backwards without even flipping. Letting go of my paddle to give the cheering crowd a fist pump I flipped over and couldn't find my paddle till the 3 attempt or so before rolling up. Pretty embarrassing. (still looking for pictures of that) I slowed my pace to catch my breath, all I could hear was go! go! go! paddle fast! yeah whatever, easy for you guys to say. I felt great on Chief and Zwicks and come into Flying Squirrel move at Pencil Sharpener a little slow and leaning too far to the right. I melted down into my right side and pitoned again on the second part of this drop and immediately flipped over. This is directly above the notch and swimming was not an option. Second attempt I rolled up and thought oh look an eddy, should I stop, NO! Crowd is yelling GO! GO! In fact that's all I kept telling myself the whole race, just keep going! Practice had paid off somewhere and I styled Gorilla and Speed Trap. Then I come off Nieces too slow and get spun around going into Scream Machine and run it backwards while shaking my head in shame in front of the crowd. Two more slides and I'm done! So I powered through to the finish without a breath to spare. #124 who started after me is waiting at the finish line and tells me he boofed over me when I was getting worked at Pencil Sharpener. I didn't even notice. check 0:53 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVjSCGka9PM&feature=player_embedded#!. I watched a little before the races were over and paddled out a changed man. All in All, it wasn't my best run, in fact it was probably my worst but I was also trying something completely different and pushed myself harder than I ever had before in sport. It was only my 2nd time bombing it without stopping and only my 24th time on the river. I finished with a time of 6:29, 53rd out of 70 in the short boat class and I absolutely cannot wait to do it again next year!! http://www.boatingbeta.com/races
this is the best green race video I've ever seen: not in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouvnHCVbI4w&feature=player_embedded
more video: 3:20
http://vimeo.com/16751958
Thanks again so much everyone for the encouragement!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Horsepasture
We will not discuss the first section that we ran or how we ran it, but here are a few photos:
Just point straight and brace for impact... A Large Oceana with no "Thing", but nothing to slow you down.
Boof it...
...or fly it.
Below this rapid you enter Gorges State Park and you have no worries about scouting or taking your time. The first rapid that is typically run is called Turtle Back. people typically hike into Rainbow falls and walk about 250 yards up stream to run this slide into a ledge. It is a no worries fun-type of rapid.
Take out right below this rapid, and don't even think about eddy hopping to make the walk shorter. Its just not worth it. From what I understand Rainbow falls has seen several deaths in the past. I'm not certain if any were involve in whitewater sports. Take the relatively easy walk down to Rainbow falls and enjoy the vista. People come from all around the SE to view this single waterfall. You are about to get a VIP pass into the gorge.
The "Ugly Stuff" rapid below the falls was... well ugly at the level it was at (.1-.12). So we continued our walk down to the pool below Ugly Stuff and ran Slab Falls. Slab falls is basically an 8-10 foot clapper that hits harder and harder the further right you go, however going too far left will result in playing with a sieve on the river left wall. So take the hit about 15 feet off the left wall.
Below this you run into a rather tight and complex boulder drop section.
The pace was going kind of slow, so two people from our group decided to hike out below this section, as this is the last place you can hike out until you're right above Windy Falls unless you have some climbing gear.
The river abruptly changed character as we entered the steepest part of the run.
Welcome to NC Creeking Bliss
Stairstep is the first of the big rapids and the least consequential. it drops about 80 feet over 5 drops. Talk about a horizon line! My second favorite on this run, and probably my second favorite all time.
After this there is some boulder boogey that was less junky than the section above, but faster. Before you know it you are at Corner Pocket it is the first scary looking rapid. There was a tree in the bottom drop that would not allow anybody to run it. Oh and the portage requires moderate bouldering skills and putting in in a crack that is rather deep. Portage on the right and use teamwork. There is wood in the small ledge drop below as well, so paddle across the pool and walk again.
Almost immediately after you put back in you are at Side Pocket falls (Exit A and Exit B). Exit A is a clapper into a sluice into a 12-15 foot boof or melt... dependent on how cold the water is the day you're out there. I choose boof because it was about 25 degrees.
