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huckin harms
Master Poster
Joined: 03 Nov 2005
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   Topic: Boulder Drop
Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 8:01am |
How many different ways have you run BD? There are countless options at all different flows. More or less challenging routes start at the top and continue to the finish. And now with flows over 5k there is a new option that was just recently probed and found to be worthy. It is the single largest drop on the rapid proving a little intimidating from the top, but rather simple and straightforward and so far penalty free. To access the drop, one paddles to the left of the house sized rock that splits the river at the very top. The exit from the drop is in a pool above the eddy one might catch when rounding Airplane Turn. The drop horizon line isn't real inviting, with a large chunk of wood (not in play) wedged into the left side rock which is why it was probably never run until last week, first by Rob McGibbin, dropping 6-8' as a slightly sloping waterslide depending on levels. First run at a low flow (for this drop) of 3500cfs and a little tricky at this level, but was much easier at 5500. Perhaps this may become a nice alternative to the Mercy Chute, as one gets to crash holes and ride the waves down through the finish of Boulder Drop. For now I'm calling it the Sunset Slot. Seems fitting. See ya all out there!
Edited by huckin harms - 01 Dec 2008 at 8:04am
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 8:43am |
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Chuck e fresh
Master Poster
Post Jester - Round Tres
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
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Posts: -362
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 9:31am |
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Sound's good ! Must get some !!
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There's no such word as can't!so stop making excuses!!!!
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oopsiflipped
Paddler
Joined: 25 Oct 2005
Location: United States
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Posts: 67
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 9:37am |
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A never before run line on the sky? Seriouosly? You really think no one ever did that before?
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Half the stick, twice the dick!
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franzhorner
PP Junkie
outdoors music woodwork
Joined: 01 Mar 2005
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 10:23am |
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I've seen kayakers run that slot before. I've also seen a raft run it as a plan B.
Going left of the big house size rock in the entrance was called the "Lemming Chute" by the people who trained me.
I would take serious caution in running this slot at high water especially if its high enough for the Mercy Chute. The water just left of the big rock in the entrance that leads to this slot is pretty squirrelly and you would want to be in control coming into the Airplane Turn at those levels....
During my 3rd time through the Drop in guide training we hit the big house sized rock in the entrance and flipped. I went under and around the left of the rock and came out somewhere downstream only to get sucked river right and over the ledge that returns to the bubble pool. This ledge between the big rock and the entrance to the airplane turn is brutal!! I then went over the picket fence, either Ned's or the Needle. From the picket fence I didn't come to the surface until AFTER flypaper rock. This was a brutal swim.
Edited by franzhorner - 01 Dec 2008 at 10:26am
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 10:34am |
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I remember my first run through the sunset chute, or lemming chute... Years and years ago.. I think it never became popular because you miss the greasy pleasy entrance... which besides ned's could be my favorite part of the drop... You know the little bing badda bing of little staggered bumps that you can carve down...
One things for sure.. being the most popular rapid in the state with more paddlers in a single day than many rivers get all year makes it kinda hard to hide your tasty fruits....
I bet every line in that rapid has not just been run, but also swam by the elite boulder swim team. A team consisting of paddlers, rafters and maybe even a few honorary fisherman that caught the big one!
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franzhorner
PP Junkie
outdoors music woodwork
Joined: 01 Mar 2005
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 11:23am |
I forgot to mention a 2 man team of snow tubing "rivermen" ran the "Lemming Chute" this summer requiring a response from Search and Rescue! While many people believe that lemmings commit mass suicide when they migrate, this is not the case. Driven by strong biological
urges, they will migrate in large groups when population density
becomes too great. Lemmings can and do swim and may choose to cross a
body of water in search of a new habitat . On occasion, and particularly in the case of the Norway Lemmings in Scandinavia, large migrating groups will reach a cliff overlooking
the ocean. They will stop until the urge to press on causes them to
jump off the cliff and start swimming, sometimes to exhaustion and
death. Lemmings are also often pushed into the sea as more and more
lemmings arrive at the shore.
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Meghan
Splat Wheeler
Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 11:43am |
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Try the line just off the right rock, its right side.
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xanthopb
Big Boofer
Can Fangula the Greek!
