fuy!!

Got Carnage?

I know what you sickos want. "Oh, stop with the pretty birdies. Who cares about your stupid kayak tricks. The cute babies are borrringggg......GIVE US BLOOD!"  Fine. I'll satisfy your putrid lust for violence. You people disgust me. 

Yesterday, we spent the morning on the Lower Trancura, hopelessly practicing in playholes. Afternoon, we went back to the Upper. Although the Upper has a good volume, approx 3500-4000 cfs, in parts it is very rocky - and those volcanic rocks tend to be pointy and sharp. Bruce flipped early on in Devil's Throat, swam and got worked over the rocks all the way to the bottom. He sustained a cut over the eye and a major shiner. Also, he re-injured a cut on his hand that he sewed up the day before. This morning he is not a happy puppy, so will stay home and chill. Bill and Janice are leaving us and going touring in Argentina. Barbara, Longs, and I are headed for the Fuy, Bridge-to Bridge run.

So- any more questions about why I wear that dorky looking facemask?

Happy Birthday Mom!

and now... Girls On Trampolines!!

Chucho

This is Tom going through Chucho, the first drop on the Upper Trancuro.

san pedro practice hole

This is 51% of a cartwheel. With some good video editing I am confident I can create the illusion that I am doing it for real.

Finally Video!

This is Last Laugh on the Upper Trancura..

yesterday and today

Had a couple of really long days, and need to catch up. Yesterday, we ran the Upper T again, then came home, ate lunch, took a siesta, and went out and ran it again. That was perfect. For me, the first time I do class 4, I am basically pointing it where I think they are telling me to go and holding on. The second time, I sort of know why I screwed up, and the third time I can relax and pick my line.  That is, if the 3 times are close together. Otherwise, I forget and start over each time. 

The first major rapid on the upper, the one we scouted from the road, is called Devil's Throat, or Gates of Hell, depending on who you are talking to. (Note to Mom: it is really called Fluffy Bunny).  It has a crux go-left move to stay out of a bad hole/whirlpool. By the 3rd time I figured out that I was actually going too far left, due to the insistence of the guides saying that everyone makes the same mistake of not jamming left aggressively enough. (No criticism intended to our  most illustrious guides - they know it is better to go too much left than not enough.) So I was hitting the left wall, spinning and blah blah blah. Much better this time. There is some video of this that I will try to post later.

The next biggie is called Salto Feo, "Ugly Waterfall". This is a dramatic drop that has a narrow runnable slot just left of the gut. There is a large hole that runs parallel and adjacent to the good line. So, if  you are a few inches off to the right, into the hole you go. Or if you make the mistake of putting your blade in on the right, there is nothing down there to grab, and over you go. The pictures up top are a couple of shots of me running it clean.  Notice the left blade is always in. That's the secret.

The third significant rapid is a portage, but you can opt to run the bottom part, called Last Laugh. We didn't run this bit the first 2 times, but did the third, and it was fine. I have video of that also, if I can get them to post.

Today:

We did an all day run on the San Pedro, which is about 2 hours south of here. The San Pedro is a beautiful, bathtub-warm river. Many of the rivers here run lake to lake. On the san Pedro, you put in on a lake and within a few minutes you are on the river. The water is a very clear turquoise color, and has shelves and ledges that look like travertine, but aren't. The riverbed is made out of volcanic ash that has compressed into mud ledges. The water looks and feels like the Caribbean. Here are some pictures of Bruce and Barbara dropping over a shelf.

The San Pedro is sort of deceptive. It is mainly a 10 mile scenic class 2 float, but it is punctuated by 6 or so big water drops. I was in the play boat and was getting tossed around pretty good. 

Thanks to all who played "what's that bird?". Those of you who guessed Ringed Kingfisher, give yourselves 10 points. Subtract 5 if you Googled it.

Here's your next one. This dude is everywhere, and noisy as hell when you are trying to sleep. His local name is Bandurria, AKA Black Faced Ibis.

Lower, then Upper Trancura

Today we ran the Lower Trancura again, but I switched from a Diesel to a Project.

(Those are boats, you non-boaters. Click on the links). The river just got more challenging. Tren took a play boat also and started getting me going on rodeo. He was very patient and encouraging. Not once did he say, "you really suck". Although it is basically a 3, the river is fairly high volume for playboating, so I spent some time upside down.

