After leaving some great runs behind us in Revelstoke we headed for Squamish in hopes of hitting Tatlow and the Box Canyon of the Ahslu. We showed up to a torrential downpour and some flooded rivers too burly to paddle. Bryan Smith suggested Callaghan as a good back up so we headed for that. It was at a perfect level and a great warm up for the trip. The next day things were still high so we scouted some of the nearby park and hucks and took a rip down the Upper Cheak and another tour of Callaghan. The Upper Cheakamus was higher than I had ever done it making it extremly exciting and fun. It took fiteen minutes of contemplating at the first waterfall as the hole was giant but in the end it was an easy move we all styled.
The rain finally stopped and the rivers were receding, it was time to head up the Ashlu. It was still on the high side so Kelsey, Tim Loubier, and I went for a run down the Mine at a juicy flow. This run has a couple of amazing rapids, particularily the 12 foot ledge that's easy to run blind. If it wasn't for the portage that run would be worth doing laps on.
Finally on Saturday the water had dropped enough to go check out Tatlow. It was at a perfect medium level. Between the drive, the hike up and the bushwhack down it is a huge mission to get up there, for another creek it would be a penitence but for the Tatlow it is totally worth it. The first series ends in a perfect 20 boof onto a super soft pillow, definetly a highlight on a run full of amazing rapids. The next drop is a 20 foot slide thats seems to send everyone super deep into the big pool, out of the pool there are a couple more clean ledges. My favorite rapid on this run has to be Wall Drug, I was a little nervous about it due to no scout and all the hype surrounding it, in the end the line was bigger than I thought and I only had to brace a little upon impact with the pool. After this is the big 40 foot slide which is just another amazing rapid on this run. There are so many cool rapids on Tatlow I would have to write a thesis to do it justice so I just talked about the highlights in my mind.
One of many dump trucks up the Ashlu Valley
Tim Loubier on the second part of the Mine Rapid
Bryan Smith on the 20 foot slide
Ryan almost looped out of the slide after plugging it deep
Kelsey on the big slide
Can you get a better take out ? The Nymph pool
No comments:
Post a Comment