tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58005611254198403472012-02-16T07:02:03.306-08:00Black belt weekend warriorWilly Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.comBlogger461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-82404170826713730192009-05-09T08:39:00.000-07:002009-07-21T08:44:14.726-07:00

We decided to ski Hurd Peak in Roman's van on the way to the Eastern Sierra. It was about 10PM and we had barely left the Bay Area. This left us arriving at the South Lake trailhead at 3AM. After much debate we ended up sleeping in the parking lot for about an hour. At 4:30AM jetboils were bubbling with coffee and Carleton was cracking the whip. The approach to Hurd Peak started on the same

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-87854005235125709972009-04-06T15:13:00.000-07:002009-04-20T20:36:36.551-07:00

Carleton rallied me for a totally unplanned overnight in the Eastern Sierra on fri afternoon. Armed w/ guidebooks, coffee and the Northern California Gazeteer we set out at 9pm on fri night to an unknown destination on the east side of the Range of Light. Our goal was to ascend to a place with lots of options, camp and ski as much as our legs would allow. We decided on the Dana Plateau b/c it

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-80752586670361833332009-03-28T14:55:00.000-07:002009-03-30T01:15:57.763-07:00

"And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. And on the 16 billionth day God made the drysuit so that man could paddle the

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-11008347274953477992009-03-19T11:55:00.000-07:002009-03-20T14:41:50.165-07:00

Roman Nelson and Rick Rice were kind enough to invite Johann and I on a snowmobile / ski trip in Sonora Pass. I had never snowmobiled before and it blew away a lot of preconceived notions. First off, it is a lot harder than it looks. It's easy enough to cruise around on flat ground, but to use one as a chairlift to access steep terrain requires a lot of strength, coordination and knowledge.

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-17250846004622921342009-02-23T10:20:00.000-08:002009-03-16T15:17:30.494-07:00

Eva and I skied around on a mountain near Mt. Rose on sat. I think it was the same one where I met Eric and Stacey though I'm not absolutely certain. Great conditions early and it got crusty at the end. Turns out Eva really likes powder :)Slideshow or gallery:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-52113042909216003632009-02-23T10:14:00.000-08:002009-02-23T10:19:53.649-08:00

I ended a fantastic work / ski week by soloing Jakes Peak early in the morning once the avy danger subsided from the recent storm.  It was unbelievable snow and I had some of the best tree turns I've ever had.Slideshow or gallery:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-73110201832459544862009-02-09T23:09:00.000-08:002009-02-10T00:19:09.943-08:00

Last week Scott Fair and I conducted an amateur mission on Mt. Tallac.  It started w/ an almost 9 am wake up, became an aimless search for a snow park permit and evolved into a long trip up the wrong side of the mountain.  We had to park at the new snow park b/c the folks in the neighborhood now lock the gate.  Apparently they would rather get out of their car twice every time they leave their

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-24685780913357935292009-01-20T01:45:00.001-08:002009-03-16T15:16:44.569-07:00

It's been a long time since I've updated.  This is mostly due to lots of work and surf season.  Surfing is impossible to photograph while you're doing it (more on this later.)  In the meantime Eva and I went on a new years trip to Death Valley.  The place means what it says.  It's dead.  It is a scab on the earth with puss oozing out of cracks and blistering in the hot sun.  It is the most silent

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-21409078491116356272008-10-08T02:14:00.000-07:002009-01-20T02:19:57.660-08:00

Late in the summer Eva and I took a road trip of the coast.  I had just demolished my toe at a wedding so we were unable to do very much in terms of physical activity.  But we had a lot of fun nonetheless.  We saw redwood forests, sand dunes and Jurassic Park beaches.  We even saw the place where the Forrest Moon scenes from Jedi were filmed.  Slideshow or gallery:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-87928362782365020082008-07-22T21:14:00.001-07:002009-03-16T15:16:00.879-07:00

Preamble:The Middle Kings is humbling. Not in the way feel when your dad spanks you for misbehaving, but in the way you'd feel after a major earthquake. In the end the Middle Kings is just another river, but every aspect is scaled up so much that conventional river running tools dull to uselessness long before you reach the takeout. Only the purest methods and mentalities can pass through

