Leaving

So, today is our last full day in Chile. Sam and I have been buzzing around town this afternoon finishing up Christmas shopping and (and various other things), after running the whole Trancura (upper and lower) this morning. It is absolutely a perfect day, which is only making it harder to think about leaving. It will certainly be nice to get home to family, friends, and a setting that feels a little more like Christmas, but this is a hard place to leave. All the people we've met have been wonderful, the rivers are incredible, the food has been really good (I did get a few recipes to try out at home), and the fifteen hours of daylight every day are finally starting to give me a tan. Hard to believe that this time tomorrow, I'll be on a plane from Temuco to Santiago, starting the long journey home... One last night tonight, then we'll pack up in the morning, and head to the airport around noon. I'll leave here on the longest day of the year, and arrive home on the shortest.

A few more pics before I sign off:

Sam "scouting" the portage on the Upper Trancura



The third drop on the Upper Trancura, with the Volcan Villarica in the background.

Next time I post, it'll be from home!!

Until then,
B

Palguin Race 2010

One more day on the Upper Palguin yesterday, which was made notable by the fact that it was the day of the Palguin Race, AKA Carnage Fest 2010. After running a lap of the river in the morning, I set up on a cliff overlooking the first drop with my camera, and watched the show. There were some great lines, but these were mostly by the safety boaters who came through before the racers, and came through one at a time. Pileups in a hole above a 10 foot drop make for very interesting racing. Hence my decision to watch and laugh, rather than racing. A few of the best action shots:

Look closely: there are two boaters in there.




This one actually ended OK...




And this is Martin showing how it's supposed to be done.

After that, we went to the Kayak Hostel for dinner and drinks around the fire, swapping boating stories and generally having a good time, before heading into Pucon for a night on the town.

Today, we got off to a very lazy start, which meant time to learn how Anita makes sopapillas, which is a Chilean variety of fried bread, which made for a great breakfast before heading up to the Upper Trancura for the day's boating. This was back to a bigger volume river, but it wasn't just big wave trains- the drops were a little bit more technical. And there was one meaty class V that we portaged. When we got back, I traded in the Nomad for a Molan, which I've been wanting to paddle for ages, and headed down to the Trancura bridge, where a pretty decent wave forms. The Molan was way less stable than I was expecting, and I failed miserably at getting on the wave after getting stern squirted and pushed around in the lead-in on half a dozen attempts. But I did throw some ends in flatwater, and kept my head out of the water on my backdeck rolls, and I'm sure I can learn to love that boat. I just have to get used to it first...

That's all for now, and this may be my last post of the trip; we'll see if I get online again before heading home on Wednesday. If I can't post again from here, I'll throw up a summary when I get home!!

Best,
B

Alto Palguin, take 3

So, after much deliberation and waffling this morning (it was rainy.... we were slow) we decided to go back to the Palguin today. Mostly, we went so that Tino, Lorenzo, and Jake could run this:

Lorenzo on Medio Palguin

It really is the cleanest 70 footer I've ever seen. All three of them styled it; Lorenzo broke his paddle, but Tino and Jake threw theirs. More pictures available on Picasa here. I just need a little more free-fall experience before I do it... there's always next year!

Then we went and ran the upper, which was pretty uneventful. Just awesome. I finally stomped the first drop. Fifth time's the charm, I guess. Pictures:

Sam plugging the first drop

Kira styling the first drop

I've gotta run and catch my ride back out to Dave's place... more updates soon!

-B

Off day

So, after swimming yesterday, I decided to take it easy today, and learn something new. We picked up Dan and Emily, and headed up to the upper Liucura, which is a really chill run that's mostly flatwater, with one 1km class III rapid. But we only had one truck, so instead of paddling, I drove shuttle. Welcome to a crash course in driving stick. On hilly dirt roads. But what better vehicle to learn than a rented 1991 Toyota Hilux! :-) After dropping them off, I drove to the takeout, laid in the bed of the pickup truck with a book, and alternately read and watched birds flying over my head. Then we went out to Coilaco again, for Emily and Dan's first time, but being warm and dry, I just took pics and video (crash course in shooting with two cameras at once). Tomorrow I think we're looking at the Upper Trancura, maybe Coilaco again, and maybe the Ojos de Caburgua or the first two of Tres Saltos. We'll see.

Heading back to the hostel for dinner, and then going to a barbeque at Emily's house... no going hungry on this trip!

Until next time,
B

Alto Palguin and pictures of the Maichin

We ran the Upper Palguin again today, after heading up to Salto Palguin in the morning (well, by "morning" I mean 1pm) and removing the log that was across it. Team log-removal was me, Sam, Xav, Emily, Martin, Seth, and Dan, and we spent two and a half hours setting up ropes and pulling the log this way and that until we finally freed it, and dropped it off the waterfall. (For those unfamiliar with the Salto Palguin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLZlHJ-yGUo ). The log spent about 20-30 seconds of downtime, before popping up and promptly washing under an undercut rock. So after all that, no one ran it. But it was a fun time freeing the log anyway.