Joined: 16 Jun 2005
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 1:22pm |
I think Meghan might be referring to the "Super Boof". Good around 3 g's but I've only heard, never done it.
-b
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O-Qua Tangin Wann
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dave
Master Poster
D4
Joined: 29 Apr 2005
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 1:35pm |
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Everytime I come to Boulder I say to everyone: Hey lets run it on the left side! But no one ever wants to and I havnt because it is a blind entrance and I have been to lazy to scout it. But next time I am going to try it!
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Nomad
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dave
Master Poster
D4
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 1:37pm |
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Oh, and I quit the swim team a few years ago... It gets mighty cold swimming in there in the winter!
Edited by dave - 01 Dec 2008 at 1:37pm
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Nomad
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Meghan
Splat Wheeler
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 1:46pm |
Originally posted by xanthopbI think Meghan might be referring to the "Super Boof". Good around 3 g's but I've only heard, never done it.
-b
I've heard it called "Chris' Crack".
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James
Admin
Sum Dum Guy
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Posted: 01 Dec 2008 at 2:45pm |
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Chris's Crack is the pourover/channel between neds and airplane turn. It only goes at certain levels... I am a bit hesitant to admit it, but I have wandered into chris's crack before and I have of course seen quite a few boaters but a little air in the crack!
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JoesKayak
Rio Banditos
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 3:34pm |
Originally posted by franzhorner
I've seen kayakers run that slot before. I've also seen a raft run it as a plan B.
Going left of the big house size rock in the entrance was called the "Lemming Chute" by the people who trained me.
I would take serious caution in running this slot at high water especially if its high enough for the Mercy Chute. The water just left of the big rock in the entrance that leads to this slot is pretty squirrelly and you would want to be in control coming into the Airplane Turn at those levels....
During my 3rd time through the Drop in guide training we hit the big house sized rock in the entrance and flipped. I went under and around the left of the rock and came out somewhere downstream only to get sucked river right and over the ledge that returns to the bubble pool. This ledge between the big rock and the entrance to the airplane turn is brutal!! I then went over the picket fence, either Ned's or the Needle. From the picket fence I didn't come to the surface until AFTER flypaper rock. This was a brutal swim.
Hmmmm.... This sounds like a great thread in itself: Share your BD swim stories. I've had a few ranging from benign to full-on beatdown.  I know I'm not the only one who has a story to share about a BD out of boat experience. This one seems to stand out: Flow was medium, probably 3-5K and I was in one of my IKs. I came through the top of the entrance just fine, but as I made my move left to get to Ned's I got too close to that little bitch wave/hole that's between the entrance and the needle. I thought I was OK, but it has some strange squirrlelyness at some levels and it grab my stern and flipped me over. I came to the surface quickly and grabbed the boat... no time to reflip... I was already running into the rock on the right of the needle. I pushed off and got sucked right and went over the nasty drop right of the needle... keeping my body as high in the water as possible. There some nasty sub-surface rocks there and I didn't want to have an entrapment in there. I went over the drop and went deep... death grip on the IK. Gotta love all that flotation to hold on. I reflipped quickly and jumped back in... However.... just as I jumped back in some strange hydraulics ripped the paddle out of my hand and it was GONE. I started to hand-paddle, but i was already on the "tractor beam" currrent, headed straight for House Rock. In what seemed like an instant I was riding high on the pillow off of House Rock and doing my best to surf the pillow-wave by bracing and hand paddling. Somehow I managed to use the surf to slide back off house rock and the momentum shot me into the Mercy Chute and i was able to eddy out. Whew. Then I started looking for my paddle... It was on the outside of the Mercy Chute circling an eddy. I swam across Mercy and climbed up one of the rocks that form the chute. The paddle wasn't going anywhere and I had no way to reach it. To get my paddle I was going to have to jump in and get it... I jumped in, grabbed it and then had to swim downstream past flypaper to get back in to shore. All was good except just a ways out from flypaper is a rock forming a hole... and the backwash was just right on this day and it started sucking me back upstream into the hole. Yay. Luckily Puma John was right there and I grabbed his bow and got pulled out. Another fine day in the boulder drop swim club.
