I have been self taught in most of the sports I participate in and its only the most extreme sports like scuba diving, sky diving or the like that you go to a school to learn the necessary skills before you actually do the sport.
One usually starts doing a new sport after being introduced by friends and the skill progression is usually aided by input from the people that got you into the sport or others that join you along the way.
Sometimes the consequences of being “green” in a given sport are low and training is not required unless you want to move up to the next level or be an instructor yourself.
In other sports you can quickly find yourself out of your comfort zone or with a huge knowledge deficit.
Such was the case with packrafting, which is a very new sport that has come about from the fusion of paddling with other sports like bush walking, fishing, biking, climbing or skiing etc. People. wanting to go that extra mile, leverage the packraft’s light weight ( a few kilos) and portability (size of a small tent rolled up) to assist their other sport by means of taking advantage of the river – if it’s there you may as well use it.
However, as the sport gains momentum rather than a fusion sport it has become a whitewater sport on its own, aided by its whitewater versatility, packrafting, rather than being another tool in the draw when needed to compliment another sport, we find ourselves just going out and running whitewater on these really fun boats.
When it comes to whitewater I have zero experience, I used to look at whitewater like I would at a volcano, something to stay the bloody hell away from. But as usual my desire to do more before I’m too old got the better of me, I bought a packraft and started out, with guidance from the usual suspect, Darren, and ran a few rivers, very cautiously I might add.
Then a trip came up that up’d the ante, a river in flood, Grade 3 rapids etc. Although, we were very care full and checked everything out before running anything, I got wet twice, and ended up floating down a set of rapids and Gus did the same only he peeled his fingernail back which required some on-river first aid, but in the end no one was hurt badly. Notwithstanding, Darren had broken his coccyx on a remote multi-day whitewater river trip at Xmas which knocked him back a bit too I think. Usually he is unphasable !!!
It made us sit up and think we need to know more about this sport and after discussion with like minded paddlers from the packrafting forum we organised some informal training provided by a very generous and experienced kayaker who also packrafts.
We had a great weekend with a great trainor/mentor and a great bunch of people.
Darren as usual was the photographer.
He’s like a Ninja, you’ll be paddling along and next minute click click click, you don’t even see him get the camera out of the dry bag !
Not only is he an excellent photographer, He has a great a skill for writing and a witty style.
A true wordsmith.
I’m usually the video dude but left the GoPro at home for this trip.
I just used my iPhone 4s, which is all I use for stills now since Jenny took my SLR off me !
Here some photos from around the campsite at Thredbo Diggings in the Snowy Mountains.
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The Group
The campsite
Old Faithful
Gus’ and Darren’s tents
Darren getting his stove and kettle out of his tent for an early morning cupa !
Be vwery vwery qwuiet….I’m hunting macwos
Some frosty grass in the morning
It was that cold even the turds had ice on them
Turd Macro
Duck!
Looking towards Bullocks Flat / Ski Tube / Lake Crakenback Resort
Crackenback Range behind the campsite
The Thredbo River….looking cold in the shadows
Looking up the Thredbo Valley towards the ski resort.
Remnants of some early season snow from Tuesday’s blizzard remains in the torrs above
** UPDATE – 21/3/2012 **
I just updated the vid to High Definition as the DVD quality one I did was not that good
Please give it a try it is much better resolution
let me know if it does not run properly as its the first HD one I have uploaded
Did my second white-water Packrafting trip with Darren on the weekend.
For those who dont know a packraft is a small blow up boat, they weigh about 3kgs and roll up like a 2 man tent.
They are virually indestructable – like an IRB “rubber ducky” surf rescue boat.
My first river entry was sitting on top of flood debri like dead tree branches and pointy sticks, and you can scrape over boulders all day long without popping it.
I got interested in Packrafting with Darren initially because of the multi-sport aspect of being able to walk, ski or mountain bike to a creek, run the creek and then bush walk or climb out which is something that you cant easily do with a hard shell kayak.
Recently we have been running rivers to gain skills in white water which is a little more fun that flat paddling and a sport all in its own.
Anyway, the trip we did on the weekend was from Pheasants Nest bridge on the Hume Hwy to Maldon Weir which is near Picton, about 11kms on the river.
The water had been high due to all the rain and we were lucky that it came down to a reasonable level that turned out perfect as we were able to experience the river with a good volume of water but it was not too dangerous.
It was a great trip and learned a lot from Darren and Gus.
Here is a link to Darrens blog with some pics
PHEASANTS NEST TO MALDON
Heres some video I took
I just updated the vid to HD as the DVD quality one I did was not that good
2012 03 18 HD Packrafting Nepean – Pheasants to Maldon
Angus and I did a quick trip to Whistler to stay with Garry and Lorna and their new baby daughter Abigail who were holidaying there for a month.
