Fluid Kayaks Team

A little while that was in my mind... At the Sickline 2009, Steve Fisher presented us his new video where he surfed some huge waves in South Africa with his brother David and Andrew Pollock. After watching that video, Pierre Mahé (pro photographer) and I were so motivated to make something like that!!!! At the time, I had to try my new composite Element by FLUID kayaks... an other good excuse!!!

Little problem, I don't know nothing about ocean surfing... No matter, meeting on this Monday 8th of February at 8h30 a.m. with Jean Seb Etienne, who is a french pro surfer and knows the french Atlantic coast as his pocket!!!

We check 2 spots, the second one looks pretty good!! Pierre Mahé, our photographer of the day arrives with Nico Fayol, this last one brings all his kayak gears with him!!!! '' Spot of La Pointe, Capbreton, France:''

9 am 5°c... everybody in the water!!

Jean-Seb at home

First test on the Ocean..

...Ok, that's big!!!

It works for Val

Jean-Seb... Eaaaasy!!

End of the session, on the way to the bitch with shore break

Nico Fayol...

... Yep, he was also in the water!!

An other huge shore break for Val

Eric Deguil joined us the afternoon.

Many thanks to Jean-Seb Etienne, Nico Fayol, Eric Deguil and of course to Pierre Mahé!!!!

Pierre Mahé www.pimaphoto.blogspot.com

Jean-Seb Etienne www.jeansebestienne.com

Nico Fayol www.nicofayol.blogspot.com

Eric Deguil www.outdoor-attitude.over-blog.com

Mine www.valgrollemund.blogspot.com

The main point of this article is to warn people that Poland creek is NOT a one day run.

Taking a break from the drive.

It was a big shock to my system to go from paddling every day on the Nile Special to Icy Drytown USA (a.k.a. Fort Collins Colorado). However, winter break was over, and Natalie and I were needed back at school. However, the first weekend after I got back, there was a rare paddling opportunity. Arizona was pounded by a huge flood. I managed to convince my friend Nathan Werner to make the 14 hour drive through the night to try to meet up with Evan Stafford and Kyle McCutchen (legendary guidebook authors) to hit Christopher Creek.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, "wait a second, the title of this post has nothing to do with Christopher creek. Did Leif have some sort of double-epic weekend adventure?" Well, the answer is yes! (with exclamation point) but it turned out not to involve Christopher creek in the slightest. When we made it to the putin (an hour before sunrise), there was at least a foot of nice fluffy powder on the ground, making scouting almost impossible. So instead, Evan and Kyle pointed us toward some random creek at lower elevation. Nathan and I had never heard of it. Its name was POLAND. A name which is now seared into my memory permanently.

Christopher creek putin. Audio report indicates perfect flow.

A couple years back, Cody Howard and his Huge Hucking pals made the first descent. Their trip report is here: Poland creek 1st d, but of course, we had no internet access in Nathan's car, so we didn't know anything more than some vague rumor that the first descent had been overnighted out there. Well, we thought to ourselves, we'll just hurry through. Knowing that it's a full on run should be enough. Besides, looking at the map, it was only about 4 miles. Oh, we were such foolish, sleep deprived paddlers.

"Poland creek, huh?" Nathan consults the map.

It turned out that Evan and Kyle had a bunch of other Colorado paddlers in on this crazy scheme, so while we were searching for takeout, our group doubled in size. After more than our fair share of shuttle shennanigans, we found ourselves back above snowline, at the trailhead to the putin. Our early start had somehow melted into early afternoon, we were all cold and tired from lack of sleep, and to top it all off, Nathan and I had no overnight gear. (And it was January. I mentioned the snow, right?) After some debate, it was decided that to try to put on for this run would be a pretty bad idea. After a little more debate, a small subgroup decided that they were going to do it anyway. This small subgroup was composed of 7 out of the 9 paddlers. Nathan and one of the other Colorado paddlers we didn't know had seen the light of reason, but the rest of us were committed to the run.

"So it's probably that drainage over there... probably."

We booked it down to the creek, and were rewarded by some pretty good paddling. It was especially rewarding knowing that most of the time, this was probably almost a dry creekbed. For all I know, it might only run once every 5 years. There were a lot of nice technical drops, and the signature 30 footer; the Big Dipper. We paddled as fast as was safe with a 7 person crew, but soon the sun had disappeared behind the canyon walls.

Photo by ES.

Big Dipper. Photo by Evan Stafford.

It was at this point that the bad decisions got worse. We were stalled out on a relatively easy portage. Tired, hungry, and cold, pondering a night under the stars in wet kayak gear, I somehow got the idea into my head that the takeout was right around the corner. It was clear that the canyon was widening out, and we had already covered a lot of distance. I decided that I wanted to try to paddle farther. Whether or not anyone wanted to go with me. Sure enough, the rest of the group recognized this as madness, and made the call that they were setting up camp. I dragged my boat down to the flatwater below the portage and started paddling. "If you don't make it, just hike back to the campfire," called Evan as I put on my skirt.

