Gorgehits.com

CRG Video 2011-2012

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:09:00 +0000

It has been a busy year for us full of surprises, meeting new friends and working through big missions. We haven’t had much time to post updates or work on many projects here at CRG or gorgehits, but plans are in place for the next project. Keep checking back for more updates coming soon…for now, check out what has been going on the past year.

Habitat

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:42:00 +0000

A documentary by Ryan Scott & Hans Hoomans covering over 35 years of the progression of whitewater rafting in the Pacific Northwest. More information at HabitatFilm.com

Tshletshy Creek - Video

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 03:08:00 +0000

Tshletshy Creek, WA

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:30:00 +0000

Click on the image for the full Trip Report

Salmon River Gorge 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:02:00 +0000

Nuclear Flume 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:25:00 +0000

Click. Pay. Watch. Online Video Streaming

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:31:00 +0000

Pay to View has just launched with instant access to whitewater Feature Films and access to the Northwest Video Scrapbook Series. Watch Instantly! Click Here for more..

Major Creek (West Fork Gorge), WA

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 02:18:00 +0000

More info at gorgehits.com

Summit Creek, WA

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 01:11:00 +0000

..more at gorgehits.com

West Fork Gorge

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 06:16:00 +0000

Click HERE for the Video Update

NWVS #8 Bend, Oregon

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:00:00 +0000

NWVS #8 – At Home in the Gorge – Final Big Screen Premiere
coming to Bend, Oregon November 19th. Get your copy of NWVS #8 – CLICK HERE Premiere details on the flyer..

Brought to you by Alder Creek, Bend
and Pyranha Kayaks

Exploring the Lava Tubes

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:41:00 +0000

The Little White Salmon has always had a mysterious flow pattern during the winter months as the headwaters fill up and explode into the river. The lava flows in the headwaters have a lot to do with this pattern. Here is a short video from down in the hole..

The Next Chapter

noreply@blogger.com (Columbia River Gorge Productions) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:24:00 +0000

More at www.gorgehits.com

A Special Place

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:44:00 +0000

Paddlers keep progressing and old runs are being paddled in new ways.

In this video Keel Brightman shows a place that few have been..

Music
Band: Scull Soup
Song: Toe Jam
www.myspace.com/scullsoup

Pyranha Karnali L

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 03:27:00 +0000

The Karnali was released this season and rounds out the River Runner Series from Pyranha Kayak's whitewater range. Check out the Large Karnali in action on the Salmon River Gorge.

Music by: Sequence
Song: Turn me up
Album: Sample is as sample does
www.myspace.com/sequence1013

More Videos, Trip Reports, and local whitewater updates at www.gorgehits.com

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 02:55:00 +0000

Local Video Premiere News

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:35:00 +0000

This just in from Erik Boomer..
The latest edition to the State Series from LVM Video Premieres Friday December 5th at Everybody's Brewing in White Salmon, WA. details on the poster below

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to invite you all to have a good time at Everybody's Brewing
this Friday Night @ 9:00. There will be music, drinking, Video
(Including great carnage), drinking, Slideshow and did I mention the
booze?
The video covers two Quebec expeditions I was fortunate to go on this
fall, we ran big rapids on the oldest granite on earth! These two rivers
will be gone soon. It is such a crazy place!
The other half of the video focuses on California, Pat Kellers
chronicles and the boys at cali product served up a great segment.
Hope to see you all there.

Erik Boomer

Premieres - Past & Present

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 22:11:00 +0000

On November 18th Idaho River Sports hosted Northwest Video Scrapbook #7 at the Sun Ray Cafe in Boise, ID. Thanks to Thule, NRS, Salamander Paddle Gear, Level Six, Ruff Wear, New River Gear, Crumpler, EveryWear, IRS, & B-Real for helping out with the raffle and helping to make an awesome show.

Thanks to Geoff Frank & Alder Creek Bend for all the help hosting the Northwest Video Scrapbook #7 premiere in Bend, OR on November 20th.

We are going to take a break from premieres for the holiday season and start the tour again in 2009 at Hopworks Urban Brewery
Portland, Oregon January 15th
Hosted by Next Adventure
No Cover / Show starts at 9pm
more details coming soon.

Enjoy the rivers and the Holiday Season!

#7 DVD's are in! / Stebbins Creek, WA Post Flood

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:31:00 +0000

Northwest Video Scrapbook #7 DVD's are available. If your in or around Hood River stop by the The Kayak Shed and pick up your copy of the DVD while supplies last.

