Rider of the Year Awards

Rider of the Year Awards from Tribe Rider on Vimeo.

This year Tribe Riders produced the first annual Rider of the Year Awards. Anyone and everyone had the opportunity to video nominate a peer in a 9 different categories; Rider of the Year, Expedition of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Film of the Year, Best Trick, Best Line, Best Drop, Best Downriver Freestyle, and of course Best Carnage. Among the many stout entries, I was able to score second place in the Best Line category for my line over Second Tomata on the Rio Alseseca in Mexico last fall. As a nominee, judge, and viewer it was a pleasure to be a part of this year's Rider of the Year Awards, and I look forward to the fire from next years awards burning even hotter. I also want to send a shout out to Rush Sturges, Patrick Camblin, all the judges, and everyone else involved in making this year's Rider of the Year Awards happen. Cheers boys...

View the complete Rider of the Year Award submissions.

The Salmon River Gorge

Breathtaking. If you're lucky enough to have ever been here you know. The Salmon River Gorge is without a doubt one of the most awing canyons I've ever had the pleasure of venturing through. With an unsuspectingly deep and waterfall ridden gorge in the middle of Mt. Hood's thick evergreen forest, this river will blow you away.

Virgin to the Salmon River Gorge, Joe Stumpfel, Bobby Miller, Ryan Young and myself joined experienced SRG paddlers Ryan Scott and Luke Spencer for an epic adventure. After some difficult navigation of un-marked forest service roads we arrived at a small campsite near the confluence of the Salmon River and Linney Creek. Here we geared up and hiked 2 miles to the put-in at Split Falls.

Ryan Young hiking to the put-in


Ryan Scot boofing Split Falls


Myself on Split Falls


Finally on the water, the following mile or so after Split Falls was relatively slow. Luckily my attention and interest could be directed towards the beautiful river banks painted with white, purple and pink rhododendrons. After the flat section and a few mellow 5-10ft. ledges we arrived at the second significant rapid Vanishing Falls. While my line on this tight and technical bad boy wasn't so hot and actually ended in a swim, Bobby and Joe both cleaned it with steeze.

Ryan Scott on a 10ft. ledge


Joe getting his bow up on Vanishing Falls


Bobby taking a must make boof directly after Vanishing Falls


Not too much further down stream we arrived at the most well known and what I believe to be the most fun drop on the run, Frustration Falls. With the top 20 footer now choked with logs, Frustration Falls is currently a semi-manky 10 footer into a vertical sliding 40footer. The crux of this drop is immediately after the first 10 footer where you must fight the currents that pull you towards the sketchy river left edge before lining up for the 40 footer immediately after. Luckily Ryan Young, Bobby, Joe, and I all managed to make it to the pool below each with pretty smooth lines.

Ryan Young at the lip of the 40 footer on Frustration Falls


Joe showing off his C1 boof stomp on Frustration


With euphoric vibes we all proceeded a few stokes downstream and arrived at the 20 footer before Final Falls. We quickly made it down the 20 footer to spent some time enjoying the beauty of Final Falls. Choosing not to run or jump the marginal 70-80 footer, we all let our boats ghost ride Final then rappelled off a small tree 80 feet down to the pool below. After we collected all of our gear and took our last mental photographs of Final Falls we proceed to paddle downstream through the couple miles of mank before arriving at the Salmon River Campground, our take out.

The 20 footer between Frustration and Final Falls


Myself, Ryan Scott, Bobby and Joe at the lip of Final Falls


Rappelling beside Final Falls (a very cool place to be)


Final from below


As the pictures illustrate, the Salmon River Gorge is yet another gem of the Pacific Northwest . If you have the skills, motivation, and crew to pursue the Salmon River Gorge I recommend that you get out there and take a look for yourself. Enjoy.

