Came back last night at around 1:00AM from NY.. Ive only got 2.5 hours of sleep in me and I am at work writing this report, sipping on a nice warm coffee!
Richard, CJ and I drove all the way to the Achigan on Saturday as we saw the levels rise 10cms more than the day before! We though the ice broke and we got there to find it all frozen solid still! So was the Bonniebrook and all the stuff up in the laurentians according to the locals... Thats a no go for at least 2-3 more weeks apparently... Got to the Rouge and Petite Nation and same thing.. Seven Sisters Canyon run can be paddled and Family Wave is in. We headed home as we had our Villains and we were bummed out about the Laurentians situation...
Saturday Morning.. The Great Chazy was at 10-11 feet and the max recommended on American Whitewater is 9 ft. We figured we'd keep an eye on the level and Sunday Morning it was 8ft. On AW, they say that above 6 is Class IV+ V stuff and "keeper holes" at the top, bottom 1rst slide and bottom 2nd slide... To be honest... I dont know who wrote this but we ran it at 7.6ft and we wished we had a bit more water.. We stopped to get gas and one lady told us the Ice had broken overnight on Friday!! We got lucky! We shuttle with a mountain bike..Only 7kms...
CJ and Richard ran the first Dam Slide at the put in and we eddy hopped our wat down and scouted from there.. CJ stopped and the first hole as he eddied out left and had scouting access.. He gave me thumps up and it was good to go.. I knew the line from the videos I saw... The reactionary caught me and I went in the hole sideways a bit.. Mysterymoved for a second and popped into the river left eddy...back paddled to get out and I was fine.. Richard opted to punch right in.. and CJ took the same line as me and avoided the hole..This is by NO MEANS as class IV+ hole at these levels... Class IV at the most IMO.
We then ran the first slide and it was a Blast!!!! 2kms of pushy water and holes to avoid.. Its really shallow and you have to be on your game. Going upside down would rape your face!! Few holes to "punch" or avoid... The bottom holes on both slides looked gnarly but were easily avoided or punched on the left side and perhaps the right also...
Then you get a bit of flats and awesome Ruins scenery! Some class II+ III Boogie and then a 2-3 ft Ledge / Pourover and you might want to stay river right... I knew it was there and sticky...but somehow I wasnt paying attention.. didnt "boof" hard enough and landed right in...I sidesurfed a bit..flipped.. I rolled up quick and back paddled to the side and got out! Wouldnt be a problem to swim as its a big pool below...
We got to the 12-15 footer, scouted it..picked our points and CJ headed first..Was a bit off line on the right..went in the towback a bit and eddied out just fine.. Richard was kinda too much left and landed on rocks... I was right on the line, couldve boofed better, rolled and got pinned against the ledge were the guys had set up safety.. in my mind..I was under the curtain..tried to roll twice and couldnt...felt myself being pushed/rocked and thought "No way im getting out of here" so I swam out to the below river right eddy... The guys saw I was fine..and I that I couldve rolled on my offside... laughed a bit and got my paddle in the river left eddy! They ran laps twice after that and I filmed/took pics!
PS: Holy Crap a Villain L is heavy when filled up...Even with float bags!!
Awesome Day! Here are some go pro stills!
About to Run The Shit!!
The hole
Enjoy!
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