Afternoon, 3 of us went to the Upper Trancura, and the other 2 re-ran the lower. The  upper is a full notch up. Most of it is solid Class 4, with one tough portage around a waterfall that they call a "doable 6" . No thanks. We scouted the most challenging rapid from the road on the drive up. I was really regretting the playboat when I saw that one, and then discovered that the boys switched boats for me during lunch, so I was in the Diesel again. It's good to have the local talent looking out for you.  I don't think I mentioned this before, but these guys are extremely safety oriented. This is the most important thing when you are in a foreign land. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Right, Kelly?   

There is a cool sliding falls we ran called Salto Feo ("Ugly Waterfall"). I ran it inverted. Fortunately, we will be back for a re-match on that one. 

The photos: A bird I spotted while sitting in an eddy. Could not find it in the bird book here. Any birders out there who can look it up? 

Picture at put-in to the lower of some Chileans getting ready to go boogie boarding down the river. I haven't interacted too much with the natives yet, but they seem to be really into sports. 

The video is of Tom running one of t he first drops on the upper. Pretend it's me. You can't see the face anyway. 

Keith

oops , no video. If anyone knows the secret of converting a .mov mac movie to something that can either be uploaded directly here or posted on Youtube, please let me know. I think Scott told me how once, but I forgot. Barb, ask your kids.

Trancura_River_Lower

Each day consists of two sessions. The daily schedule is brutal- wake up, eat, kayak, eat, nap, kayak, nap, eat, drink, sleep. Repeat. Like it says on my t-shirt, Life is Good. If my secret retirement plan is executed successfully, I will just stay here forever.

Session one, we  went out to an eddy line and did technique drills all morning. Session 2, we ran the Lower Trancura, which is an easy class 3. Some good surf waves. Nice volume, approx 4ooo at take out. This is considered low for this river.

Sorry, no whitewater photos yet. No good opportunities today. Here are some lodge pictures, and one of Volcano Villarica, which you see from everywhere. Notice it is smoking.

K

Day One

This is the start of my first attempt at blogging. The idea is to not send 50 people one postcard each and instead post an online diary of the trip. With pictures, later. None yet. 

It takes a long time to get here. Janet took me to the SF airport at 6AM Saturday morning. Flight left at 8. About 5.5 hours to Atlanta. 6 hours in Atlanta airport. Then, 9.5 hours to Santiago, leaving at 9:30pm. The only saving grace was that my bro Augie got me into biz class with his Delta employee status. Also, Augie and Karen met me at ATL and took me out for dinner. THANKS GUYS! 

Arrived Santiago around 8:30am Sunday, including 5 hour time difference from home. Go through customs, etc, and then catch a local flight to Temuco. Just made it. Get picked up by Tom Long, owner of Cascade Outfitters at 11:30 AM. I have been traveling 24 hours. Did I mention the business class seat? Did  I say how grateful I was?

Oh, one little problem- no suitcase. It got left in Santiago. They did, however, deliver my ski (paddle)  bag with most of my gear, so at least I can paddle.

Turns out there were 3 others on the plane who are with me on the trip - Bill & Janice from Boise, and Barbara from D.C. Tom takes us home, about a 2 hour drive to Pucon. We drive mostly through scenic ranch land with views of snow covered volcanoes. Weather is beautiful- about 90 and sunny. Not humid.

The company is owned and operated by the Long family - Tom, his kids, their wives, their kids - a big happy clan of expert kayakers. They bought some land just outside of town and built a big house/lodge within the last 2 years. It is beautiful. I will get some pictures up here later. My camera was in the lost suitcase. 

So- they fed us lunch, we took an hour nap, then went boating. I had to borrow a few things to supplement the gear I had, but it worked out.  Today's boating was just a nice easy Class 2+ run on  the Liacura river just to break off the rust and let them see how bad we are. We were 4 boaters and 3 instructors: Tom, Tren, and Smiley. It immediately became very apparent that this trip will focus on instruction. Tom is a great instructor and he loves teaching. They have the 2 weeks broken into 24 "sessions". Each session is a morning or an afternoon of boating. if you do them all, that's a boatload of boating. 

This evening, another guy showed up - Bruce from Boise. When they picked up Bruce in Temuco, my suitcase was there, so I now have all my stuff.

yay.