Yeah, Marc... I'll tell the Boreal River Rescue instructors NOT to use you as swimmer during the course next month, you got your share already.
The Familial and other small rapids were a lot of fun. We explored a new (to me) line at Elizabeth, eddy-hopping river left. Daniel went backward, I went forward...
I really appreciate the consistency of Slice'n'Dice. There was no demarcation between the preceding Class II+ rapid and the drop itself. After watching Jim so many times, I went in the center trusting my skills to deal with whatever would be there. I can report that the small 'thread the needle' between the two holes is there at huge range of levels, between 160 m^3/s and 12 m^3/s. Yesterday, the error margin was small, you had to be within about 1/2 m of the peak of 'S' water ridge, but the line was easy to spot if you started right in the middle. It was a good roller-coaster ride, once you get on the water ridge, it was like a train ride taking you right between two HUGE holes. Kudos to Daniel and Marc for navigating that!
The crux for me was the canyon starting below Slice'n'Dice down to the Texaco eddy, which was tiny--room for 2-3 boats only at this level. A few big holes to avoid and many large crashing diagonal waves to hit. Daniel and I waived Marc good luck as he bobbed by the eddy--the poor guy had already a whole weekend of canoe training in him, and was already spent when we started... While running down the shore to try to catch him (no use, btw, water is too fast), we had the opportunity to scout the rest of the rapid, which looked--and was--relatively straightforward, easy enough to paddle towards left to avoid the Washing Machine. The Drier was a big green wall of water to hit straight on.
At this level, the seal launch after the portage is not impressive except that you land in a fast current, so technique is important (lean downstream while in mid-air). There is still quite a bit of flat water below to fix any problem, it's quite safe especially if someone is waiting in the river-right eddy after the first bend--thanks Daniel! The good thing too at high levels is that even if someone screws up and only rolls up just above the last waterfall, the current is very slow there and it would be an impressive ride but not so dangerous to actually run the drop, aiming for the rooster tail center-right, or the little sneak drop extreme river right. The second portage is very short: walk 5 m and do a second seal launch into the bottom of the drop.
In a big boat (I was in a Pyranha Burn), I would rank last Sunday as my most rewarding run of the Seven Sisters section. It would have been feasible in a playboat, but not fun at all.
--C.