Well, as luck would have it, the action did not let up right around the corner. If anything, it got more intense. There were three noteworthy drops in the next half mile. One I ran, the others I portaged. On the third portage, I looked downstream and could just barely make out the fact that the takeout was nowhere within the next few miles. I had a little trouble telling for sure, because night had finally fallen.

Cursing my stupidity, I had a rough hike through the dark and cold back to the rest of the group. When I finally climbed and stumbled my way back to the fire, it was almost the best feeling ever. It would have felt better if there had been dry clothes involved, but fire was pretty awesome by itself. I begged some food and water off the more prepared members of the group, and hunkered down to one of the coldest nights of my life.

Our campsite, at dawn. Photo by Evan Stafford.

The ground was cold and there were a lot of rocks, so I spent a lot of time sitting near the fire. About halfway through the night I had this awesome idea. I decided to collect more wood, and build a little bed out of sticks. That way it would be flat, and I wouldn't touch the cold cold ground. It worked pretty well, and I was sort of able to get a little bit of sleep, but in the hours right before dawn, Kyle woke up, shivering, and started making stronger and stronger hints about the scarcity of firewood. Eventually, once I could tell that dawn was on its way, I gave in, and we burned my bed. Kyle immediately went back to sleep with a smile on his face. I tiptoed off and put a rock in his boat.

Shortly after the bed-burning incident. Kyle McCutchen photo.

Myself, cheerful and good looking, ready for day 2 to start.

Once the sun finally rose and the group crawled out of their sleeping bags, we got back on the water. (Well, I hiked the half mile or so back down to my boat first, but you get the idea.) It turned out that there was another full day of paddling left. We kept saying things like "looks like it's widening out. Probably just flatwater from here to takeout." Over and over again. At least once a mile. We reached takeout at 5:00 that evening.

One of the notable rapids just below camp.

Photos by Evan Stafford and Kyle McCutchen

Oops. The river turns left here. Photo by Evan Stafford.

All of a sudden everyone's smiling. Takeout.

Nathan was waiting there at takeout, a little peeved at the outcome of the weekend. He had driven through the night, not paddled, then spent two days thinking about how he wasn't paddling (and wondering whether everyone was okay), and now he knew that since I was so tired, he was probably going to be the one doing most of the driving as we drove through the night AGAIN to get back to work and school before the next morning. He was completely right. I drove when I could, but I spent most of the time stinking and snoring in the passenger seat.

Right back where we started, except without 3 nights worth of sleep. Photo by Natalie Kramer.

All in all, it was another great weekend. For a more detailed account (meaning, more photos) check out MY BLOG, and for a different viewpoint (one that's not quite so flattering about the bad decisions that I made) check out Evan Stafford's Blog writeup: Part 1 and Part 2. I want to thank Evan, Kyle and everyone else for feeding me and taking care of me that night, and I want to thank Evan a second time for all the photos that he took.

Hi all,

I know, I know... you didn't see more news from me since end of August 2009. But I was really busy because of European promo tour with sandiline on September where I was the photographer. Then Adidas Sickline - Extrem kayak World championship - where I competed. And then my great travel in Chile. So, I take now the time to write some blabla for you and post many photos, yeah I know you prefer check my photos than read my blabla... Ok... too much blabla, read down...

First step of my European tour was the freestyle kayak World championship in Thun Switzerland. David Arnaud and I drove to Thun, Switzerland, and found some team members there training for Worlds!!

These Wordls organized by Simon Hirter were awesome!! A great show!!!!! Ok freestyle is a bit boring to watch, but it's the same for all sports... don't say me Snowboarding half pipe is not boring... But, I was impressed by the quality of runs since qualifs to finals. And the finals were HUUUUUUGE!!!!!! The public liked that and the guys from ICF too... What a good news!!!

You know for sure Mat Coldebella, Fluid Team member... oh yeah, he's french!!!

After the freestyle Worlds in Thun, sandiline crew and I headed to Seu de Urgell in Spain for the slalom Worlds!!

We enjoyed beautiful weather, drinking sangria and watching top paddlers going fast on the Olympic (Barcelona Olympic Games) artificial slalom course of Seu de Urgell.

* There were tons of spectators under spanish sun to see the show, the finals day was the best show ever with live results and all organized to make pressure on crowd and paddlers!! Just great!!!!

After the slalom Worlds, we drove to sandiline office in Slovenia to pick up all we needed for the Kanumesse in Germany, Yeah 2700km in 2 weeks for me... Wait, that's not the end...

The Kanumesse is the Best Trade Show in the World. Was good to see what's making for 2010 and for sure what's new for FLUID... But I'm sure you already checked the post about new composite boats and new "sit on top" production previously on this blog.

We enjoyed a great party, the music was mixing by our dear, great, awesome team manager, please, Mr David Arnaud!!!!!!!!!!

Directly after the Kanumesse, I spend a night at Oli and Ingrid's place close to Munich, Germany. They proposed me to compet at the 1st freestyle event in Munich the next day!! I accepted it for sure!!!!!

I finished 3rd of the event in K1 senior, and my friend and Fluid team partner Markus ended 5th!! Yeah two Fluid team paddlers in final!!!!!!! Was great to share that event with all that germans and have great times... great beer and food also!!!