Exit B did not go at the level it was at. Its about an 18 foot clapper into a slide into a big hole. I'd equate it as running Gorilla at 3-4". We walked it on the left and its a rather sketchy walk on exposed granite.
At the bottom we dropped our boats and went down to scout Highway to Heaven. This one is a personal favorite. The walk to scout it is physically demanding without a boat. The rhodo is thick to say the least.
Highway to Heaven is a two-staged, large and long drop. The first drop is a long, steep slide that cuts hard to the left before entering a feature very similar to Hammer Factor at a high flow. Then there is one more hole to punch and then a micro pool between the drops. At .1-.12 we were able to eddy out.
The second drop on Highway to heaven looks like something miniature off of Toxaway. The crux move is to enter right and head hard left to avoid a decap rock half way down and head back straight to punch the hole. The hole is ugly and curling against the right wall and the right wall is undercut and has another dacap rock about a boats length from the hole. So punch the hole with the slightest left angle.
Below this rapid you are done with the main drops if you don't run Sieve rapid. There are still large and manky drops left. One of these sections (a boulder section) resulted in a swim in our group. Know where you are at above Windy Falls. Windy Falls is marked by a large cliff on the left side. The drop right above the Takeout is Sieve Rapid... its teeth were showing that day. We seal launched on the right.
The hike out was not as bad as I had expected. It got spookey as the clouds rolled in on the hike out. At the parking lot, fun was had at the swimmers' expense.
Just point straight and brace for impact... A Large Oceana with no "Thing", but nothing to slow you down.
Boof it...
...or fly it.
Below this rapid you enter Gorges State Park and you have no worries about scouting or taking your time. The first rapid that is typically run is called Turtle Back. people typically hike into Rainbow falls and walk about 250 yards up stream to run this slide into a ledge. It is a no worries fun-type of rapid.
Take out right below this rapid, and don't even think about eddy hopping to make the walk shorter. Its just not worth it. From what I understand Rainbow falls has seen several deaths in the past. I'm not certain if any were involve in whitewater sports. Take the relatively easy walk down to Rainbow falls and enjoy the vista. People come from all around the SE to view this single waterfall. You are about to get a VIP pass into the gorge.
The "Ugly Stuff" rapid below the falls was... well ugly at the level it was at (.1-.12). So we continued our walk down to the pool below Ugly Stuff and ran Slab Falls. Slab falls is basically an 8-10 foot clapper that hits harder and harder the further right you go, however going too far left will result in playing with a sieve on the river left wall. So take the hit about 15 feet off the left wall.
Below this you run into a rather tight and complex boulder drop section.
The pace was going kind of slow, so two people from our group decided to hike out below this section, as this is the last place you can hike out until you're right above Windy Falls unless you have some climbing gear.
The river abruptly changed character as we entered the steepest part of the run.
Stairstep is the first of the big rapids and the least consequential. it drops about 80 feet over 5 drops. Talk about a horizon line! My second favorite on this run, and probably my second favorite all time.
After this there is some boulder boogey that was less junky than the section above, but faster. Before you know it you are at Corner Pocket it is the first scary looking rapid. There was a tree in the bottom drop that would not allow anybody to run it. Oh and the portage requires moderate bouldering skills and putting in in a crack that is rather deep. Portage on the right and use teamwork. There is wood in the small ledge drop below as well, so paddle across the pool and walk again.
Almost immediately after you put back in you are at Side Pocket falls (Exit A and Exit B). Exit A is a clapper into a sluice into a 12-15 foot boof or melt... dependent on how cold the water is the day you're out there. I choose boof because it was about 25 degrees.
Exit B did not go at the level it was at. Its about an 18 foot clapper into a slide into a big hole. I'd equate it as running Gorilla at 3-4". We walked it on the left and its a rather sketchy walk on exposed granite.
At the bottom we dropped our boats and went down to scout Highway to Heaven. This one is a personal favorite. The walk to scout it is physically demanding without a boat. The rhodo is thick to say the least.