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franzhorner
PP Junkie
outdoors music woodwork
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 3:48pm |
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I've swam the Boulder Drop way too many times.
I used to get so nervous after my first swim that I could barely speak above Boulder Drop. Not getting a breath from the picket fence until after Flypaper was brutal. At one point I was being recirculated without coming to the surface. It felt like rocks were above me and below. I now think I must have been under Flypaper or maybe the VW rock. My helmet needed to be retired after that swim. My face was swollen and bruised from getting surged into the entrance rock. A guide trainer had to convince me to let go of a rock on shore and stand up and get out of the river. Her first question to me was "Did you hit your head?" To add insult to injury we flipped in the Lunch Hole only a few minutes later! The guides figured I would never boat again. It was tough to get back in the boat the next day!
Once I flipped my IK in the entrance hole at about 5K. After struggling to flip the boat back over I had no time to get back in a seated position. I pulled myself onto the boat with my arms wrapped around the bow and my face first going over Ned's. My boat and I subbed out of the hole, I jumped back to a seated position, and, since I still had my paddle I was able to style the rest of the drop. It was pretty cool to go over Ned's face first on top of my duckie!
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septimus prime
Big Boofer
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 4:05pm |
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What part of BD is Flypaper?
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franzhorner
PP Junkie
outdoors music woodwork
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 6:25pm |
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Flypaper rock is on river right near the bottom of the drop. It is downstream of VW rock and the"shitty rocks above Flypaper" as called by Turnbull. Its triangular looking and a raft flipper. If you run the mercy chute and continue down the right, it is the rock to the left of the last ledge before you hit the pool. An eddy just upstream of Flypaper is called the Hand of God by some old timers. The hole below the Nozzle on the Green at high water is sometimes called the Hand of God too but that one is of no help on the river.
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jalmquist
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 7:52pm |
Actually, the RL hole below the nozzle and the "cave wave" on the green is just called "God".
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dave
Master Poster
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Posted: 03 Dec 2008 at 8:48pm |
Just a couple of shots of the River left side of Boulder. I guess it would be kinda boring except for the last boof!
http://professorpaddle.com/media/albumview.asp?album_id=457
Edited by dave - 03 Dec 2008 at 8:49pm
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Nomad
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franzhorner
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outdoors music woodwork
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Posted: 04 Dec 2008 at 11:35am |
Originally posted by jalmquistActually, the RL hole below the nozzle and the "cave wave" on the green is just called "God". What does "RL" hole mean??... The names I know of features on rivers most come from old-school rafters and catarafters. There are a lot of people who call the hole below the Nozzle the "Hand of God" and they are not wrong...In fact I would say there are no wrong names for features or drops until a misunderstanding leads to a dangerous situation... "God", "Hand of God", "big friggin hole below the Nozzle to avoid"... "lemming chute", "sunset slot" it doesn't matter....as long as we all know what the heck we are talking about.... Trivia: What drop on the Wenatchee is known by old-timers as "Turkey Shoot"??
Edited by franzhorner - 04 Dec 2008 at 11:37am
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jzgold
Splat Wheeler
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Posted: 04 Dec 2008 at 1:35pm |
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river left I would presume...
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RemAcct2
Limited Access
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Posted: 04 Dec 2008 at 2:43pm |
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I hope I am never referred to as an "old timer."
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justin
Big Boofer
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Posted: 04 Dec 2008 at 3:46pm |
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I'VE HEARD TURKEY SHOOT ON THE WENATCHEE REFERRED TO AS "LITTLE SNAP"
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franzhorner
PP Junkie
outdoors music woodwork
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Posted: 04 Dec 2008 at 6:00pm |
Originally posted by leifkirchoff
I hope I am never referred to as an "old timer."
yo better hope that dude!!! or else what would you be in 20 years??!!!
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windwaves
Paddler
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Posted: 05 Dec 2008 at 6:40pm |
I'VE HEARD TURKEY SHOOT ON THE WENATCHEE REFERRED TO AS "LITTLE SNAP" little relative to the "snapdragon" playwave upstream.... gone since the early 90's 
Edited by windwaves - 05 Dec 2008 at 6:40pm
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