Fluid Kayaks Team

Just north of the Colombia-Ecuador border the Andes mountains diverge into three distinct cordillera which sprawl across the western half of Colombia and continue north to the Atlantic Ocean. The whitewater rivers that drain the snow capped peaks, cloud forests and jungles of Colombiaʼs three cordillera are some of the most spectacular rivers in the world. However, few have explored the rivers of Colombia, because for years Colombia has endured a bloody civil war which is primarily fought in the jungle and remote mountains. The rivers of Colombia are some of the worldʼs last virgin and unexplored rivers and was one of the last frontiers in South America for river exploration, until now. Combining the knowledge of local paddlers and several years of expeditions, Mark Hentze and Aaron Rettig compiled Colombia Whitewater, the first guidebook to the whitewater rivers of Colombia.



I, Mark Hentze, first arrived in Colombia with a breakdown paddle, a spray skirt, a paddle jacket, a backpack, no kayak and marginal Spanish. I had been on a quick and light South America tour that began in Lima, Perú and after a few weeks in Lima hanging out with a half Arabic and half Peruvian girl the city began to wear on me. I packed up my backpack and headed North and after a marathon bus ride I arrived in Tena, Ecuador. Somewhere between Lima and Tena some Colombian relatives by marriage invited me to Bogatá for a visit. During the previous four years I had been traveling all over South America, mostly from Perú south, sometimes kayaking and sometimes living the life of a backpacker. Like most everybody else that gathers their information from the media, I had heard that Colombia was dangerous and that I would be lucky to make it out of one of the airport without being kidnapped. Then as I traveled I heard stories from other foreigners that were coming from or on their way to Colombia and they all reported it as being safe and full of some of the warmest people in South America. I was intrigued by Colombia and could not pass up the opportunity to visit family in Bogotá so I only spent a few days in Tena and then made my way north to Bogotá.

I spent a few days in Bogotá and my relatives helped me find some teenage kayakers in the nearby pueblo of Tobia. I rented a kayak from one of the Tobians and we did a run on the Rio Negro and the Rio Tabacal and I fell in love with the idea of paddling in Colombia. The weather and the water were warm, the women were beautiful, the landscape was beautiful and the people were warm and welcoming. I then made my way to San Gil and did a quick run on the Rio Fonce and then traveled north for a few days of relaxation alongside the Caribbean Sea in Tayrona National Park which lies in the shadows of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountain range in the world. I baked in the sun, did some yoga on the beach and admired the view of the snow capped Sierra Nevada from the white sandy beaches and turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea. The beach is nice, but after a few days I grew restless and Mauricio Arredondo, one of Colombiaʼs first kayakers invited me to Medellin.



Outside of Colombia, Medellin had the reputation of being the most dangerous city in the world and for many years had one of the highest murder rates of any city in the world. Pablo Escobar and the Medellin cartel conducted much of their “business” in and around Medellin. Within Colombia, Medellin had the reputation of a perfect climate, the eternal spring as they call it, and the most beautiful women in Colombia and the world (all Colombians are proud of the beauty of the Colombian women, especially the women from Medellin). I caught a bus to Cartagena and spent a quick night in town and then caught a taxi from the center of Cartagena to the bus station which lies in the outskirts of Cartagena. The taxi driver begged me not to travel to Medellin because he was sure I would get murdered just outside of the bus station. He did a few Hail Marys for me, made me promise not to do any business in Medellin and dropped me off at the bus station. I arrived in Medellin at about 3:00 AM, caught a taxi to a hostel and the next day Mauricio picked me up at my hostel. We borrowed a boat from his friend and we drove out to the Rio San Juan, about a two hour drive from Medellin. The drive between Medellin and the Rio San Juan is one of the most scenic drives in Colombia and all of South America. We paddled the class IV section of the San Juan and at the take-out we enjoyed a couple of beers to the music of Bob Marley in a little pub on the side of the river. That day with Mauricio on the Rio San Juan is still one of my most memorable days on the river. I spent a couple more days in Medellin and found the city to be just like the Colombian reputation, a climate like an eternal spring, the most beautiful women in the world and there were some classic rivers nearby. Work was calling and I had to hurry back to Bogotá to catch my return flight back to the states, but in my few week stay in Colombia I fell in love with the country and I found a new purpose in life. To explore the rivers of Colombia.



I returned the following three years and studied Spanish, I studied maps, I asked people about rivers, and I asked about and studied the security of the country side surrounding the rivers. Many areas in Colombia are safe for exploration, but some of the remote mountains and jungles are the territory of guerrilla groups or paramilitary groups both notorious for kidnapping, violence, murder and trafficking cocaine. Land mines are sometimes found in the countryside of Colombia. A violent civil war continues today in Colombia. Kayak exploration in Colombia was a completely different sort of mission. During those three years I learned Spanish, learned a lot about the rivers and managed to do some paddling with some of the Colombians and occasionally a foreign kayaker or a group of foreign kayakers would show up and we would do a few week paddling trip. Slowly I started paddling more and more rivers around different regions of Colombia. I managed to do a few first descents, but it seemed like most of the rivers I paddled had already been done by Kees Van Kuipers from the Netherlands.

