Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
Sunday, February 27th, 2011
(C)Zoe Ross
(C)Kai-Wen Pai Me, Zoe Ross, paddling down Silverback Rapid.
(C)Zoe Ross Spanish teacher, Lorenzo Andrade Astorga, throwing his paddle in Bujagali Falls.
(C) Zoe Ross
Tomorrow it will be gone, forever. The Silverback section of the Nile River has provided so many people with excitement and thrill. Everyday for the past week that I have been here it has provided me with joy. I feel that I am becoming emotionally attached to this section of the river. Knowing that tomorrow, no one will ever kayak or raft down it again make me very sad. The river being dammed is like the death of a close friend or family member, irreversible.
I wish that I could take action, put an end to the construction of the dam, but it is too late. I can always keep this experience in mind, so that maybe in the future, action can be organized sooner.
Blog by Zoe Ross
Tags: acad, Kayaking, Photography, zoe ross
Posted in Academics, Culture, Kayaking, Photography, Uncategorized, Whitewater Countries | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 17th, 2011
A new week a new adventure. Yes that is right I said the title twice. Have a problem with then call me up. Well any-who that is enough of that. Uganda is still shooting wristers at me (hockey reference) and knocking me down all day long. After packing up from the unforgettable Hairy Lemon island I became sad but knew that we were to return there again in the next few weeks. Yesterday we arrived at our new destination of Eden Rock, which is a small campground with grass and tree, also power and internet for all the techno geeks at our school.The grass is a great change of scenery from all the dirt and is super nice to camp on. I have set up a little neighborhood of tents with a tarp covered over patio area. The meals are different and include meat. Real meat, something that isn’t to common here in Uganda. I have definitely lost weight, I left with all my shorts fitting and now I have to run holding my pants up. I think it due to all the vegetables and our coaches running us every morning. Today while at Eden Rock we run the famous Silverback section and Bujagali Falls. Silverback has waves that crash five feet over your head. The lines are what ever you want to make them. Out last photo assignment was to do a action photo shoot and get the best shots of people at the perfect time. The Nile Special was prime to get all the shots that we needed to complete the assignment.For getting the crystal clear focus and being able to see all the water drops clearly and perfectly you need to turn you shutter speed up. And remember always keep your paddle in the water.
Published by Errik Hil
Click Here, for more blogs by Errik Hill
Hunt Jennings initiating a blunt on Nile Special. Photo by Errik Hill
Coach Tino Specht throwing down a pan-am on the Special. Photo by Errik Hill
Local Chugga out on the Special. Chugga works at the Hairy Lemon and is building a house down from the wave. Photo by Errik Hill
Lorenzo Andrade The Godfather Astorga landing a pan-am on the Nile Special. Photo by Errik Hill
Kalob Grady flip-turning on the Special. Photo by Errik Hill
Coach bring around a huge air-screw. Photo by Errik Hill
Tags: Errik Hill, Hairy Lemon, Hunt Jennings, Tino Specht, Uganda
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Tuesday, February 8th, 2011
As we get closer to week 2 of our epic journey I can’t help but write a blog to show the rest of the world about this magical place. We have travelled up river (actually south) to do a river run for the day. We paddled up to, but not did run, the most famous Nile rapid, Itanda Falls, and Hypoxia. Itunda Falls is an insane class V run with huge hole that would absolutely destroy you and waves that crash 15 feet over your head. Hypoxia could be considered the biggest hole on a river in the world. Hypoxia is properly named and if one were to run it now it is too low to run and is this said person did do it they would most likely die from, hypoxia (rapid and lack of oxygen). We kicked off the day playing at Super Hole, wich to me is not that super compared to big wave surfing. After playing we started to paddle across one of many lakes of the day to the next rapid, Itanda. We got out walked around it all and got back in to paddle across yet another lake. After lake hopping we got down the rapids, Harrier the Dog, and Coach Tino’s favorite wave. After all that we ended at the Hairy Lemon and got out of our boats and chowed down on some dinner. The meals are all buffet style and mostly contain no form of meat of any kind. A lot of beans, rice, and potatoes. Monkeys spy on you as they lurk in the darkness of the trees and birds flew over top and dive bomb the water for little fish. Nile Special wave is world class and you can throw any trick with an ariel bonus. I have mastered my blunts and am now working on clean blunts, Pan-Am’s, and bread and butter. It is amazing paddling with so many gifted people pushing you to try new tricks and go bigger than you ever have before. Overal I think that I will for sure return and hopefully with my brother and show him up on how much I have learned am going to learn.
