Paddle Humboldt: Christmas Stout

Well, here we are, sitting in the Santiago airport as the days in Chile draw to a close. My goal of paddling until my gear, and myself fell to pieces has been met, and I am left with a feeling of immense satisfaction, and a slightly sore back.

Christmas Day dawned bright and sunny, promising to hold some stouts in the near future, and we greeted the sun with a huge breakfast and a round of Bochi ball. Afterwards it was time to roll up to the Palguin, for my most anticipated day of the trip. Two weeks previously, we had scouted out the Salto Palguin and spent about 3 hours pulling out a massive log that blocked the entire falls. That day, lacking proper safety, and with the day growing late, we bagged out and decided that we would return. It turned out that on Christmas would be just that day. This time we returned, boats on shoulders, and tromped up to the put in. After a quick scout, I decided it looked good to go, and with safety and cameras in place, I hopped in my boat, and ferried into the river left eddy. Looking downstream, I felt surprisingly calm, maybe a bit naively, as I stared into the chaos downstream. I peeled out, charged the pillow, took the scariest boof stroke of my life, and began my plunge down 90 feet of whiteout. The hit at the bottom was somewhere between Muhammud Ali in his prime, and a speeding freight train. I basically exploded in the base of the falls, having my helmet and both elbow pads ripped off, as I simultaneously ejected from my boat, nearly losing my sprayskirt in the process. I went straight to the bottom of the river, where I had time to contemplate the immense pressure of the falls, as well as the very smooth stones that made up the river bed. It was in this moment that I knew my shit talking karma from weeks previous had finally caught up to bite me in the ass, and set things right in the world once again. But, all is well that ends well, and I would say despite the miniature Chernobyl incident at the base of the falls, that everything went pretty damn well. I owe a huge thanks to Mike and Ben at the bottom of the falls for pulling my gear out of the water, and Dave for a hand up onto shore, as well as Dave Hughes for the photos. After witnessing the meltdown, Seth decided to hold off, and wait for another day to run this drop. I can't say I blame him either...

We paddled down from the Salto to enjoy a nice lap on the upper Palguin, and then headed off to the Medio for some more Christmas treats. Seth fired off the stout ten, and then stuck the smoothest line I have seen off the 70, and Dusty fired off the stout for his first time since his arrival in Pucon. Good lines were had by all, well mostly good lines, as Kiwi Ben boofed the living hell out of the 70 and gave his back some grief. Fortunately, no serious damage.

Now, what everyone is waiting for...

Thanks to Emily Meredith and Dave Hughes for the photography!

Martin Belden and Seth Stoenner contemplating the lead in to Salto Palguin.

Salto Palguin.

Martin gettin ready to boof the right pillow.

A nice post-carnage shot. If you look close, you will notice that I am not wearing a helmet... but hey, who wears helmets anyways? It's more of just a fashion thing right?