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CdB Whitewater Paddling Club Discussions => Paddling => Topic started by: Jeremy Poulin on August 17, 2012, 10:21:50 AM

Title: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on August 17, 2012, 10:21:50 AM
Who's in?? (No pun intended! lol)
I know lots of you are thinking of King of Cups, but this is an awesome alternative (truthfully I wish KoC was a different weekend so I could do both, but alas, no dice)
jer
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 17, 2012, 10:51:43 AM
whats the date you will be there!

bast
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: jonyak on August 17, 2012, 10:53:06 AM
I have been wanting to do this for a while.

What are the dates for it?
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: ChristianG on August 17, 2012, 05:20:01 PM
Beaverfest is during the Labour day weekend. Info:

Taylorville:  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2612/
Eagles:       http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2614/
Moshier:     http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/2613/

There are releases on the Taylorville and Eagles sections on the other September weekends, Moshier only has water on September 2 from 10:00 to 14:00.

--C.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on August 18, 2012, 07:42:20 AM
Jonyak, I don't know that we've paddled before, so i dunno what you usually paddle. The AW links Christian put up are a fairly accurate idea of em (maybe hyped a little). Its a sweet river, totally worth the drive (you can tell people your going to Beaverfest, how sweet is that lol)
Bast, I'll be driving down friday night, at some point, probably get to the campground around midnight. And plan on leaving monday after an early paddle, so mid afternoon
jer
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: jonyak on August 18, 2012, 09:38:59 AM
Well if its the weekend of the 1-2 I won't be able to make it, as I have a wedding.

As for what I paddle... Well the beaver would definitely be pushing my limits, but I don't think that's a bad thing. I am totally comfortable on the Ottawa, rouge (not 7 sisters falls), beaver/black on highway 7, and runs similar to these. I find them easy, and have been wanting to up my game.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 19, 2012, 10:18:20 AM
IS it a river just for creek or i take my playboat too? Is there playspot on Beaver or around near for playboating???

AND  there is a RELEASE on the 1 september 2012 and 3 september 2012 for the RAQUETTE river  http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/1387/#main == at 720cfs (difficulty4+)
  I never run this river but i heart on its very good . INTerresting looks this river.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on August 19, 2012, 07:40:20 PM
The Raquette is BIG. I've not run it, it freaked me out the one time I've seen it. One day though....
Bring your creeker for the Beaver. Don't know if there are playspots
jer
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: ChristianG on August 20, 2012, 01:50:47 PM
Bastien, bring a creek boat. There is a little playspot at the end of the Taylorville run, but the point is to do the run 2-3 times instead of playing...

--C.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on August 20, 2012, 02:20:55 PM
YUP!
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: LouisD on August 22, 2012, 04:18:19 PM
Taylorville is accessible to a lot of people. Now rated IV by AWW. Easy to scout and walk anything.
Good place to experience creeking and slides with people to teach and help you.

There is a step up in the crowd running the Moshier. The last boof and subsequent S shaped rapid on Moshier's first section (after the lake) still remembers some of the CdB paddlers from the amount of skin and dignity left. And it's last rapid (Moshiers Falls, AWW says V now) has seen plenty of carnage and several months of recovery from the beloved and actual CdB president. You can still run what you want and walk the rest. The waterfalls and slides in the first section and the nice 2 sections would make it worthwhile in anyway.

I would run Eagle (drop/pool class V) creek before Moshiers Falls as you basically need to link hard IV/IV+ moves to make it down safely, while with Eagle being drop/pool you can enter and exit whereever you want and pick your fight.