Enjoy and check out some recent NW action from the post flood on Stebbins Creek Washington below.

Stebbins Creek, Washington Post November Flash Flood 2008
This past week in the PNW was a phenomenal couple days of rain and water run off down the creeks and rivers! Mother nature kicked in and dumped rain for two days straight sending the rivers and creeks out of their banks, but it wasn't going to last long. Watching water levels during this was tough! I waited up until 1am to see the gauge refresh and it was still the same, everything was going straight up! The next morning at 5am, to my disbelief, the water was dropping very fast and had dropped almost as much as it came up.

For example:Literally, overnight we went from having only the White Salmon and other low water options to paddle to having too much water in the lower elevations! This takes most creek boaters back to dusting off their list and heading into the hills in search of the best option since the freezing level went above 7,000 feet. We had two in mind, but the first went way too high and that left us driving into the Upper reaches of the Washougal drainage to see if the water had dropped enough to run Stebbins Creek. At the take out we were pretty apprehensive seeing Mad Dog Falls pretty well covered with brown water rushing down the creek. Luke Spencer, who was the only previous Stebbins padder here said, "this looks like twice the flow that I've seen in here before!" Thinking back to the photos I had seen of Tsunami Falls, that sounded about right so optimism prevailed and we headed to the put in. We were 7 strong with 6 first timers and lots of water! This usually makes for an Epic day!

Staring into our creek from the top of the ridgeMy hat is off to the first explorers in this drainage. It's not often that I get so turned around on logistics that I feel totally lost, but I did here. After finding the trail we knocked out the 2 mile hike in about an hour and the water level looked a little more reasonable at the N.F. put in.

Dropping in on the NF with the confluence with the SF just down streamThe first half mile was great read and run boogie with one portage due to wood and then we came to the first big one. We scouted a beefy ledge drop, on river left, that had a long run out through some big fluffy reaction waves that lead directly into Jet boat Falls. We all had good lines here down to Jet boat. I gave Keel, Luke, & Tony verbal directions and they routed off the right side of the falls. We even had enough water that a few people ran the far left side of Jet Boat.

Tony on one of the bigger boulder gardens in the top section
photo by Luke Spencer
Dave Hoffman at the end of the bigger boulder garden
More eddy hopping and fun rapids later we had one more scout on a random rapid and then we arrived at the top of Lethal Injection. I knew it as soon as I peered over the horizon, sharp drop off with an extended wrap around wall on the right creating a pinched run out on the left that is blocked by huge old growth logs. (Note: these logs are half the size they were in previous photos taken here and it looks like they would get blown out in the next few years) We hiked up and over the left wall which dropped us on top of Tsunami Falls.

Deep in the portage around LI
"Now this is why we came here", Keel said, as I got fired up to drop in. Tsunami looked pretty stout, but the line looked fluffy and fast! The crux was making the turn behind the entry rock so you would miss the log in the first drop and keep going into the second, third, and fourth part.

Punching the hole on the first drop with the log on my right side

Heading into part 3 & 4 of Tsunami Falls

Scott Baker on Tsunami Falls
A few more followed the left lead in and then Luke decided to try his luck with the right side lead in line.

Luke Spencer dropping into the pit on the right side of Tsunami Falls
photo by TonyFrom where I was he dropped out of site long enough to get very concerned. Eveyone started to scramble for their ropes and then he came flying down the slide and back into a more hospitable place. Apparently the hole on the right side had stopped him when he dropped in and he was going into battle with with a very sticky whirlpool.

Luke exiting the first drop & heading downstream as fast as possible
Dan embracing the feelings we all had after Tsunami Falls
a day well spent!Everyone else ran Tsunami and we moved downstream at a quick pace. Our last scout was at the Zoom Tube. With an almost certain line into a seived out pile of wood in the center, Keel was the only taker on this one and he took the small amount of flow going far right past the mess of wood. The next section was some of the best read and run boogie water. We had picked up a little more flow below Tsunami and the already full creek was getting better. We came around the corner at the take out went off Mad Dog Falls and dropped into the swollen Washougal Rvier. This was one of the best days of paddling an exploratory creek in the gorge for me. The weather, flow, crew, and quality of rapids was a great mix on the Stebbins Creek Post Flood Mission 2008. Check out the video below.

Directions: For directions to this creek, as well as many others, check out the best source for exploratory creeks in the Pacific Northwest at Oregonkayaking.net

Flows: We had 12,000 cfs on the Washougal River when I left for the creek, we took off with the Washougal at 6,000 cfs. However, Stebbins did not seem to lose much water while we were on the creek.

