Third time's not the charm!

So last Tuesday, I saw on Facebook that Brandon Fasan, a buddy of mine and an awesome paddler, was looking for a buddy to go paddle with and so was I. He headed out to Sewer Wave to check out what it looked like and the ice accumulated and the low levels made the wave almost non-existant so we cancelled our paddling session. Or so I thought. An hour later I get a call from Brandon telling me to hurry up and get my a$$ to HogsBack Falls as the levels were awesome! I had been there 2 times before already to scout this 15-20 footer but the levels were too high for my liking as even Joel Kowalski was there with friends and seemed to struggle in the run out. I tell myself : "Today is the Day. They say third time's the charm. Im gonna huck Hogsback this time!!". So I get there and watch Brandon do a first run to show me the lines. He runs the spout, pencils out and rolls back up..paddles channel right and flips at the bottom of the double drop and eddies out at the take out. Not bad for a first run! The spout itself is not scary as there is little to no towback. What makes it intimidating for me is the cold water and the ice forming a slight undercut on canyon walls. Im not too worried about the hole and wouldnt mind getting caught and having to surf my way out or even a swim in warmer conditions. But with my two piece drysuit, a swim in these conditions would be really awful if not life threatening. So unsure if id run it or not, I let Brandon do his thing and run the falls with style a few more times and watched the lines he took. It was getting cold and we decided to gather the bystanding photographers' emails and headed home. So in the end, I bailed out again and felt defeated, regreted not running the falls later that evening and it bothered me alot and still does a bit. Im going to be awaiting hotter temperatures of the spring, the ice melt, and a few more paddlers before I head out there with my boat again. Will keep you all posted when that happens.

Jee