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-2161238315063036362008-07-17T01:25:00.000-07:002008-07-22T21:40:35.285-07:00

I've been back from our 7 day trip (2 days of hiking 5 days of paddling) down the Middle Kings for four days now and I still don't know what to write.  All I can say is that it is an experience that goes way beyond beautiful granite canyons and navigating rapids.  I don't think I'll ever be the same again after that run.  As far as carnage, we had a near trouble free trip and we pretty much ran

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-80728556718769517012008-06-30T01:21:00.000-07:002008-06-30T01:36:37.688-07:00

As part two of the Middle Kings training plan we wanted to do a big climb and sleep as high as possible to acclimate for the put in hike.  So we went from Cherry Creek, through Yosemite, to Tioga Pass.  The smoke was bad and we were happy to be heading up and away from it.  I actually almost bailed and went back to SF but Carleton talked me out of it.  When we got there Carleton scouted out our

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-31126389644512177762008-06-30T00:22:00.000-07:002008-07-04T21:57:41.485-07:00

As part of our Middle Kings training plan, me and Carleton woke up early on Sat and went to Cherry Creek.  It was probably the last time of the summer that it would be running at 2k.  For those unfamiliar, the shuttle to Cherry Creek is brutal.  But the beautiful thing is that it's brutal for the people doing the lower section as well.  The take out for Cherry Creek is the put in for the Lower

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-23742722802655811272008-06-22T22:23:00.000-07:002008-06-22T22:53:38.669-07:00

If California were Italy, Yosemite would be Rome and this hike would be St. Peters. The downside of hiking Half Dome is that it's no secret. This 17 mile, 5,000+ vertical foot trip is almost as popular as St. Peters. But like St. Peters, there is a good chance that it will make you believe in God.Eva and I crashed in my truck at the Happy Isles parking lot at around midnight the night before.

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-9933614778972050172008-06-10T08:52:00.000-07:002008-06-10T22:13:34.729-07:00

Shuttle:Our adventure began long before we saw the water. Carleton had the elusive flow dialed and Kurt was driving all the way from BC. Since Kurt's Civic would not make it down the dirt roads both Carleton and I had to drive from the bay. After getting gas I realized that my throw-rope, water filter and pin kit were not strapped into my boat. The rope and bottle were wedged in lucky places

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-85607892837998711242008-06-02T23:51:00.001-07:002008-06-03T03:42:38.410-07:00

After a fun day of climbing we passed out hard next to the South Merced intent on running it in the morning.  In the dark of night the flow looked on par or above last year's trip.  The morning showed a flow definitely higher than last year's though still below what I'd like.  I usually did this 24 mile trip in two days but Jared claimed it was doable in one.  Though I secretly wished we had

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-54118370874595832342008-06-02T02:06:00.000-07:002008-06-02T23:48:51.777-07:00

Jared led a couple of pitches at the base of El Cap and Zach and I followed.  We started on "Moby Dick."  Jared went up after a nice guy named Mike aborted his attempt at the entire wall.  It was a bummer to see him emptying his 6 gallons of water before carrying his gear back. I had never crack climbed before and when I began it looked like a raccoon trying to rape a skunk.  Mike gave me the

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-88276210836044385652008-05-26T12:40:00.000-07:002008-05-27T01:09:15.421-07:00

The East Fork of the Kaweah is a contradiction.  It drops ~300 fpm through a 4 mile long classic Cali granite gorge.  I've never seen so many huge clean drops stacked on top of one another for such a long distance.  The catch is; I've never seen so many sketchy, epic portages in such a short distance.  I ran the EF years ago with Forrest, Andy O, Polk and John and I didn't think much of it.  On

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-58925157110909520922008-05-25T17:37:00.000-07:002008-05-26T17:48:55.132-07:00

Me, Jared and Carleton shuttled by Lana drove south to the Kaweah drainage to escape the rain in SF.  We imagined classic easy access paddling and climbing in the afternoon.  We were met with cold weather and rain the whole time.  Hospital Rock is a great run that I've done a few times before.  Once was on the low side, once was on the high side and this time was just right.  We started above the