*Photos Provided by Keel Brightman & Luke Spencer

Middle Kings Expedition 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Rob Bart, Ethan Smith, Ryan Scott, & Keel Brightman took on the Middle Kings River in California in the summer of 2008 for an unforgettable 6 day self support paddling trip in some of the toughest whitewater that Cali has to offer. Check out the video below.

Music by:
I-MC
Way to Real
Cali Soul
www.inevitablemc.com
myspace.com/theinevitablemc

Click here for the full Trip Report on the Middle Kings

Stebbins Creek Teaser

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 02:18:00 +0000

Stebbins Creek, WA at a high flow.
more of Stebbins Creek in Northwest Video Scrapbook #8

Check out the full Trip Report - click here

CRG Winter update 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:01:00 +0000

From Northwest Video Scrapbook #VI, the CRG Winter Update in 2008 features the Little White, Green Truss, Hagen Gorge, & the Condit Dam during the harsh winter conditions in the Columbia River Gorge.

Music by:
Sandpeople
Real Estate
www.sandpeople.com

True expedition style!

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Salmon River Canyon - Blitz Mission

It's always a treat when you return home from a big mission and have your local expedition come into play. Word spread that the Salmon River Canyon was a bit high last week and with that knowledge the mission was forming. The Seattle boys consisting of Paul Gamache, Scott Waidelich, Ben Hawthorne, & new B-ham resident Cody Howard rolled into town Friday night in proper form and saturday morning I woke up with a yard full of kayakers including Austin Rathmann and Rob Bart ready to get into the mission. After debating on how to run the shuttle, the logical idea was to load up 7 paddlers and boats into my rig, drive to the take out, and hike 6 miles up to the put in. The other option was to take two cars to the take out, drive a 3 hour shuttle (one way), run the river, drive another 3 hours in to get the put in car and a couple hours out and go home. With a 6 mile hike under our belts we had the car waiting at the bottom and 7 very excited paddlers scouting Split Falls. Highlights of the trip are different for everyone in this canyon for me the scenery, once again, was Epic, the waterfalls Epic, and two bros bombin Final Falls, EPIC!

Ben Hawthorne half way through the hike in

Scott Waidelich taking the first paddle strokes on the Salmon, dropping in above Split Falls

Paul Gamache on Split Falls

Rob Bart on the put in falls

Austin Rathmann left at Lil Niagra

Cody Howard charging Vanishing Falls

Paul exiting Vanishing Gorge

Cody on the only true rapid in the Canyon

Austin on Frustration part one
*Cody ran this shortly after and moved the new pice of wood in the LZ

Austin on Frustration part two

Scott dropping off Frustration part three

Austin running a new line on In Between

Paul Gamache decided that he had nothing better to do that day than have lunch at the top of Final and as EG would say, "run the stout". He was a bit too far right and corrected as he fell, but his boat didn't fully cooperate. Cody Howard watched Paul's line from above and decided to give it a go. The next thing I witnessed was the biggest dry hair line ever! Personally I like to run a waterfall, no matter how big, and not even get my face wet. This is why I don't run BIG waterfalls, I like to stay in front of the waterfall and stomp it, but the impact always has to go somewhere. Cody pulled that line on Final Falls and upon impact I think we all had a slight heart attack as we watched him land flat and float away upright. The next couple seconds were crucial....fist pumps and a paddle being thrown to the sky relieved us of our worst thoughts. Cody and Paul were fired up!!! After the disbelief wore off a bit we rallied to the take out and made it back to Hood before the sun went down.

Paul leading the charge on Final Falls

Cody Howard Huckin Huge

The final piece of the Salmon Canyon puzzle, the elusive gauge rock

*The flow was on the low side of good and I don't think it will hold much longer!
The next day we were all beat down, but we couldn't let Cody go home without seeing the L-Dub. After all his first paddle strokes in the PNW were off of the waterfalls of the SRC and he left no runnable drop unrun.

Props to Paul and Cody for steppin' it up on Final Falls and thanks to Paul & Ben for the use of the photos!

FINAL FALLS UPDATE August 30, 2008
On July 30th, Keel Brightman & I went back into the Salmon River Canyon. Both of us have been there a few times each and were confident that we could make this a quick day mission, but this also requires leaving the climbing rope behind due to weight on the 6 mile hike in & dealing with it at Final. The first time I was in this canyon this is how we did it, but committing to a 70 foot cliff jump takes a little acceptance. Acceptance that once your in that position, you have no choice but to jump or run Final Falls. To keep things moving along on this trip we committed to jumping Final Falls. The run went smooth as we ran most of the falls blind since I had been in there 4 days before.

