Speaking to middle school kids!

I was asked to speak at Career Day at Billinghurst Middle School in Reno, NV, by my friend and fellow paddler School Counselor Val Licon. My job was to talk about different jobs you can have on the river. My friends Colin Kemp, Hilde Schweitzer and Darin McQuoid all helped me by giving me information on different kinds of river jobs including raft guides, kayak instructors, store owner/managers and photographers/cinematographers. I spoke to over 150 kids between 6th and 8th grade. I made a slide show/video show to show the kids as well as brought in a few kayaks for the kids to sit in and then passed out Jackson Kayak stickers at the end. I think it went very well and I hope all the kids enjoyed the presentation!

Fun drop in San Marcos, Tx

Even though it is winter, I haven’t stopped boating. Northerrn Nevada ’s rivers are frozen over, but California rivers are only a few hours away and that’s where I have been going. Chamberlin Falls, a class 4 section of the North Fork of the American River, only runs a few months a year and I have been lucky enough to catch it about 4 times now. My favorite drop is Chamberlin Falls itself (http://www.awetstate.com/NAmericanC.html), Staircase and Bogus Thunder. It is only 5 miles long so we usually run it a few times.  I also took a trip to Texas to the  Olympic Outdoor Center (http://wwwkayakinstruction.org) located on the San Marcos River which is 72 degrees year round. Ben (1996 Olympian) and Michelle Kvanli (2009 women’s national slalom champ) coached me in slalom racing where I was able to win in my first slalom race of the year. I have a few more, but Junior Olympics here I come! If you want to learn to kayak, they have an excellent begginers to advanced program for both whitewater and slalom.  I had even more fun because my friend Henry Hyde, another 9 y/o kayaker, was there, and I met Chelsea Bornemann, a 13 y/o slalom racer, so it was cool to be around other kids. A large group of kids from Colorado were also there for racing and training, and we did the Tube Chutes, a fun water slide next to a dam, and I ran Graduation Falls with Henry and Chelsea, a 15 ft water fall that was lots of fun. I can’t wait to paddle with Ben, Michelle, Henry and Chelsea again because they are such fun and good friends! After we got back from Texas, I was able to paddle with my friend Ria on the Coloma to Greenwood section of the South Fork of the American River. She is only 7 and becoming a great kayaker-she even did her first combat roll when we were on the river! It has been a great 2010 so far and I look forward to more-Peace, Sage

Click on the link to see the climb!

In October I made the decision to climb a 5.7 route up Half Dome called Snake Dike. It is an 8 pitch climb with a final hike up to the top of Half Dome and it is estimated to take about 4 hours to hike up to, 4 to climb, and another 4 to hike out.  We started out by waking up at 2:30 am and leaving by 3:30 to start hiking up, My Dad, our friend Brett and my Mom all started the hike, but my Mom turned around after a few hours so she could take care of the dogs in our van. She carried extra food and water and my pack to Nevada Falls and then my dad carried my pack. We got a little lost on our hike and didn’t get to the base of the climb until 10 am, and there were 8 people getting ready to climb it ahead of us! We managed to finally get on the rock at 12 and started climbing. It took a long time because we kept catching up to the climbers ahead of us and having to wait until they cleared the route, but the views were incredible!  We didn’t get to the top of Half Dome until about 7″30 pm and took a break to take our harnesses off and eat a little food. Dad called Mom and she started hiking up again with extra water and sleeping bags just in case we bonked on the way down. I have to admit I was pretty tired and Dad actually carried me for about an hour on the hike down. We met up with Mom at about 11:30 pm and still had to hike down Vernal Falls. We didn’t get back to camp until 1 am and Mom made some lentil soup and then we all crashed!  We woke up the next morning at about 8 and were refreshed and happy, but we had to pack up camp and leave. It was a great experience and I can’t wait to go back! While in Yosemite, I also saw a bear, a bobcat and a California King Snake. I also got to meet one of the worlds greatest climbers- Ron Kauk! I watched a movie he was in and bought his book and he signed it for me and told me to email him so we could climb. It was super cool!

Who needs Disneyland!

