Everybody loves twins!

The highlight of the Canada trip for me had to be an unrun split drop thatfellover 70 feet vertically into a perfect pool below. I say split becauseanotherbraid of the creek pours into this drop and the two curtains convergeas theyboth enter the pool below.

After a very thorough scouting process, Scott Feindel decided to run her first. I couldn’t wait for my turn.

Inorderto run this one we had to repel into an overhanging canyon 25 feetto theriver bank, put in, paddle past a small hole, and over the lip.


Scott runs Twins.

Whenrunninga big waterfall, the most important aspects of the drop are the kayak’sangleand the paddlers body position when he or she lands. It is very importanttohave practiced controlling the angle of the boat while freefalling beforerunninga big drop such as this one. Until it becomes second nature to pencilperfectlyvertical into the pool, it’s hard to remember to concentrate onany thingbut how fast the bottom of the drop is racing at you. It’s alsoimportantthat your instincts be perfect when falling. If the drop is 70feet, youhave less than two seconds to make sure you’ve got it right fromthe edgeof the lip to the splashdown in the pool below. Not much marginfor errorhere.

On this particular day in Beautiful British Colombia,I was onmy game and so was Scott. If I hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have runthe dropand I’m sure neither would he.

Scott broke the ice and got the first descent of the twins with a flawless run so, I was up.

AsIpaddled off the edge, I could see the river snaking away around the bend7stories below. Slowly I leaned forward tucking my face in the crook ofmyright arm so as not to hit my nose on the cockpit rim or my paddle. Iclosedmy eyes knowing that I was about to enter the pool at exactly 90 degrees,slowlystop falling, and shoot to the surface with adrenalin exploding. The dropwent perfectly, and even though it was two weeks ago, I can’t stopsmiling.


McCale runs Twins.

McCalewatched two clean runs, and decided it looked fun. He was right, and althoughhe’s a very skilled paddler on rapids like theTriplets running big dropsis a bit new to him. As he paddled off the lipof the 70 footer he fell intothe easy trap of getting a bit too excitedand full of adrenaline above thedrop. Adrenaline is really good, but it’simportant to stay calm and controlledease into the drop, not stroke toohard, and tuck at the end. McCale tookan overzealous stroke at the topwhich turned into a giant boof stroke. 30feet down, he was totally flat,and my stomach and jaw dropped in terror. Landing flat at 70 feet is runninga huge risk of a broken back or worse. Luckily an air stroke sealed thedeal of a big gun show carnage entry andflipped him upside down, ejectinghim from the boat on impact, but savinghis back. He stood up, gave the“I’m OK” head pat, and put on the classicdeflated ego face.


Trip runs Twins...

Everyone misses lines, everyone swims sometimes, the key is to learn from our mistakes so we can go boating the next day.


Peace,
Trip