Things did not always work out as I intended. One of my paddling trips with Kees and a group of Europeans ended in a seven day stay in a hospital in Manizales after I cut my elbow on the Upper Rio San Juan and contracted cellulitus. I hiked into the Rio Buey with Ben Stookesberry and Lizzy English but soon thereafter I broke my boat and lost my paddle and had to hike back out. I bought a 1955 Volkswagen van and the motor broke and had to be rebuilt twice, the brakes failed often which sucks on the steep windy grades in Colombia and I mostly drove the Volkswagen van from mechanic to mechanic and waited days or sometimes weeks in some random pueblo for parts to be shipped from Bogotá to wherever I happened to be broken down and stranded. But I learned a lot about Colombia and some of my best Colombian memories were a result of the Volkswagen van and wherever it left me stranded.



During one of those trips I met Aaron Rettig and Tyler Bradt as Tyler passed through Colombia on the Oil and Water Project and while Aaron was in Cali, Colombia filming the film he produced “Lo Demas es Loma” and doing the same sort of thing I was doing. Living in Colombia and enjoying the lifestyle with some sporadic paddling when possible. Aaron approached me with the idea of writing a guidebook to the whitewater rivers of Colombia. It sounded like a good idea to me.

During the winter of 2008 I returned to Colombia with Aaron Rettig and I took a bus to Susacon, a small pueblo where my van broke down the year before, picked up my kayak and Aaron and I began the creation of Colombia Whitewater. We purchased a reliable vehicle, a Chevrolet Trooper, from a used car salesman named Fernando who turned out to be just as or even more trustworthy than a used car salesman from the states. Aaron and I spent the next five months, accompanied by Tyler Bradt and Lane Jacobs for a couple of months, traveling around Colombia gathering beta, paddling rivers and taking photos and video. We did a complete circle of Colombia and paddled a bunch of rivers and did a few more first descents. At the end of the trip we sold our vehicle, we sold our kayaks, I sold my Volkswagen van and returned home to the states not knowing if or when I would be able to return to Colombia.



Aaron and I have since finished the guidebook Colombia Whitewater and I am enjoying a winter in the Pacific Northwest. There is some good paddling in the Pacific Northwest during the winter, but itʼs not Colombia. Once again Colombia is calling me and there are still some rivers in Colombia awaiting exploration...

Same update with a few more shots you'll find on my blog bootfahrer.blogspot.com!

It's been over ten years now that I've been running whitewater and thus been traveling and living out of cars quite a bit. I never had anything happen to me, Cameras, travelgear, kayakgear, whole lives carried around in a car are obviously quite attractive for the criminal mind.

So I guess it's just been a matter of time until what happened would happen.

A few weeks ago I went for a hike. I'm not much of a hiker, but there was no water in the rivers to begin with so I decided to give it a try. Croesus Track, crossing the Paparoa Range near Greymouth, West Coast of New Zealand. A good friends recommendation, supposedly one of the most beautiful spots he's seen! I started late, busted up the track and loved every second of it. Arrived at a hut just before sunset, got invited for some food by the couple that was staying there and as I was wondering why I didn't see their transport in the carpark they mentioned that they had been warned by locals that this exact spot was prone for break-ins. I was worried, but shook the thoughts off. 7km rough gravel, mid week, main tourist season over, I convinced myself that my car would be alright. The next morning I continued the track, parting from the two, they went back to the carpark. I made good progress, scenery was stunning, just myself on one of the most stunning ridges I've seen! After making it down to the sea I hitchhiked back tot the carpark. No more than five minutes wait for any of the three rides that would get me all the way back to my truck. I would be there the same time the two others would be! I was stoked, everything seemed to be running so smooth.

Until I got to the carpark. When I checked the spot where I parked my car I instinctively looked around to see where it could be. There was a car in the same spot, but not a lot reminded of the big black and white Mitsubishi Pajero that I was so proud of.

The fire had only left metal, even the windscreen was melted down, well, you see the photos. The rock on the passenger's seat killed the thought of accident or self inflicted fire pretty quickly. In the car was my complete kayaking gear, boat, paddle, pretty much everything that I owned and couldn't fit into the daypack I was carrying. My whole life gone in an instant!

Quite a while later I am sitting at the desk at PaddlerZone, the kayakshop I'm working at. The past weeks have been an amazing display of openness, friendliness, helpfulness ot of everyone I know. PaddlerZone was helping me out with gear, friends gave me clothes, invited me for beers, even offered paying for my Laser Eye that was so close but now moved into a far distance again. I am now playing a new guitar, signed by seventeen friends - my little washburn disappeared as well. Sponsors offered to help out. At this spot: Thanks so much to everyone!!! Funnily enough losing pretty much all my possessions made me realize that I am still very rich. Living a restless lifestyle like I do these days it is incredible to see that kind of support!

And the mail I have in my inbox makes me smile! Satisfaction overcomes me, a bit of an evil smile, too. The police has found my paddles and camera lenses on someones property. The first person is arrested, they're trying to find the rest. It is Karma. What you deserve is what you get!

Being aware of this I am looking forward to one and a half more months in New Zealand! An incredible country with outstanding people. Next weekend I'll be attending the infamous Bullerfest, I'll be seakayaking for a week, hopefully hit some more rivers, hike (why did I never try that before?). Wow!

There is not a whole lot of boating shots in this, but with the background of my story I found it quite important to show that the life we live is a beautiful one. No idiots like those guys can take that away from us! As mentioned before, some more eye candy on bootfahrer.blogspot.com

fire!

sorry gaz, but it`s the car i wanted to show brother! fun times at the coast!

upper kakapotahi, blind mandatory boof next to sieve. wicked run! photo max siech

new zealand. how much nicer can mornings look?

best spots in the arena - kokatahi helicopters. bruce dando flying us into the upper styx

nils moeller, upper styx

thomas voessing, upper kakapotahi

good times.

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