Paddle fest is always one of my favorite events every year. Buena Vista is an awesome little town with an amazing white water park. They have several features that are good at a wide range of levels. The brewery is in the park and the camping is free. The town is surrounded by huge mountains including about a half dozen 14ers. There are hot springs just a few minutes away to aid the sore muscles after a long day of paddling. If the Arkansas river had flow all year I would live in BV for sure.  This year we had very low water right up to the day of the comp. The weather turned warm on Thursday in time to bring us rising water levels all through the weekend. We competed in a feature that was a bit better than last year’s. The hole in BV isn’t very retentive but it is mellow and deep which makes it easy to set up tricks and you don’t worry about hitting the bottom.

Mr. Jed carried two of demshitz into the top 10 in the pro men’s competition with 2 more sitting on the bubble. Craig Kleckner finished 7th, Dave Fusilli was 10th, Mike Patterson 11th, and yours truly was 12th. Rowan Stuart took 2nd in the Jr women’s division and 2nd in C1 with modified Mrs. Jed and only half a paddle.

After the festival we paddled from Pine Creek all the way back to BV. About 12 or 13 miles I think. It was long and cold again. The crew rallied to Crested Butte Monday evening to hit OBJ. Amy and I had to make some stops for provisions and such so we opted out of Monday evening dusk run and met up just as they took out to camp. Our plan was to run it again Tuesday and get some photos at the big one but it got colder than the surface of the moon Monday night and the snow stopped melting which means the water stopped flowing. We woke up Tuesday sad to see such low water. We decided to head up this other creek (I forgot its name.) to scout a stout 7 tiered waterfally drop thing, mostly to kill time hoping that water would come back up. Sadly, it didn’t and Amy and I had driven all the way to OBJ to not kayak. Demshitz was determined to go kayaking though, so we decided that if the snow would not melt and come down to us we will go up into the mountains and kayak it in its solid form. Technically it is still white water. We drove up cottonwood pass and found a good stout slide that dropped about 200 vertical feet. Mike fired it up first followed closely by Craig. We were all pretty stoked until Matt went and ate shit pretty hard. He came flying out of his boat and went rag dolling down the hill. Fortunately, he was ok. Probably got some bruises but no real injury. Dave had a close call with some trees but pulled it off. I was completely out of control right from the start and barely kept it open side up. I hit the small pines that Dave narrowly avoided but it wasn’t too bad. It just sent me spinning. Some of you may recall from the Mt. Rose snow boater X a few years ago that I crashed through the fence and nearly boofed right off the mountain. Given my track record with snow kayaking I’d say this was a huge success just because I stayed on the right side of the hill. After our class V sled ride we went back to BV to spend a night and today ran Pine Creek and the numbers again. Now I am finally sitting at my computer and getting an update out. We head to Lyons tomorrow for the Lyons Outdoor Games. I will try to be a bit more punctual in getting that update to you. There is just so much kayaking to do. You understand, right? Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Cheers!

Pete

BV is such a beautiful place. I’d recommend it to any paddler, biker, climber, insert outdoor sport of your choice.

The view from our camp during the fest

Giant angry fish were jumping out of the water trying to bite paddlers.

I think this is me finishing my entry move. Well, I know it’s me. I’m not certain at what stage during my ride this was shot but I think it was the beginning.

Going for the right space godzilla. Not sure if it was good but the picture is kinda cool.

Demshitz was dancing on the shore opposite the crowd. We like to entertain.

Oh my god! That fish bit Craig’s head off!

Mikey likes it….

… no, he LOVES it!

There was a family of fox pups camping near us. Amy got within about 20 feet while taking these pictures.

Once he realized he was being photographed this fox kindly jumped up on the rock to pose.

There were 4 all together. These two aren’t too sure about that girl with the camera.

Cadence taking in the view in Crested Butted while we were stout hunting at about 10,000 feet. It’s hard to breathe up there.

Scouting the stout.

Considering options. Cadence says it’s no good and I soon agree.

Demshitz discussing the move for the 7th tier of the drop which involves dodging a cave.

Craig and Carli chillin on the trail

Demshitz headed up the frozen slide.

Mike stoked at the bottom after probing it for the rest of us.

Perhaps he celebrated a little too early.

He lost his paddle, but he nails the hand roll and is stoked.

The rest of the crew ready at the top

Craig stoked after having a clean line and getting the most distance on the flat out of everybody.

Matt Anger  catches just a little air on the way down…

and then he catches some edge on the landing…

… rolls…

… and swims…

… gotta give him style points for summersaulting out of his boat and kicking it off of him in one fluid motion…

Craig races to the rescue as Matt continues to tumble down the hill.

and he’s still falling.

After all that Manger is stoked to be in one piece. Some bumps, some bruises, but nothing broken. I’d call that a win.

Craig is so overcome with joy to see Matt standing that he has to sit down.

I am out of control and on a collision course with the trees.

Going for the spin

a quick brace

It’s no good. Impact is imminent.

Oh good. I just hit the small one.

Watch out Craig!

Didn’t crash into a tree, at least not a very big one. Win

So glad that’s over.

Elk on the side of the road on Cottonwood Pass.