All photos by Luke Spencer

Silver Creek: Upper North Falls

Among the countless beautiful roadside stouts of Oregon and Washington, Upper North Falls on Silver Creek has arguably received the least hype of them all. With that said, this easily accessible 55-60 footer with a super smooth left line is undoubtedly one of my favorites. Last weekend Nate and Heather Herbeck, Chuck Taylor and I ventured west to pursue this stout. We arrived with the uncommon but perfect water levels, and after a brief scout decided she was good to go. After we set up safety and some media I lugged my boat to the put-in just upstream of the drop. As soon as everyone was ready I made the ferry to river left and slowly approached the horizon line. At the lip I was able to set up along the right side of the river left tongue and slowly fade into a classic Oregon tuck. Towards the bottom of the drop I reconnected with the waterfall which provided for a surprisingly soft hit. After some downtime I resurfaced upright and was able to use the remaining half of my paddle to make my way to shore.

My sequence from Upper North

Heather was next up to give'r and came off the lip just left of where I had lined up. The banked lip twisted Heather a little to the right, but set her up for a sweet landing in the pool below. Heather ended up swimming and emerged from the boils with a second broken paddle in hand.

Heather lining up for the plug

Next up was Chuck who, on this day, set a new standard for stout running steeze... I'll let the pictures tell the story.

After witnessing Chuck's mind blowing front flip Nate fired it up and emerged at the bottom with the only intact paddle (we started the day with four). From here we drove back up the gorge where I got some rest and prepared myself for an upcoming week of paddling. Stay tuned for more photos and stories of the goods we pursued during this week of exclusive WCKA alumni stouting.

To check out some of Nate Herbeck's hi-res photos from this trip and other excursions visit liquidkayak.com

Kayak Session Cover: The Inside Story

For anyone who has yet to read the most recent Kayak Session (2o10 Summer Issue #34) check it out. The cover shot is of myself on Summit Creek Falls on Summit Creek in WA, so I thought I might fill you in on the story of that particular shot. The day this shot was taken Evan Garcia, Erik Boomer, my brother and I were doing the first descent of the upper canyon on Summit Creek. After some exciting slides and a stout triple drop we came across this monster drop. The drop started off with a 20-30ft. chunky slide that steepened out and eventually, after hitting an auto-boof flake, free fell about 40ft. into a tight landing zone, then proceeded to flow into another series of 3 slides. Erik Boomer was first to fire up the beast and came off the flake with a fat boof stomp. Upon hitting the water his skirt exploded and he paddled the next 3 drops with his boat half full of water. After watching Boomer fire off the beast I decided I wanted to give'r a go. Instead of boofing as I went over the flake I decided to plug it and had a relatively soft landing. However my skirt imploded upon impact and I had to chase my boat down as it floated through the following triple slides. After I gathered everything together I hiked back up to the drop and watched Evan Garcia fire off the bad boy with classic E.G. steeze. He, similar to Boomer, boof stomped the shit out of the drop and ended with an exploded skirt. Luckily he was able to put his skirt back on before sliding down the next three drops. After the first, second and third descents of Summit Creek Falls we paddled further down stream and proceed to paddle more sick slides and the monster Skate Park drop which free falls 40+ ft. before reconnecting and launching into the pool below. So there you go... there's the inside scoop to the cover shot of Kayak Session #34. As a little bonus here's a couple other magazines where you may have seen/read about my brother and me.

Brendan and my first Claim to Fame: The whole family in Alaska on Canoe and Kayak Magazine's August 2002 issue

Brendan's 2 page spread in the 2009 August dispatch article for Outside Magazine. Erik Boomer captured this shot as well when my brother, at age 15, fell off 82ft. Metlako Falls.

WCKA: Idaho

Just over a week ago we at World Class finally finished the last of our classes. To reward ourselves we decided to take it easy and travel to Idaho for some relaxation and good ol' paddling in the Whitewater State. We kicked off our Idaho escapade on the North Fork of the Payette River, basing ourselves out of Seth Stoenner's house in Boise. The NF Payette has always been a run that I've wanted to paddle and, though it was pretty low flows (800cfs), I was stoked to get out there and experience Idaho's most renowned class V run. For the short time that we had in Boise we were only able to paddle the Middle 5 section on the North Fork, but I look forward to coming back in the near future at higher flows and paddling the entire run.