Then we went and ran the Upper Palguin again... it was quite an adventure. The first lap went quite uneventfully. The first drop got me... again. I have yet to stick that one. I'm 0-for-4. I keep getting stuck in the hole halfway down and plugging the second drop. Except for on the second lap today, which was my 4th attempt at this rapid, where I actually swam above the drop, and so rather than running it with no momentum, Martin roped me and my boat across the lead-in and we decided to call it a day. Apparently, while I was swimming in the lead-in, there had been multiple skirt implosions down below, too. So lots of people had booty beers at Latitude tonight. :-)

I'm not going to try to build these pictures into the flow of this post at all, but now that I'm online and have more time: pictures of the Maichin!

-Brian

Saltos!!

Yesterday, we finally got on some waterfall runs. Xav's arm was hurting from tendonitis, so rather than heading to the Rio Blanco (a two hour run, two hours away, and he couldn't paddle much more than twenty minutes), he wanted to show us down the Upper Palguin. Which was awesome. It's the quintessential Pucon run, twenty minutes from town, and basically a series of the cleanest 10-20 foot drops you've ever seen. It's kind of a twisty double drop, that dumps into a huge, crystal blue pool. The second time we ran it I got flipped in the hole halfway down, and rolled up just in time to plug it. There wasn't even a thought of a boof. And it still flushed right out, and I popped up in the pool no problem.

This picture is Sam in that first drop, courtesy Xavier Engle. (he photog'd the second lap since his arm was hurting.)

The next drop is a fun little 15-foot left-to-right boof, again with no consequences, but so super clean that it's hard to miss your boof. We didn't give Xav enough time to get there for pictures, so I don't have any of that one. Yet.

After that is the most perfect 20-footer ever. Xav said it makes him angry how perfect it is. The left side is a plugger, the right side is a boof. Take your pick, either one is super easy. The first lap I plugged, second lap I boofed. This is the second lap; you can see on river left where it's pluggable.

I've gotta go now... we're getting ready to head back up to the Palguin with a bunch of guys who are thinking of running the super-sketchy 90-foot Salto Palguin, which is above the put-in. We're going to watch/document/set safety, and hopefully get in a few laps on the upper as well.

One more for good measure, though: also yesterday, we went to Coilaco for the easiest 30-foot park n' huck around. :-)



Hopefully I'll get back online soon, so I can post pics of the Maichin and the Fuy!

Until then,

-Brian

Cagaste

So, we left Choshuenco after getting in one more lap on the Fuy, which was even higher than the day before. Like, a foot farther up a rock on shore. Sooo much fun. We were launching off of 8-10 foot waves. I wish I knew how to kickflip... Probably should have tried, but it was cold so I was trying to stay upright.

Then, on the way home, the twelve passenger van broke down like 3km outside of Choshuenco. So we piled everyone (and gear and boats) into our two pickup trucks, and headed back to Pucon. As far as I know, the van is still there. Haha. I then got my introduction to Mamas y Tapas, which is every kayaker's favorite bar in Pucon. Good après-kayaking was enjoyed by all.

Yesterday, we went to go run the Liacura. We met up with Josh at Kayak Chile, and followed him and his Ducky clients out to the put-in. We were getting dressed when I realized I couldn't find my helmet. Anywhere. So I got to drive shuttle and meet Sam and the duckyers at the takeout. After a lot of phone calls, I found it: when the van broke down, it somehow ended up in Tino's kayak. Yay for not having to buy a new helmet!! Grabbed that this morning and headed out to the Maichín, which is absolutely indescribeable. I'm going to be cruel and leave you hanging on pics: they're on my camera, but my laptop is still locked up with David. I could get it, but I'm leaving it there for security's sake. Will make a point of getting everything online soon... I promise!

Other than that, things are great! Looking forward to Upper Palguin tomorrow, park n' huck at Coilaco and possibly Ojos de Caburga when we have a little bit of time, trips to hot springs and a hike in a national park when we need time off the water, and maybe Los Nevados, Tres Saltos, and Medio Palguin if levels cooperate.

Pics and more stories soon!!

B

Fuy Fest 2010

So, Sam and I are here in Chile, unwinding in Choshuenco before returning to Pucon to see what the park n' huck scene is like after all this rain. The trip down was mostly uneventful- had a bit of a tight connection in Santiago, but we got on our plane to Temuco without any problems. David Hughes picked us up in Temuco, and on the way to Pucon, we discussed our options for the next steps. I called Xavier, who was in on a 12 passenger van going to Choshuenco for Fuy Fest. The van was full, so Sam and I rented a little red pickup (which has apparently starred in a lot of kayaking flicks) and followed them here. It POURED for 24 hours, so by the time we got here, the river was pumping. It was my first experience with big water, but the lower Fuy was a perfect introduction. Trains of 8 foot waves, and only one spot where there was any sort of line. The rest of the run, anywhere was fair game. Today we went exploring in the morning, looked at los saltos huilo-huilo y la puma, and the upper Fuy. The waterfalls were both unrun- a 140 and a 90 footer. Demshitz is coming back to run it next week. We just took pictures. Upper Fuy was insanely high. What is usually 4 distinct pool-drops was now one continuous half-mile class V+/VI rapid. No one ran it. More pictures. Then we decided we had to go kayaking, so we ran the lower Fuy at even higher water, which was tons of fun- we really launched off the wavetops today. And the weather was much better today, which made the water that much bluer, and the scenery that much more gorgeous. Now we're getting ready to head back to Pucon after another wonderful, filling, homecooked hosteria meal. Next update next time I get online!!

-Brian