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-47485303939140400622008-05-18T17:26:00.000-07:002008-05-19T12:51:12.212-07:00

The weather was really hot this w/e so most runs were way too high.  After Carleton purchased a handsome new boat and a bunch of other stuff, we headed to the North Yuba.  The diurnal was swinging the flow by +- 1,000 cfs per day.  We put on to medium flows but were expecting much more water in a short amount of time.  The Yuba did not disappoint.  After a few fun slides and rapids we merged with

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-3998898082694938452008-05-12T12:59:00.000-07:002008-05-12T17:06:29.501-07:00

I'll never forget the first time I ran Golden Gate.  I've been wanting to come back for years but since I was always in Cali on vacation, I shelved it in favor of new runs.  Now that I live in San Francisco, Golden Gate is 2 hours from my house.  So I woke up early on sunday morning and met Zak Quick and Thomas in Pollock Pines.It was my second time on the river this year and I planned to start

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-52768565131298826752008-04-29T01:11:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:10:31.770-07:00

After Ventana Wilderness, Eva and I cruised around Big Sur for the Day.Gallery or slideshow:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-75583254282207187172008-04-28T23:59:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:10:50.149-07:00

For Eva's birthday we went backpacking in Ventana Wilderness.  The idea was to hike 10 miles in on fri night and hang out in Sykes Hot Springs on sat morning before the w/e crowds arrived.  We scored with a great campsite, minimal crowds and one of the springs all to ourselves.  Excitement came in the form of hearing a mountain lion or bobcat growl and break big sticks as he ran away,

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-27332292703272128342008-04-14T23:18:00.000-07:002008-05-12T17:19:08.642-07:00

At the climbing gym it took about 2 seconds to convince Jared and Lana to go to ski Mt. Shasta. With a naively positive attitude and slightly more than zero research we set off that fri for the Avalanche Gulch route up the 14,179 foot volcano.  The first day was really pleasant skinning up to a frozen lake at ~10,500 feet.  John Mulcahy joined us most of the way through the climb.  We set up

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-77037500536441173892008-03-23T00:46:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:12:31.943-07:00

Lindsey and I went on a fun impromptu tour around the Mt. Rose area.  We went up Mt. Tamarack, down it, up Relay Peak, down it, up the back side of Tamarack and finally back down to the car.  The snow was good, and we got really tired and extraordinarily sunburned.  When I'm feeling lonely, I still close my eyes and fantasize about the post game burritos in Incline Village.Slide show or gallery:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-49398158426093334892008-03-10T02:44:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:12:31.944-07:00

Roman Nelson let me tag along with his large group on a neat South Lake tour from Carson Pass to Kirkwood.  Really fun day, met a bunch of new folks and skied some nice lines...Slideshow or gallery:

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-38287177889410291002008-03-02T16:02:00.000-08:002008-05-08T03:10:18.019-07:00

I took Eva on her first backpacking trip to Yosemite. We hiked up the snow creek trail and camped at the rim. The hike was amazing until we had to post hole most of the last 500 feet. She got really cold and had to get in her sleeping bag with a few Nalgene's full of boiling water to warm up. But after her first dehydrated meal she warmed up and slept like a rock. A coyote visited our tent

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-46497816191923388002008-02-19T22:37:00.000-08:002008-05-07T18:12:31.945-07:00

After the manzanita jihad with Carleton we went back to Emerald Bay but did a different peak.  I'm not sure what the name of it was, but you can see it from the parking lot on the way up the summer trail.  Anyways, somehow I lost my car keys and realized it about 20 minutes into the trip.  I thought it must have fallen out of my usual pocket which was unzipped.  I decided to say screw it, the

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-18069530576042436782008-02-18T01:44:00.000-08:002008-05-07T18:12:31.946-07:00