Highway to Heaven is a two-staged, large and long drop. The first drop is a long, steep slide that cuts hard to the left before entering a feature very similar to Hammer Factor at a high flow. Then there is one more hole to punch and then a micro pool between the drops. At .1-.12 we were able to eddy out.
The second drop on Highway to heaven looks like something miniature off of Toxaway. The crux move is to enter right and head hard left to avoid a decap rock half way down and head back straight to punch the hole. The hole is ugly and curling against the right wall and the right wall is undercut and has another dacap rock about a boats length from the hole. So punch the hole with the slightest left angle. Below this rapid you are done with the main drops if you don't run Sieve rapid. There are still large and manky drops left. One of these sections (a boulder section) resulted in a swim in our group. Know where you are at above Windy Falls. Windy Falls is marked by a large cliff on the left side. The drop right above the Takeout is Sieve Rapid... its teeth were showing that day. We seal launched on the right.
The hike out was not as bad as I had expected. It got spookey as the clouds rolled in on the hike out. At the parking lot, fun was had at the swimmers' expense.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Overflow/ NFFB
Being a student, I can make my schedule rather flexible when I need it to be. When I saw that there was a major rain event coming to the SE I promptly retrieved my boat from my parents house. When I was finally in possession of my boat I found myself in a predicament that I am often not familiar with: where to go? Chattanooga got slammed and was too high and Chattooga/ Highlands area was only on the fringes of the storm system. After deciding I'd have to miss out on my last class on Wednesday, I opted to go to Overflow and catch the Chattanooga area on its way down during the weekend.
I got to the Overflow Takeout at 1pm and saw that Burton, Chan, and Pat were ready to go and waiting for the group we were supposed to meet for at the takeout for their second lap. We checked the gauge and it was somewhere around 1.4. And we continued our wait knowing that we needed to get on the river soon. The group that we were supposed to meet at 1pm had a 6 hour lap on the river. By the time they showed up at 2:30-ish we were informed by Tim and Logan that there was new wood. After having an epic first lap, swims and all, they decided to forgo a second lap. So it was down to Burton(first D), Pat(first D), Me(Second), and Chan(only a handful of laps) and we were looking at a put in time somewhere around 3pm. After considering a High flow Section 4 run we decided to stick with are guns and run what we had come up there for.
Tim dropped us off at the putin and we scurried down to the river knowing that we were potentially pushing daylight limits. After the first rapid, the pace wasn't looking great... Pat broke his blade somewhere in Hemlock Falls which required Chan to resort to handpaddles and fork his paddle over to Pat. After this episode, things began to turn around. We only had to portage one log in the hemlock section. The pace picked up and before you knew it we were bombing off the big drops and boat scouting everything. (We had good beta from the group before on wood). We had one mishap at a slide that goes vert, but the peices were picked up quickly. At this point it was getting darker and we were on a mission to get below pinball. We Blue Angeled pinball and everyone seemed to have less than optimum lines. I ended up running the bottom looking back up at the group behind me. We had one mishap there against the bottom right wall. After picking up the pieces it was getting cold and dark. By the time we reached Fat Lady it was dark. We pulled off at the bridge and the gauge read 1.2.
All in all we had completed the run in one piece. We had originally thought that any mishap would result in hiking out, but after having both of the first timers swim we found our trip to be at a fun and comfortable boogie pace.
Burton and I went into town to grab a bite to eat and talk about what we were going to run the next day. We decided on the West Fork of the French Broad because we both had to be back in ATL by 3pm. We set a time to meet at the outfitter at 7:30am. I went to Tims Cabin and he went to Franklin to visit some friends.
The next morning we met at the outfitter slightly late and it was truly cold (low20s). We went to search for the putin and takeout for the West Fork. After driving up and down the road, we found some fellow boaters suiting up and were informed that we were actually on the North Fork. We decided to run the NF due to our time restraints and hike out after Submarine(the last sig rapid).
Burton and I boogied on down to the takeout below Submarine and only stopped to take some pictures at Boxcar. We hiked the steep trail out to the car and made it out on time to get back to ATL.