Published by Errik Hill
Click Here, for more blogs by Errik Hill
Errik Hill doing a clean blunt on The Nile Special. Photo by Kai-Wen Pai
Hunt Jennings looping at Super Hole. Photo by Errik Hill
Our little van loaded up for the shuttle. Photo by Errik Hill
Coach Tino throwing a clean blunt. Photo by Errik Hill
Flower I found at the Hairy Lemon. Photo by Errik Hill
Tags: Errik Hill, Kayaking, Nile Special, Tino Specht, Uganda, White Nile
Posted in Kayak School, Kayaking, Photography, Uncategorized, Whitewater Countries | Comments Off
Monday, January 31st, 2011
Africa, is a country I feel there is many misconceptions about. I know had so many such as the heat would just suck every ounce of water from our bodies or that the mosquitos would come at us by the swarms meaning malaria would be inevitable. I was clearly wrong. Yes, it is hot here but very manageable allowing all of us to wear cool summer clothing 24 hours a day. There are also no mosquitos in giant swarms as I presumed, I have concluded they work alone and very few have bitten any of us. We also have bug nets protecting us all at night from the malaria carrying ones that come out mostly at 12 am.
So far, every person we have seen or met here is very nice and always willing to help you any way possible. This country is a very beautiful, especially the little island paradise we are staying at for the next 4 weeks. The Hairy Lemon is a kayakers paradise for sure. We also play volleyball in the shallow water during our free periods and lunchtime. The Canadians always seem to win no matter how many people we put on the other team. We have school all throughout the day and it ends right when the Nile Special is coming in. How’s that for perfect timing?
Check out pictures on my facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cote.taylor
Tags: africa hairy lemon, Go Huge Experiences, Huge Experiences, jinja africa, Kayak School, new river academy, taylor cote
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Monday, January 31st, 2011
Christmas dinner at Aunt Kath's. We love our group photos!
My family loves group photos. Usually I am the one standing in the middle forcing a smile for about ten minutes while everyone tries to get their picture but this yeah I was on the other side of the lens. I love taking pictures and they love posing so my family was even more content this Christmas Even when it came to photo shoot time. I don’t think I’ll ever get out of my new job as family photographer but that’s ok with me!
Big black dog. We love em'.
Why a dog you may ask? My family loves dogs. Almost everyone in my family has a dog and if you don’t you wish you did. In the summer the dogs bring us together for nightly dog walks on the beach. They also provide endless hours of fun for the kids preforming and dog shows and playing fetch in the water. My cousin’s dog Rowdy featured in my photo is one of our favourites. He loves going for a good walk!
Jackie and Mom sharing a moment of the way to the pasture.
So cute! My horses Jackie and Jaylo are like members of the family. They have personalities and good and bad days just like us. I chose this photo to represent my Mom in the family as well because she loves the horses so much. She spends so much of her time feeding them and grooming them and she loves every minute of it. Getting bundled up and going out to see the horses in 20 below weather: it’s not like a chore to her, which it sometimes can be for me.