I haven't known Carleton for very long but the amount of time we've spent together in manzanita bushes more than makes up for it.  Carleton had his eye on the a steep set of roadside chutes that leads down to the Emerald Bay parking lot next to Lake Tahoe.We boot packed straight up a 40 degree hill through a hive of manzanita that sat on top of a stream running just below the snow.  I could still

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-41963104432379210482008-02-09T00:47:00.000-08:002008-05-07T18:12:31.947-07:00

I went with Lindsey and his friends to ski the Tahoe classic Mt. Tallac. It was so hot that most of us were skinning in our undies. Chad taught me the cool trick of leaving the boot in the ski and taking it off your foot to change pants. I would have gone 20 more years without figuring that out. There were incredible views and some great pitches. One steep tree section sticks out as the best

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-68064283014029627052008-01-12T01:15:00.000-08:002008-05-07T18:12:31.948-07:00

One of the first things I did when I moved to California was secure a ski cabin with some old friends.  This was going to be the year that I transitioned more fully to back country skiing.  I bought the few remaining pieces of equipment necessary and realized that I had nobody to go with.  So I did what I always did in these situations.  I drove to the nearest spot and poached somebody's trip.  I

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-51028695669688753262007-06-10T09:55:00.000-07:002008-05-08T20:09:54.680-07:00

My first attempt on Upper Cherry Creek turned out rather badly and I was looking forward to running it at a proper flow.  Since the last run I moved to San Francisco and shed my last vestige of old school kayaking by garaging my Diablo and purchasing a Dagger Nomad.  After running the SF Merced again in the Diablo and barely taking any gear to make it light, I realized that that boat is no good

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-49890367988810167262006-06-15T22:29:00.000-07:002008-05-06T01:24:50.875-07:00

I flew out from DC for my annual Cali fix and Carleton Goold scooped me for SF Merced.  The river was dropping hard and it was very uncertain whether we would make it or not.  So to save time we put on with no shuttle.  The flow was the low side of good.  Still clean and fun, but the famous boogie water in the beginning was channeled out.We were passed late in the day by Jared Johnson and his

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-49344424688723874942006-04-28T23:11:00.000-07:002008-05-12T16:51:39.337-07:00

This is the lump sum of the photos and videos of 3+ years living in DC and the hundreds of falls runs that ensued.  There was seldom an afternoon from early spring to late fall where some combo of me, Louis, Nejc, Aaron, Kurt and sometimes Bhando were not out there.  I personally broke thousands of traffic laws and blew as many mental gaskets fighting traffic from work to my daily boofs. The

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-1013400032525072402005-10-01T20:57:00.000-07:002008-05-08T03:44:54.492-07:00

Crew: Me, Ryan Bahn, Louis Geltman, Aaron Mann and Kurt Braunlich.  It was my second run and everybody else's first.  Old emails suggest the flow was around 3.1.  I know it was notably higher than my first run with Edgeworth & friends.  Linville is really fun but it has some of the highest consequences of any run I've ever done.  The undercuts are everywhere and dozens of class IV boofs are do or

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-24899893778734863202005-07-10T16:49:00.000-07:002008-05-07T18:02:24.707-07:00

I first saw Upper Cherry Creek on a lab computer in the CU Boulder Engineering School.  Gordo, Gary and Forrest had just completed their eventful descent and the photos were like nothing I'd ever seen.  See here, here, here, here and here.  The most amazing section was Cherry Bomb Gorge.  (Prev photos courtesy of Gordon Banks.)  The walls in that picture are about 800 feet high.  Each of those

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-48791285777441437362003-10-28T21:40:00.000-08:002008-05-05T09:38:07.456-07:00

The DC and Atlanta slalom crews joined forces for the first and only time on Mann's Creek during Gauley Fest weekend.  It was somewhere between hysterical, stupid and fun.  But looking back it was mostly fun.  Having just moved from Colorado I had never seen so many people on a hard river.  Of course it was Gauley Fest.  Michael Montaigne occupied the sharp, sharp, sharp end of the crew.  He

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-18249625275716461542003-07-19T23:57:00.000-07:002008-05-27T00:59:22.599-07:00