I'd say the crowd at LaRaquette is 2 steps up from Eagle and Moshiers; you see seasoned class V paddlers there. It's not a place to check if you can paddle or not or understand what a boof is. It has 3 significant class V rapids with names like Particule Accelerator. One of them is the Tub... Innocent name for a hell of a washing machine experience if you miss your line by 10 inches. I went down La Raquette last year after an evening of drinking vodka, a serious handgover and (some will remember) a night under my umbrella... Stepping on the river, I told myself I wasn't in good shape enough to run class V... So I skipped the 3 class V... In our group, noone ran the first rapid - Colton Falls...a scary slide with delicate entry, bad rocks during the steep and long slide and worse ending with a huge hole across... Later heard that Vincent Dupont swam it that same day. After watching my buddy TJ being worked in the Tub for a few minutes and come out with less than a full paddle, I was happy about my decision to skip the class V... Even more happy when I saw Particule Accelerator; another (very) steep slide where you can't see where you are going and are typewrited a solid 10 feet in less than a sec. The rest of the river has a mix of class IV+, IV rapids making it one of the 2 best rivers I ran last year (not counting Chile). A beautiful and challenging river by any means.
It also has a walking path along its length as I recall.

Better bring a large river runner (Mamba, Diesel, Blunt, etc) or creeker to the Beaver. A creeker and additional protective equipement (elbow pads, throw rope, creeking helmet) is more than a good idea for Eagle and more so La Raquette.

Louis (in Montreal and eager for the Beaver and La Raquette)
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 24, 2012, 01:56:51 PM
LouisD are you planning to run the Raquette?
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: LouisD on August 24, 2012, 02:19:27 PM
I'm thinking about it,
but this is a signigficantly bigger undertaking than the Rouge waterfalls although the 3 class V are very walkable.
Saturday and Monday are the last 2 release days for La Raquette, BTW.
And I would think my buddy TJ would like another go at the Tub.

There is only 3 big class V, lines are fairly simple, but you have to hit them and the risk of injury quite high.

Likely be decided Sunday evening, if we can muster sufficient courage and crew.

LD
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 24, 2012, 08:31:34 PM
louisD do you already do the Raquette river in the past
OR
 do you know a guy who know the rapids on the RAquette ?
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: LouisD on August 24, 2012, 10:42:59 PM
I think I know myself, therefore, that would be a yes on both counts...

As per my previous post:
I went down La Raquette last year after an evening of drinking vodka, a serious handgover and (some will remember) a night under my umbrella... Stepping on the river, I told myself I wasn't in good shape enough to run class V... So I skipped the 3 class V.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: JohnCyr on August 27, 2012, 08:42:34 AM
louisD do you already do the Raquette river in the past
OR
 do you know a guy who know the rapids on the RAquette ?

Bastien,... talk to Mike McKay on Facebook. Hes headed down there for the raquette race on the 3rd. Il a besoin de photographe/kayakiste pour loe prochain episode de Currents! Tu aurais en masse le temps de voir/filmer les lignes et les faire toi meme! :)
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 27, 2012, 09:05:16 PM
cool merci johnCyr je vais communiquer avec.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: bastien86 on August 27, 2012, 09:05:44 PM
and where is located the campsite for the beaverfest?
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: coolfarmer816 on August 29, 2012, 04:54:55 PM
like to come and see tomorrow who's coming

Daniel
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: ChristianG on August 29, 2012, 06:24:44 PM
and where is located the campsite for the beaverfest?

Soft Maple Campsite
Soft Maple Road,
Croghan NY 13327
(315) 346-1756

http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=43.915377,-75.225559&hl=en&sll=43.915362,-75.225513&sspn=0.008053,0.021136&t=h&mra=mift&mrsp=1&sz=16&z=16

They don't take reservations, but the guy told me he'll find room for us when we show up, unless we have big trailers or RVs...

--C.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Cindy D on August 30, 2012, 10:05:32 AM
I'd like to go too but I need coaching on this river and I can't make it to CB tonight.  Please, keep posting.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on August 30, 2012, 01:01:55 PM
I'm sure tons of people would be willing to give you a hand on the river, Cindy. As I recall, most of the rapids are easily scoutable, and most of the drops are fairl consequence free (except Moshier falls, of course)
jer
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: LouisD on August 30, 2012, 02:07:38 PM
Mauser's Faceplant on Moshier has seen its fare share of CDB skin.
Dogleg had CDB swimmers vitising regularly and the bottom holes on the first Taylorville rapid (Beaverator) and the long slide after that (Great White Slide) have provided plenty of entertainment.
Likely because of the significant differences from the regular runs:
- drop/pool, lots of water, wide channels with big error margins on the lines,
Versus
- narrow channels, quick paced slides covered by thin layer of water and offering no paddle purchase and little control, tall waterfalls. All quite needing some getting used to and skills.