Garry had arranged for his sons to come over as well and as it turned out Kael would be there at the same time that we were, which worked out perfectly for us as the boys were good company for each other and Garry and I could go skiing harder stuff on the days that the boys were in ski school.
A tired Angus eating Burger King at Vancouver airport
We were waiting for Garry to pick us up as he had to drop off his son Elijah who was flying back to Sydney to go to school.
It was convenient I must add that the airport had FREE WiFi – not like Sydney airport
By this stage we had been travelling for 18 hours 30 mins, waiting around airports etc for 8 hours and awake for 1 day, 2hours and 30 mins.
We still had about 3 hours to wait for Garry and a 2-3 hour drive
Needless to say, I needed a beer and it was Australia Day, so when we arrived Angus had a quick toasted sandwich and went to bed, Garry and I went to the Brew House, drank some pale ale and had some pulled beef sliders (mini burgers) with horseradish cream.
Some more beers and tapas styled food then back to the condo.
The place we stayed at was called Arrowhead Pointe in the upper village of Blackcomb, with a short walk to the main run it was only minutes for us to get to the lift.
There was a bus service to Blackcomb and Whistler Village which was handy for getting to and from the shops. You could actually walk down the ski run to Blackcomb if you want and then its only a short walk thru a park to Whistler Village.
On the Friday, our first day of skiing the four of us did a bit of a tour of the mountains.
The boys were pretty well matched for skiing ability and and they had fun skiing around with us.
On the Saturday Angus and I did a bit of skiing on our own and managed to find our way back to the condo via the home trail which took us to the back door.
The 3 major mountain lodges Rendezvous, Glacier Creek and Roundhouse all had execellent WiFi where i could upload photos to Face-Tube or call people on Skype.
The Rendezvous Lodge even had a NIntendo lounge with Wii connected to large LCDs
Something that would never happen in Australian ski resorts.
We decided that due to the jet lag, the crowds, and the weather(raining in the village) that we would have a day off skiing on Sunday and do something touristy so Garry suggested a zip lining tour.
Zip lining is like a flying fox where you are connected to a cable and go from tree to tree across valleys and creeks etc.
There is an extensive network setup with tree platforms etc and the tour we did included a run that was almost 1 kilometre. Infact it was dubious whether or not Angus would make it across as you had to be a certain weight to do this tour. In the end we had to go over to the office the night before and get Angus weighed, he came in 2 kgs under the 34kg/70lb minimum for the tour but they said it would be OK.
It was a great day and something that we had not done before
Sunday night is the Fire and Ice show and after some sight seeing and shopping in the village we grabbed a hot dog and chips from Zoggs (which would become our favourite junk food place) and watched the show from the bottom of the lifts.
On Monday Garry and I did some skiing as the boys were in ski school and there was some fresh snow to be had. We skiied over at the Symphony bowl and did some tree skiing which was cool.
I got to try my new powder skis but found out (after forward fliping) that they are too short!!!
Great for trees or tight chutes but no good on big alpine bowls – oh well forget AK
That night we went to Dubh Linn Gate Irish pub for a few beers and a meal
The Boys had a massive plate of nachos
They went berserk and stuck their hands in the candles š
They didn’t need any Guiness
I had a few beers “in” my meal – Steak and Guiness Pie plus some extra Guiness
On Tuesday Angus did not want to go into ski school so we went for a tour together.
Kael had boot problems and wasn’t sure how he would go so we arranged to meet him and Garry at Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler for lunch then we went for a ski.
Garry suggested that we ski the Peak to Creek run and end up at Whister Creekside.
So we caught the Peak chair and headed over the back to ski one of the longest ski runs in the world at 11km
By the time we got to Creekside we were stuffed and after a plate of ribs and some beer I was really stuffed and it was the end of the day so we got on the gondola and headed home.
Wednesday saw Angus and Kael back at ski school and Garry and I did some more serious skiing
After a few runs on Blackcomb we headed across the Peak 2 Peak to Whistler
We skied the face of Whistler Peak and headed down the west ridge and ended up in some very steep glades that we heaps of fun
The sun came out that afternoon and I got a chance to look at the surrounding peaks, the prominent one in the back ground is the Black Tusk, which is also the name of a very nice ale that I had one night at Milestones Grill at Blackcomb.
Wednesday night we went to the Tube Park which is just up the hill at Blackcomb Base II.
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It was great family fun for about $10 each, another thing that Australian ski resorts have forgotten about…FUN !!!!
Just add FUN to the long list of things missing from Australians ski resorts like
SERVICE, VALUE, VARIETY, ENTERTAINMENT, CREATIVITY, INTEGRITY
Thursday was Kaels last day, so after saying good byes we headed off skiing and left Garry and Kael to do father and son stuff.