After our rough draft of the Crystal Gorge I've always wanted to go back and run the inner gorge.  As a matter of fact I've always wanted to run it ever since I read about it in Gordo's book:"The sun is gone, there are no berries and even though the takeout is only a few drops away, time seems to stand still down here."  Somewhere along the way the notion of totally committing myself to

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-21909972185122428812003-06-15T17:25:00.000-07:002008-05-08T03:21:39.358-07:00

My Vallecito trip had an interesting beginning.  I told Karl that I would deliver some boats from Wildwasser to CKS on my way to Durango.  I got a late start as always and in trying to find CKS at 3am I made a few U-turns on the empty highway.  Well, almost empty. There was a man with his car running and lights on standing on a pullout.  I thought he was pacing to wake up or going to the bathroom

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-6200768606217882842003-05-19T01:58:00.000-07:002008-05-15T03:46:49.776-07:00

The Embudo is my favorite run in the Colorado Guidebook.  After briefly contemplating running Rio Brazos, me and Karl drove down to New Mexico to meet Gary, Gordo and Forrest.  The first highlight came early in the ride.  After a period of silence, Karl looked at me and mysteriously said, "Open road.....Colorado....."  I will never forget that awkward moment we shared.The best part about the

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-13442699883558412662003-02-15T12:59:00.000-08:002008-05-07T18:12:31.949-07:00

Tor, Christian, Karl, Chad and I attempted a point to point traverse in the Indian Peaks Wilderness.  It was my first winter camping trip.  We started at about midnight on a fri and skinned until 2am.  We dug a huge ditch for the mega-mid and went to sleep.  Well actually the ditch was one person too small so I slept in my bivy outside.  I woke up with about a foot of snow on top of me and was

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-87549690068270467412003-01-07T17:04:00.000-08:002008-05-08T03:31:43.863-07:00

Brooks Foster is probably the only person I've ever met on the internet.  After a long hiatus I was getting back into kayaking and trawling the mountainbuzz forums looking for friends.  He agreed to meet me for a Bailey Canyon run on the 4th of July in Colorado.  I was still paddling the Lazer in the year 2001 and, unlike everyone else, he didn't judge me.  We have remained friends and

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-85025064769370731142002-06-10T19:30:00.000-07:002008-05-02T20:55:59.507-07:00

Me, Alex Henes, Josh Parker and Kevin Lambert spent two days, one of which was my birthday, lapping Bald Rock Canyon.  Larry Berg was kind enough to take a bunch of us out of towners down and show us the ropes.  The portage / shuttle / take out / private property all present significant issues to the newcomer.  We goofed off hard core on the second trip at "The Crotch of the Rock."  I think we

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-36327996045566254582002-06-05T00:52:00.000-07:002008-05-12T16:59:48.197-07:00

Running Golden Gate with Brooks on our summer Cali trip changed my life forever.  It was our first time paddling in the Golden State and we started with a two day on Generation / Giant Gaps.  They were both awesome runs and exactly what I needed as far as difficulty went.  Brooks had other plans.  He was going to drag me kicking and screaming into runs I thought were over my head.  He wore me

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-70832982307025413722002-05-08T21:41:00.000-07:002008-05-16T22:05:08.737-07:00

Me Tor and Karl decided to do an early season sneak down the Crystal Gorge.  You usually run this river in mid July when it's on the way down but a combo of cool weather and a low snow-pack allowed us to get in sooner.  I was nervous.  I was still getting back into the sport and I had never run anything graded V+ or with a such a scary description in the book.  There are really two runs here.  

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5800561125419840347.post-65049985329625759662001-05-17T01:39:00.000-07:002008-05-17T03:35:42.612-07:00

If a river ran through Mordor......this would be it.Of all the runs I like, I hate the Black Rock section of Clear Creek the most.  This run isn't roadside, it's highway-side.  Every drop is filled to the brim with awkward, sharp, dynamite blasted rock, and the water is saturated  with carcinogenic I-70 brake dust.  It's sole benefit is that it's 35 minutes from Boulder (with speeding and minor

Willy Pellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07211303691627409835noreply@blogger.com0