Tags: Sara-Jane Daub
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Monday, December 13th, 2010
A few days ago, New River Academy took some of its more advanced students to do one of the more challenging runs of the year: the Nevados. This run is a good sized creek with a few twenty foot drops on it, that take skill and quick thinking to hit the lines, but have very few, if any consequences. Below our takeout is a different story. The Lower Nevados is an extremely hard run with some serious drops, including the infamous Demshitz drop; a ten foot boof into a fifty foot drop that reconnects halfway though. There’s no need to worry though, we didn’t even come close to these drops. We stuck with the Upper Nevados, a solid class V run that while only about a mile long, offers tons of fun. It starts out with a cool ten-foot waterfall into a long slide that the students were not allowed to run because of the potential to ramp into the air five feet, and then land face-down on rock. We cheered and took pictures as Dave, Lorenzo, Tino, and guest coach for the day Jake Greenbaum styled the line. Then we got into our boats and headed down to scout the first drop. This drop was a solid twenty-foot waterfall with a decent lead-in. The trick to this one though, was that you had to boof the drop and do a ninety degree turn and then stomp your feet down. The turn helped you avoid the bank that was five feet past the drop, and the stomp makes sure you don’t land flat. Everybody did the line perfectly and it was a very fun drop. We then went through some class IV boogie water until we got to the second drop: the pinched twenty. This is a very intimidating looking drop, although it doesn’t have much of a line to it. Basically the entire river constricts to a boat width and falls twenty feet. This may sound easy but there is about a three foot boof over log before it, so you have to hit your boof and then line yourself up to go off the drop. This drop had some more interesting lines than the last drop. Jacob broke a paddle and somebody else who wants to remain nameless flipped on the lip of it. Everyone turned out fine at the bottom and we proceeded to the next drop which was a super fun, ten-foot auto boof. Right after this was a runnable but hard rapid that most people portaged. Unfortunately, Kira flipped on the auto-boof and went down the first drop of the portage where she got worked and swam. She did the smart thing and ditched her boat and paddle right away to avoid the next drop and fortunately we found both of them (though her boat was in the eddy above Demshitz drop). After this drop we were in a pickle since we were down two paddles and a boat. Dave made the good decision of making us hike out and that is what we did marking the end of our Nevados adventure.
To see more of Jason Terry’s pictures and blogs, click here: Jason Terry’s Blog
Jake catching air off the slide
Alex giving a perfect example of the turn and stomp on the first drop
Clay on the second twenty-footer
Tags: Chile, Jake Greenbaum, Jason Terry, Nevados, new river academy, Pucon, Upper Nevados
Posted in chile whitewater rivers, Kayaking, Photography, Whitewater Countries | 1 Comment »
Saturday, December 11th, 2010
The Palguin is one of the main reasons for tourism in Pucon, Chile. The epic river has many clean waterfalls and super sick rapids. The most stout waterfall was recently first d’ed by Steve fisher last year and is an 86 foot sketch drop. It is just that everything else is sketch that goes on around it. But seeing that beauty makes your jaw drop in amazement. The upper is super fun with a 20 footer boof or plug, your choice. There is also a portage depending if you have enough balls to do it. It is a 20 footer with only enough space on either side of you for a piece of paper to slide through. Yeah its that tight. There is a big meaty hole where if you get stuck you will swim. Cough, cough, Alex. If you are ever in the Pucon area you must hit up the upper Palguin. The Palguin os a run for all levels whether it is upper, middle or lower. I just have three words left to say: It is Sick. That is all, thank you.
Published by Errik Hill
Click Here, for more blogs by Errik Hill
The Steve Fisher 86 footer on the Rio Palguin. Photo by Errik Hill
Alex Anderson on the Rio Palguin going for a boof. Photo by Errik Hill
Tags: Chile, Errik Hill, Palguin, Pucon
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Thursday, November 25th, 2010
Helmet cam shot of Garganta from below
Normally, I would start out a blog with a short description of what New River Academy just did, but this experience was so unique and so amazing that a simple sentence saying that New River Academy ran Garganta del Diablo would not do the experience any justice. Everyone’s seen the pictures and the movies of it, and going it we had all thought that we knew what the rapid would be like. Yet from the moment we did the ski ramp into the canyon, it defied all expectations.