Quite a lot of fun for the sufficiently skilled intermediate paddler.
But this is not like the Ottawa or Gatineau where a flip or a swim bares little to no consequences.
Painful for the not so skilled ones has the rocks will rob skin off their face or/and knockles.

Better inquire around to validate if you've got sufficient skills at this point to make it enjoyable or at least safe enough.

LD
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: JohnCyr on August 30, 2012, 02:40:43 PM
I agree with Louis. This is a stay upright kid of river as far as I can see. Also Remember, youre in the US of A. Break some ribs or a collar bone and spit out the cash..that or have a painful 3-4 hour drive home to wait 8 hours in the emergency room! Talk to Bill about it.

IE: If youre used to the Ottawa and youve never ran ST CHUTE, Elevator shaft or Staircase on the or Little Trickle..because youre not sure you can style it.....perhaps you should consider twice before heading down to NY to run the brown. As you can see...this is nothing like the Ottawa/Rouge/Gatineau and surely not a place to see if you still can roll!

Stay safe Yall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI2wPJ1i7Ao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lNiMWxU5Hw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHdoBNj4UYg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEWu198m_wo&noredirect=1



Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Cindy D on August 30, 2012, 03:59:24 PM
Thanks guys, I will go climbing instead.  It doesn't look like a good place to try my new boat.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Late Ray on August 30, 2012, 04:57:19 PM
Taylorville is a great place to learn all the basic creekboating move. You still need a good intermediate skill set, but if you don't know how to boof, have never run a slide, etc., this is probably the best section to learn on.  Spots like Beaverator which can dish out a pounding are easily walked.  While the first slide is intimidating looking, it's really quite straight forward: it's not very fast moving and because it is so shallow, it's actually pretty hard to flip on.

That said, do your research! Know your ability.  Paddling events like Beaver weekend and Moosefest are great in that you can see many people run the lines (well and poorly).  The problem is, this can lead to a lemming mentality where people who maybe shouldn't run something get a false sense of security after seeing so many people run it. 

If you haven't gone before, particularly if you are planning on running the Moisher section: at the least, please read the American Whitewater description.  Even though it is clearly stated there, it's amazing how many people do not realize there is a sieve in the 3rd drop.  There are a few people who are very lucky to be alive after they were sucked into it.

Have fun, play safe.
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Cindy D on August 30, 2012, 07:44:45 PM
Thank you for your advises, it's very appreciated.  I have read the AW description, the Talorville is where I wanted to go but, I wish I could have gone with someone I know and trust and who also knows the river a little.  I'll pass for this year, I just got my Diesel and Christian pointed out that I should try it in a safe place to learn how to handle it before I get out on a river.  It just makes sens.  I have never considered running the Moshier or Raquette, I am not there yet.

Thanks anyway and have fun there!
Title: Re: BeaverFest--Photos
Post by: ChristianG on September 03, 2012, 06:37:06 PM
Here are a few photos of the Beaver Eagle section. The whole thing is maybe 500 m long, and steep... To put it in context, here's a view of Jeremy and myself catching our breaths after the 2nd slide. Only one slide remaining a few meters below the eddy on the picture, then a sweet 3 m drop (thanks Jacques for the photos):
Title: Re: BeaverFest--Photos
Post by: ChristianG on September 03, 2012, 06:41:29 PM
Some pictures of my run:
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: ChristianG on September 03, 2012, 06:45:05 PM
and of Jeremy's:
Title: Re: BeaverFest
Post by: Jeremy Poulin on September 03, 2012, 08:30:20 PM
Thanks for the pic post Christian!
What a great run, I'm so stoked we did it!! Still grinning!
jer