The next day, Simon Hirter phoned me and the afternoon we drove to Otztal, Austria. The place of the adidas Sickline, the extrem kayak World championship.

I enjoyed a full week training and paddling the Oetz river with Simon!! Was great!! Thanks also to Schorshi for the bedroom!!!!!

I don't wanna say more about the adidas sickline, I'm quite sure you checked the previous post of Ralf Schaberg on this blog. Was again a good event and it's always pretty good to share good moments with friends on events!!!!!!

David Arnaud was also there as video maker for the adidas. Finally after the Sickline, David and I came back home in France. I spend few weeks at home where I enjoyed mountain biking with my brother Gautier. It's good to do something else than kayaking sometimes, especially when there isn't good water levels!!!

I also competed some slalom races in France. It was actually pretty hard to paddle well and found back all my slalom skills after few weeks traveling and creeking. I wasn't pretty bad but not pretty good at the same time... no matter, was fun!!!

End of october, Mariann Saether proposed me to join her for a trip in Chile. So we left on November 18th. Many thanks to Mariann for all!!!!

We spend 3 weeks in Pucòn, enjoying chilean summer and awesome rivers over there!!!

We paddled everyday with different groups which is pretty nice!!!!! Thanks to the czeck guys, Demshitz, canadians, americans and others....

Jakub Sedivy, Mariann Saether, Steve Fisher, the legend Kurt Cassey and I opened the Trafanpulli river!!! http://riversofchile.com/rio-trafanpulli/

I also paddled often with Steve Fisher, who is probably the best kayaker in the world!! So I learned tons of news things about creeking, river running, partying... Thanks buddy!!!!

The last 2 weeks I was in Futaleufu to paddle the legend river!! It was just awesome to be there enjoying everyday the best river in the World!!!!!! My first time in Terminator section was just amazing, I wasn't used at all of big waters so I was completly lost, juts following Mariann and be impressed by these few meters high waves and holes. I learned a lot with Steve, so now I feel quite fine on big waters!!! thanks!!

One of my best moment was probably the Middle Palguin waterfall, a 22meters/70feet. I did a great line and the landing was so smooth. Just a perfect drop!!!!! The photo of Steve speaks alone!!!!

Mariann and I came back in Europe the January 1st, enjoying New Year Ev' in the flight... yeaaah... It's so cold in Europe after few summer weeks in Chile. Now I'm planning some good things for 2010... I'll let you know in time!!!!!

Enjoy the river and seeya on it!!!!!

Val

So I have just left Nepal after spending 3 months working on the rivers. I have had an amazing time and got around 65 days on the water working for Paddle Nepal (www.paddlenepal.com) They were great guys to work for and I have made many new freinds! Unfortantly when on a multiday run out there my Nikon D80 digital SLR camera took a fatal swim! So allot of the photos here are from a point and shoot. Thanks to Ollie, Monica, Teru, Sveta, Sean, Ashley, Stan and everyone else that passed there photos onto me. CHEERS!

Himilayain White Water Challenge

Next 7 images are one big long rapid, defiently one to get the adrenaline going after hiking for two days up a remote gourge in the Himilayas

Full Moon Party On the Kaligandaki

Did not hurt as much as it should have.

The next 6 photos are from the Upper Seti Canyon - This was first run last season by Will Clark and Anton, Allot of rocks have moved in the recent monsoon from the looks of the photos, the boys last season had a portage, we ran everything, Not sure if the rocks have moved in a section or the water was different. Pretty terrorising canyon with just two paddlers in there, no room for error.

Myself and the boys I have spent the last 3 months living and working with!

Leif and I just got back from our Thanksgiving break. We tried to pack as much boating into the nine days as humanly possible, given a 22 hour car ride from Colorado to the west coast. We left Fort Collins at 8pm on Thursday night and managed to make the 7pm ferry on Friday out to the Sunshine Coast, BC by NEVER stopping except for gas. Amazingly, when we got to the ferry we were only a few cars away from the second half of our group who drove up from Arcata, CA. Anyways, I'm quite proud of our team driving effort which allowed us to get up at 4am to surf Skookumchuck in the pre-dawn light on Saturday. We spent four days surfing that beauty of a wave. Leif was killing it with big airblunts, some clean blunts and quite a few nice helixes (really it should be helices). I got some really nice airblunts and worked on the donkyflip/faceplant. Below are some photos.

SKOOKUMCHUCK

I highly recommend renting a cabin at the back eddy marina. They aren't too pricey and you can fit six people in one cabin if you don't mind being comfortably close. They also have a shower and a kitchen. The cabin was awesome for softies like us who didn't want to camp for four nights in the rain.

After saying goodbye to our sweet cabin which kept us warm in the chilly rain, we packed up the playboats and got out the creek boats for three full days of awesome creeking. We started off with a fun run down the east Fork of the Lewis, then stepped it up and ran the Green Truss, then stepped it up once more and polished off the trip with a run down the ever so classic Little White Salmon. I then spent the whole car ride back grading intro geology labs, ugghhh.

GREEN TRUSS AND THE LITTLE WHITE

A fuller write-up with more photos can be found at our blog.