The entrance that commits you to Garganta and the rest of the canyon is a pretty unique rapid in itself. It consists of about an eight-foot long slide that kicks up for five feet at the end before falling about eight or nine feet. With the right speed and stroke, you can soar off the lip and splash down happily in the pool. After that you go around a corner, and there it is: Garganta del Diablo, perhaps the most picturesque and unique drop in the entire world. I’m going to take a break now and explain Garganta for those who haven’t seen it before. From above, it looks like a gently sloping slide that turns almost 180° before going off about a ten-foot waterfall. If this were the case, Garganta would still be an amazing drop. Yet this is not the case. In reality the slide is descending almost straight down and it finishes in about a thirty-foot waterfall. When our group got to the pool above the drop, we circled up and did a cheer then with the encouraging words of “roll up at the bottom,” Tino entered the rapid. Following him was Lorenzo. Then me. When the whistle signaling my turn sounded, I took a deep breath and paddled to the lip and entered the slide. I instantly accelerated to a speed I thought impossible as I rounded the curve. As if from a different life I remembered to take a stroke before the lip then tuck. The feeling of speeding up was then replaced with a falling sensation that ended with hammer blow of impact. When I got my bearings I realized that my skirt had imploded and I was heading for the right wall that you don’t want to be on. So with water pouring into my boat I sprinted over to the eddy where Tino and Lorenzo sat cheering. While I put my skirt on over my boat that was half full of water I looked up at the drop that I just ran and cheered. From the bottom it looked so much different, so much scarier, and so much bigger. As I sat in the eddy, I was experiencing such a feeling of euphoria and accomplishment that I just ran the drop that I’m staring at and didn’t even flip. There is no feeling in the world that can come even close to compare to that feeling. After that Clay, Alex, Taylor, Mackenzie, and finally Kira dropped down. Everybody styled the line and the only mishap is when Taylor’s skirt imploded and was forced to swim even though she nailed the line. After everyone was gathered we started heading down the gorge. This gorge was about a mile long and it has several challenging rapids that get no glory because of the glory of Garganta. In it are a couple boat wide slides, a stout three footer, a fifty-foot waterfall that you paddle under, and a few more rapids that require a great degree of skill. We paddled through these with no problems and enjoyed the sights all along the way. After one of the last rapids I felt a burning sensation on my leg, so I popped my skirt and there was a scorpion sitting on my leg stinging me at will. I immediately pulled my legs out and yelled, “I’m being stung by a scorpion!” Everybody looked at me confused, which is understandable because this wasn’t exactly a normal situation. Finally Lorenzo got over his confusion and paddled over to me while everyone else still looked very confused. He then directed me to a shallow spot where I could get out of my boat. After I was out we looked into my boat and saw a brown scorpion looking back, so he took out his knife and cut it stinger off then threw it in the river. During this time, all I could think about was horror stories of scorpions that I had heard growing up and that time I saw a show on how one type of scorpion had the most potent venom of any animal. Lorenzo, seeming to read my thoughts, reassured me by telling me that the scorpions in Chile are no more dangerous than bees. As I climbed back into my boat, I watched as everybody else popped their skirts and made sure they were scorpion free. After a few more minutes of paddling, we reached the take out and started the hike back to the car. Walking back everyone talked about the amazing experience we just shared. And so it was that at 15 years, nine months, and nine days old, I became the youngest person ever to successfully run Garganta and the canyon afterwards.
To see more of Jason’s photography, click here: Jason Terry’s Bog
Me on Garganta, photo by Errik Hill
Helmet cam shot of the long slot after Garganta
Tags: Chile, Errik Hill, Garganta del Diablo, Go Huge Experiences, go huge kayaking, Jason Terry, new river academy, Rio Claro
Posted in chile whitewater rivers, Kayak School, Kayaking, Photography, Whitewater Countries | 1 Comment »
Thursday, November 25th, 2010
While at the Rio Claro, New River Academy takes some of its more advanced students down the upper section of the river called Veinte y dos Saltos. As the name implies, this run has a total of twenty-two waterfalls over about a three-kilometer section of the river. This makes for an extremely continuous, fun, and somewhat challenging waterfall paradise. In order to get to this run, you have to drive up river on a somewhat sketchy road until you can’t drive anymore, then you get out and walk for about twenty minutes through streams, up mountains, and down steep slopes, finally you are at the put in. This may sound like a time of relief, but the put in is one of the most challenging parts of the run; you have to slide down rocks for about eight feet until you free fall for about twelve feet and land a couple yards above a ten foot waterfall that you want to take your time to line up before you run. Once you are safely in you can run that drop and paddle for about one hundred yards before you reach the second biggest rapid of the day. This is a super-clean twenty-five foot waterfall that is insanely fun to run. A couple hundred more yards after that is the most rapid in the entire world. It consists of about a fifteen-foot slide that kicks up on the left wall and then falls about twelve feet. The kicker on the left wall allows you to get enormous boofs then land softly in the soft, aerated water. Watching people run this rapid is somewhat funny as some people just miss the boof entirely (I’ve been guilty of this before) and others try poses in the air and these always provide a good laugh. After this is a fun fifteen-foot boof and then the thirty footer. The thirty footer is the biggest drop on the run, one of the hardest, and definitely the scariest. To run this you wait in a big pool until you hear Lorenzo’s whistle from the bottom, then you run the five-entrance drop and quickly paddle into the left-hand eddy where you see Tino sitting there (only one student this year has missed the eddy, take a guess who). Once you are in the eddy, Tino will try to lighten the mood by saying, “Welcome to Veinte y dos Saltos, your flight today will be thirty feet and your line will be middle left on top of that little curler.” After that there’s only one thing to do, paddle into the abyss. As you fall off the lip you really appreciate that you are where you are (or not for some people) since you see a very hard wall a few feet to your right and some very hard rocks a few feet to your left. You tuck, plug, roll, and then fist bump and scream your head off. After this the run is almost over. There’s a super technical canyon rapid, a super technical double-drop (where somebody’s boat may or may not have gone over while he or she was taking pictures), and an easy eight-foot boof over a huge hole that you don’t want to be in. Then the canyon ends and you paddle through some class II rapids until you reach the take out. When you get there you are coming down from an adrenaline high and amazed at the perfect run you just did. The Veinte y dos Saltos is the most amazing run I have ever done and one of the most photogenic places in the entire world, and I am really happy that I have been lucky enough to experience it.