Huddling up in classic Idaho spring weather

Seth Stoenner showing us the way down Jacob's Ladder

Olin Winberg punching through one of many holes on the North Fork

Getting in the boofing mood

Boise local Conner Jackson getting it done

Endless Idaho style whitewater

After a day of paddling on the North Fork and a couple nights of relaxing at Seth's house we headed north to the South Fork of the Clearwater. At the Clearwater we paddled the classic Golden Canyon stretch of whitewater for 3 days in a row. Each day, as I recognized the lines better and better, the run only got more exciting. This run had countless boofs, but the two stand out rapids were Chuck's Drop and Fish Jump. Chuck's had a few different lines, and we all had a good time picking our way down the rapid. There was a couple different options for the lead-in to Fish Jump, but by the end of the drop we were all funneled back to the center where a meaty hole awaited. Most of us were able to boof over the hole, but anyone who didn't was given a thorough beatdown before flushing or swimming out.

Brian Jamieson boofing a drop on the clearwater

Erik Parker boofin Fish Jump

Fish Jump Day 1: Boofing over Risto Beatty (he flushed out shortly after)

Fish Jump Day 2: No obstacles this time, just one monster boof

SF Clearwater video that Josh Larsen and I put together

Special thanks to the Stoenner family for letting World Class crash at their pad, and to Dustin and Seth for showing us the lines down the North Fork.

Photos by Matt Rusher, Jason Cohen, and Link Jackson

WCKA: Cali Livin

Since the crash a little over six weeks ago my road to recovery has been incredibly smooth and forgiving. After 3 weeks of resting at home I re-grouped with the World Class crew in Northern California and slowly eased back into paddling. My first day back I took it easy, giving up the 49 to Bridgeport section of the Yuba River to paddle flatwater and get a feeling of how well my back would perform. With almost no soreness after the first day I started paddling class III-IV runs on the NF of the American (Giant and Generation Gap). Again I came away from these sections of river with little to no soreness in my back and continued to paddle nearly every day.

The crew putting on 49 to Bridgeport

Seth boofing big on the Yuba

One of the canyons on Generation Gap

After a few days in Nevada City we pushed on to the Trinity River and then into Eugene and to the Oregon Coast. Burnt Ranch Gorge on the Trinity, with it's numerous quality class IV-V drops, was definitely a stand out run and I look forward to spending more time on Cali's smooth granite wonders.

In Eugene we paddled the Miracle Mile section on the NF of the MF of the Willamette, and an addition mellow section of the McKenzie River. The Miracle Mile section felt like a class IV version of 'Gettin Busy' on the Little White and offers a good time for any progressing class IV boater.

At multiple locations on the Oregon Coast the crew enjoyed abundant blunts, pan-ams, and airscrews on all the big waves. Unfortunately after my first day of ocean surfing my back was more sore than it had been during the trip, so I decided to leave the next few days of ocean surfing up to everyone else and took over the position as cinematographer. After the coast we spent a couple days chilling out at our teacher Capo's house, enjoying an endless supply of homemade pizzas, then moved on to Hood River.

Back in Hood River, my home, the group paddled the Farmlands, Green Truss, and Middle sections of the White Salmon, upper section of the Wind River, and of course the classic Little White Salmon River. In Hood River evidence of everyone's progression over the semester became relevant as 8 of 10 students were able to paddle the Green Truss, a solid class V section of whitewater.

Left with only a couple runs in Idaho and a week of finals in Missoula school's quickly coming to an end. So far it's been an amazing semester to say the least, and I'm looking forward to the last couple weeks of being a WCKA student.

Here's a some photos from a few different runs throughout Cali

Maestro Capo

J.V.C.

Erik Parker

Olin Winberg

Seth Stoenner

Brian Jamieson

Another Cali seal launch

Capo Boof

Josh Larson

Seth Stoenner

Olin Winberg

Capo

A scouting session on Burnt Ranch

Straight from the Redwoods

All photos by Ben Kinsella