As I was driving back to Atlanta I passed over the Horsepasture and Whitewater rivers, and I saw the many beautiful vistas at the many overlooks. I even stopped to take a few photos of a very juiced up Whitewater Falls. Then it was quickly back to the road to get back to class at 4:30. As I was driving over the last crest on Highway 11 that you can see the rugged mountains, I looked back in my rear-view mirror and I made my decision to return that weekend to run the Horsepasture. Little did I know that I had only scratched the surface of the breathtaking beauty that the Jocassee area beholds.
I got to the Overflow Takeout at 1pm and saw that Burton, Chan, and Pat were ready to go and waiting for the group we were supposed to meet for at the takeout for their second lap. We checked the gauge and it was somewhere around 1.4. And we continued our wait knowing that we needed to get on the river soon. The group that we were supposed to meet at 1pm had a 6 hour lap on the river. By the time they showed up at 2:30-ish we were informed by Tim and Logan that there was new wood. After having an epic first lap, swims and all, they decided to forgo a second lap. So it was down to Burton(first D), Pat(first D), Me(Second), and Chan(only a handful of laps) and we were looking at a put in time somewhere around 3pm. After considering a High flow Section 4 run we decided to stick with are guns and run what we had come up there for.
Tim dropped us off at the putin and we scurried down to the river knowing that we were potentially pushing daylight limits. After the first rapid, the pace wasn't looking great... Pat broke his blade somewhere in Hemlock Falls which required Chan to resort to handpaddles and fork his paddle over to Pat. After this episode, things began to turn around. We only had to portage one log in the hemlock section. The pace picked up and before you knew it we were bombing off the big drops and boat scouting everything. (We had good beta from the group before on wood). We had one mishap at a slide that goes vert, but the peices were picked up quickly. At this point it was getting darker and we were on a mission to get below pinball. We Blue Angeled pinball and everyone seemed to have less than optimum lines. I ended up running the bottom looking back up at the group behind me. We had one mishap there against the bottom right wall. After picking up the pieces it was getting cold and dark. By the time we reached Fat Lady it was dark. We pulled off at the bridge and the gauge read 1.2.All in all we had completed the run in one piece. We had originally thought that any mishap would result in hiking out, but after having both of the first timers swim we found our trip to be at a fun and comfortable boogie pace.
Burton and I went into town to grab a bite to eat and talk about what we were going to run the next day. We decided on the West Fork of the French Broad because we both had to be back in ATL by 3pm. We set a time to meet at the outfitter at 7:30am. I went to Tims Cabin and he went to Franklin to visit some friends.
The next morning we met at the outfitter slightly late and it was truly cold (low20s). We went to search for the putin and takeout for the West Fork. After driving up and down the road, we found some fellow boaters suiting up and were informed that we were actually on the North Fork. We decided to run the NF due to our time restraints and hike out after Submarine(the last sig rapid).
Burton and I boogied on down to the takeout below Submarine and only stopped to take some pictures at Boxcar. We hiked the steep trail out to the car and made it out on time to get back to ATL.As I was driving back to Atlanta I passed over the Horsepasture and Whitewater rivers, and I saw the many beautiful vistas at the many overlooks. I even stopped to take a few photos of a very juiced up Whitewater Falls. Then it was quickly back to the road to get back to class at 4:30. As I was driving over the last crest on Highway 11 that you can see the rugged mountains, I looked back in my rear-view mirror and I made my decision to return that weekend to run the Horsepasture. Little did I know that I had only scratched the surface of the breathtaking beauty that the Jocassee area beholds.
Summer Green Narrows '10
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
LRC Huckfest
LRC/Johnnies Video
Great Morning on Johnnies Creek, Al. followed by an afternoon of scouting and hucking LRC Falls, Al. In the video: Chris Meyer, Zach Fraysier, and Chris Haile. Filmed by Matt Saul and Zach Fraysier
Great Morning on Johnnies Creek, Al. followed by an afternoon of scouting and hucking LRC Falls, Al. In the video: Chris Meyer, Zach Fraysier, and Chris Haile. Filmed by Matt Saul and Zach Fraysier
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