To see more of Jason’s photography, click here: Jason Terry’s Blog
Nick doing the seal launch in
Alex on the 25 footer
Alex on the ski jump rapid
Lorenzo trying to pose on the ski jump rapid
Hunt on the rapid after the ski jump
The thirty footer from below
Tags: Chile, Go Huge Experiences, Jason Terry, new river academy, Rio Claro, Veinte y dos Saltos
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Thursday, November 25th, 2010
Lorenzo on the twenty-five footer
Tino on Garganta
Lorenzo on Garganta
Dave on Garganta
On Tuesday New River Academy took a group down Veinte y dos Saltos on the Rio Claro in Chile. This insanely fun run is a wonderland of super clean waterfalls. Still, this is no Siete Tazas, you don’t just fall off the waterfalls, they have lines and some are pretty challenging. But even more challenging than the run was getting to the run. First is the drive over hundreds of rocks and potholes followed by a thirty minute trek into a forest, over hills, and through streams. Finally you arrive at the river and see this incredible twenty-five foot waterfall. As we rested after our walk, Tino, Alex, and I talked about the possibility of shooting the waterfall. We talked about various angles that worked with the light until Tino told us of this place he knew of with a perfect angle. He then led us of a ten-minute long hike that forced us to climb up hills and scramble through dry streambeds until we arrived on this bluff about eighty feet above the waterfall: this was a perfect spot. As we set up we told Tino that they needed to wait for us above the waterfall as the light was about to change and we needed to time it perfectly if we were to get any decent shots. So Tino left to round up the group and Alex and I waited. About twenty minutes later we see them pull into the eddy above the drop just as the light gets perfect. We quickly wave them on and Lorenzo paddles off the lip. After everyone goes Alex and I climb back down, seal launch into the river a yard above a ten-foot waterfall and take our turn going off the twenty-five footer. I didn’t know it then but I quite possibly got the best picture of my entire life. Lorenzo is mid-tuck almost halfway down the drop a split second before he smashes into the bottom. But this day was not over yet and with Tino, Lorenzo, and Dave running Garganta del Diablo today, I knew I had an opportunity for more gold. Before going to Garganta, Alex told me to bring my helmet, throw rope, PFD, and a lot of carabineers as last year he had apparently had a chance discovery of a great angle that takes a little scrambling to get to. So when we got to Garganta we hiked around looking for this spot until he finally recognized where he was. He then explained to me that we were going to tie our throw ropes around a rock and use them to help us down to the spot. After we got down to the bluff we clipped into our ropes and peeked over the edge; we stood over the middle of turn in Garganta and could see it in its entirety. Alex was a little disappointed because the earthquake last year had moved some rocks around so those rocks and a bush below us got in our picture a little bit, but it was still an amazing view. We signaled to the group running it that we were ready and they took off with me snapping pictures and Alex filming. I got quality shots of everybody that went off of the drop and as we climbed back up we were extremely happy with how things turned out, as we were maybe the only people to ever get that angle. All in all this day was maybe the best day I had experienced in Chile yet and I got some of the best pictures in my life, which made me very happy.
To see more of Jason Terry’s photography, click here: Jason Terry’s Blog
Tags: Chile, Garganta del Diablo, Go Huge Experiences, Jason Terry, new river academy, Rio Claro, Veinte y dos Saltos
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