What happens in California after a few years of drought. The reservoirs get low and sections of rivers normally underwater become runnable again. This weekend we did the Big Bend Run on the North Fork of the Feather River. This section is normally under 35 feet of water but the reservoir is so low we were able to run about 6 miles of class 3/4 whitewater. It starts out with a short paddle to a 35 ft. dam that makes a big slide/drop into the river. At first I was very nervous, but I watched several people run it and I decided to try it. I followed my Dad to the wave above the drop and Mom follwed me. When I started to go over I felt like I was going to slam to the bottom, but the roostertail wave carried me gently to the slide portion and the pillowy waves at the bottom.  I had so much fun that I paddled right over to the ropes hanging on the side of the dam and climbed back up to do it again and again. We had set up a pulley system for boats and everyone had to climb up a rope to get back up, but I was pulled up because I weighed less than some of the boats!

After several photo drops on the dam, we continued down the river for a lot of fun rapids. Box Car rapid was a riverwide hole that had a small rock slot that I was able to shoot through, while most of the other people  had to drop into the hole and were flipped. After a short lunch break and a fun seal launch, we continued paddling through a few more class 4 gorge rapids into the lake where we were picked up by motor boats and shuttled 7 miles across the lake to our cars. I hope to do this again next week.  Thanks Scott Sady for the great photos!

Riding the roostertail!

Peace,

Sage

Bow dancing!

What a busy month! After the American River Festival, we headed to Colorado to attend our friends Nathan Fey and Marin Peterson’ s wedding. Nathan is the Colo. American Whitewater rep. and Marin is a Predator Helmet rep. so of course we ended up on the water. After the wedding, 19 of the wedding guests drove to Utah to float the Westwater section of the Colorado River. It is a 17 mile class 3/4 float and we did it as an overnighter. The waves were big, the water cold and brown, the camp, cliffs, scenery, spectacular! My family was in our kayaks and the bride and groom were in our Dynamic Duo, and there were a few other kayaks and about 5 rafts, including our 14 foot raft Big Red, who was being paddled by the brides brother in law. LOTS OF FUN! After floating the river, we drove home, unpacked, repacked and drove to the Feather River Festival. I had a great time running the class 3 Rock Creek section and Class 4 Lobin as well as running the slalom course. The weekend highlight was the great party and fundraiser for American Whitewater that the Chico Paddleheads put on. They had 2 bands, hula hoops, fiber optic antennas and about 400 people. I was also able to have my friend Molly sleep over in the van. We both slept upstairs with my dogs Wyatt and Kenya-the 2 biggest ridgebacks, and had a blast-and slept well. 

Now we are home, cleaning and repacking the van so we can go to Yosemite for a week where I’m going to climb Snake Dike, a 7 pitch 5.7 climb on Half Dome. Wish me luck!

Slalom

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Sage in First Threat

It’s been another several busy weeks!  It started with an American Whitewater scheduled release on the Pitt River in California where I love to run the class 4 Hero Slide right next to the 30 ft waterfall.  It’s a blast!  Then we headed over to Idaho for some fun with our friends the Voorhees family. We started out on the Gutter, the neighborhood play spot, and I competed in their local Hometown Throwdown, then it was up to Garden Valley where we camped out and ran the Staircase and Canyon sections of the South Fork of the Payette River.  The highlight was watching 12 y/o Alec run the class 5 + Big Falls-and he stomped it!  Dad also was able to do several runs on the upper North Fork of the Payette, another class 5 section, and he had a ball!  We had to leave a few days early because my Grandmother had a heart attack, but she is OK now. Then next week was the American River Festival where I competed in the rodeo, slalom race and the duo down river race with my Dad.  I was the only girl in Jrs. and competed against two boys, both over 15-I placed 3rd. Sunday was the slalom race where I competed against another teenage girl and the boy who won the rodeo. but this time I was first!  Then Dad and I hopped into our Dynamic Duo and did the first inaugural Lars Holbeck Memorial Down River Race from Chili Bar to Trouble Maker. We were the only parent/child team so we were first, but we were only 1 minute behind the 3rd place adult team

Slalom race