We had some breaky at Glacier Creek Lodge and since the weather was good we decided to do a run up the Glacier
We caught the Glacier Chair up to the Tbar and entered the glacier
After lunch at the Roundhouse on Whistler we took some photos and headed up the Peak Chair
We then Skied the Glacier Bowl and all the way back to Whistler Village
It was a massive day consisting of two big runs on two glaciers on two mountians
Friday it was back to ski school for Angus and as a treat for their last day the instructor took them to Crystal Hutte for some Belgian Waffles for morning tea
Garry and I went for a last ski together and it was a great day for photo ops
We took a run down the Glacier as it was foggy last time and the views were worth it
Friday night saw us doing some last minute shopping for presents.
Most of the shops are open til about 9pm and the village has a great atmosphere
We stopped off at our favourite haunt Zogs Dogs, for some dinner
It was a good chance to take some photos around the village at night
We decided not to ski on Saturday, as Angus said he wanted to chill out and look around the village.
We did some packing and then headed into town on foot since it was such a lovely day.
We walked down the ski run to Blackcomb and the thru the park to Whistler Village.
We went to an Authentic French Creperie called Crepe Montange and Angus had enormous pancakes and I had the best Eggs Benedict I have ever had.
After breakfast we went ice skating at the Whistler Olympic Plaza.
Again, something for the Aussie tourist industry to learn – You dont need to rip everyone off
FREE skating, $5 skate hire….nuff said !!!
This Squrl kept us amused running amok for a few minutes
We did a bit more shopping and then headed back home to get some warm clothes and went to the World Cup Bobsled.
We decided to walk again and since it was only 3pm the trip acorss 3 ski runs was interesting
After it was over we had a bowl of chilli from the Chilli Tank, which is a WWII army soup kitchen trailer.
So that was it for Whistler, the rest of Saturday night was spent packing and we left early Sunday morning for our bus trip back to Vancouver.
The views along the way were interesting as its strange to see snow and sea in the same photo
We made it to the airport at Vancouver with just enough time to check in and get some lunch
Our Flight to Dallas got us there at about dinner time but all I wanted was a beer
There was an Irish Pub where I had a Guiness and Angus skoalled a Shirley Temple
When we got on board I was pretty worn out and didn’t look at the boarding passes.
I kept saying to Angus “just keep going down the back”.
I looked up and we were at row 65 and when I checked the boarding passes I thought
“somethings wrong here…its says row 38” and we turned around and went back up the front
Turns out we were upgraded to Premium Economy which Angus thought was cool.
Teddy liked the upgrade too
After some movies, “The Ides of March”, “The Big Year” and “Tower Heist” we arrived home in Sydney after a sunrise stop at muggy Brisbane.
The majority of the stills and videos were taken using an iPhone 4s.
Some were taken on a iPhone 4 and Canon G10.
There were about 500 photos taken, which explains why it took 2 weeks to put together teh videos, slideshows and edit this blog, so after a break and another look I may add some more and embelish the story a bit more.
I put together a few videos / slide shows of the different things we did on the trip
Whistler 2012 – Skiing 1
Whistler 2012 – Two Glaciers
Whistler 2012 – Zip Lining
Whistler 2012- Bobsled
Whistler 2012 – Angus at Ski School
Whistler 2012 – Ski School Adventure Camp – DVD
Whistler 2012 – Peak 2 Peak
Earlier this month I bought an Alpacka Pack Raft and have been waiting to give it a try on some rapids.
Last yearĀ whenĀ Darren bought his packraft we did a few trips on theĀ Colo River.
I used a $50 blow up boat which was great as an introduction into the sport, however my boat was not as portable or durable as a proper packraft and certainly would not be as usable in rapids.
The raft I bought is called and Alpacka Denali Llama , it is 2.4m long and 2.4kgs and is designedĀ to be carried in a backpack to allow you to bushwalk or mountain bike to a river and then after running the river bushwalk or ride out, you can even lash your bike to it its that tough.
Anyway on Sunday we decided to try it out on the Nepean River at Bents Basin.
We drove to the reserve and walked a few kilometres along a ridge to get to the other end of the ravine that runs into Bent’s Basin and put in onĀ a gentle part of the river.
Paddling it on flat water was surprisingly easy and its a very comfortable boat.
After a while we came to a weir and then straight into some moving water which was fun.
There are about 4 sets of rapids ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 3 which was perfect for meĀ as a beginner
Here is a link to Darrens blog, I left it to him to do the trip report as he was the photographer.
Darren’s Blog link
Heres a link to a video of one of the rapids
Video Link
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