Once at the top of Final Keel & I were stoked there was only one more major obstacle in our way. I walked over to the lone tree on river right and spotted my landing in the whitewater below. Now I know that Luke Spencer & Mike Northrop had hit bottom the previous year, but after reviewing the video it appeared that they just stepped off and didn't make it into the LZ of the falls. So that was my plan, take one big step, and land in the whitewater coming out of the falls as I had a few years earlier. I stepped out, had good free fall, and spotted my landing all the way to the bottom, braced for impact, went under, and spread my body to slow my descent. Just before I went all the way down I hit the sandy floor below the falls, maybe 8-10 feet underwater.

Once I swam to the side I warned Keel, but he was in a position to take news like that and put it in the back of his mind because that couldn't get him down any easier. He jumped and landed just left of where I did (a little closer to the Falls) and said he hit bottom pretty hard. Luckily, we both have a tendency to scollop our body's under water after a cliff jump to slow ourselves down as soon as we hit water. So after the last 4 people to jump Final Falls have hit bottom in various spots in the pool we decide we will never jump from river right again. River left may still be good, but it is much more intimidating than the right side. Needless to say, If you go into the SRC take a climbing rope, you will need it!

Let the Games Begin!

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:54:00 +0000

The game we were after was expedition kayaking at its finest.

*Rule one of any game - you can only get better by playing an better opponent.

Our opponent was completing a run down the infamous Middle Fork of the Kings River in California. Now we were not exactly planning this mission or training day after day for this particular run, but with two days notice Keel Brightman and I found ourselves on a trip with Ethan Smith and Rob Bart after the rest of the crew had gone in a few days before. Rob was at the take out so Keel, Ethan, and I set out on Phase one - Drive all day long to Kings Canyon (our take out).

Rob Bart and our fearless shuttle driver, Becca
Soon we were in Phase two - Drive our 7.5 hour shuttle to the trail head at Bishop Pass and start the hike. As we soon found out, you do not want to hike in with all your gear and no overnight permits. Team Raw Dawg had some trouble with the permit system and had to walk all the way back down from the top of the pass. It was late in the day so this also meant that we had to wait until the next day to get permits and hike in. With the opponent throwing sucker punches we set up camp and started our hike at 9am the next morning.

Phase 3 proved to be the toughest as we had to hike 12 miles in, over Bishop Pass, and descend into the Middle Fork of the Kings River. A couple recommendations for Phase 3 - *Take bug spray, trust me! I hate the stuff, but not as bad as I hate being swollen for 3 days due to the attack efforts of the little flying demon skeet's, they're not too bad below 7,000ft. *Test your back pack system way in advance, the longer you have to deal with it there, the longer you have to look up at Bishop Pass. also, make sure the plastic buckles on your carrying system can hold up to 80+lbs. without breaking. *Train for the hike, once again, trust me! I trained for the whitewater and not really the hike, and it was a little worse than I thought.

Phase 4 - Take the river one day at a time and one rapid at a time, but this phase will last for days on end and is not negotiable no matter how much you plead, the river gods can't hear you in this canyon. 43 miles of non stop whitewater dropping over 7,000 vertical feet after you hike over 12,000 ft. Bishop Pass to access the river.

This was my first High Sierra run and words can't fully describe the trip or the place. We were on the river for 5 long days before we made it to the bottom of Kings Canyon and it was the toughest experience in my life in many ways. No carnage to speak of, but plenty challenging and intense moments for everyone. Thanks to Todd Anderson of Team Pyranha for the use of the Everest, sick expedition boat! I'll let the pics tell the story from here on out, enjoy.

Photos Courtesy of Keel Brightman Photography - and Willy

L-Dub In Depth - Summer 1993

noreply@blogger.com (Northwest Video Scrapbook) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:04:00 +0000

With the low water blues going on in the Pacific Northwest I decided to post some classic low water footage from back in the day when the Little White was fresh on the creek boating scene. Here is part of the L-Dub In Depth that will be released in Northwest Video Scrapbook #7 on November 1st.

Paddlers in this video include:
Ron Reynier, Jeff Bennett,
Cal Diller, Scott Downey,
Eric Grimm, Charles Kersch,
David Krick, Roger Stewart,
Elizabeth Tarr, Scott Timmer,
Phil Unsworth, Shewn Wichstrom,
Tom Wolfe, & Mark

*The Local Hero Tour Dates will be released soon!