Whitewater Rafting

Kayakers tackling Class V Gore Canyon on the Colorado might soon be bringing playboats on their racks as well as creekers. Grand County is planning to build a whitewater park on the Colorado River below Gore Canyon, just above Pumphouse and at Inspiration Point. But the movement needs paddlers' help by March 7...

The Green River's whitewater canyon Gates of Lodore and the popular fishing stretches upstream in Brown's Park have at least had a water flow stay of execution with FERC recently dismissing the initial permit application for pipeline project that would pull water out of the Flaming Gorge Dam upstream...

What would you do if you were an extreme boater living Down Under in New Zealand and vying for a spot on the Olympic Slalom team to compete this summer in London? If you’re Teva team member Mike Dawson, you hang up gates on a flooding Class V Kaituna to train on perhaps the toughest slalom course in the world...

Werner Paddles has another strong paddler in its line-up, recently adding Taylor Robertson as its new Southwest Sales Representative.

In the search for their newest Team Rider, Shred Ready was accepting video. While hundreds of stout paddlers submitted footage, only one, Jordan Byrum would join the team.

In this installment, USACK member Benn Fraker arrives in Australia to begin his training for the London Games. Who knew the training involved cliff jumping?

Sure, Freya Hoffmeister might have circum-navigated Australia. We’d like to see her keep up with the exploits of Australian Tanya Faux. This spring, Faux, a longtime creek and rodeo competitor and Australia’s2008 Adventurer of the Year, is leading a group of eight women into one of Australia’s most rugged and remote areas: a 30-day uncharted, unsupported, river exploration of the Kimberley region that aims to promote the Save the Kimberley campaign. Oh, and did we mention the Class V and crocs?

Okay, all you free-loading dirtbags. No more free lunch. It's permit season. So get off your duff and send in your applications for your favorite river trip instead of waiting to get asked along. Plus, that way you can invite who you want (which hopefully will include us). Here's all the info you need...

It’s blog time here at PL, with who else chiming in but PL friend and mono-blader Benn Fraker, at sixth the highest-placing U.S. finisher at the Beijing Olympics who just took off to the land of Aus for a two-month training stint in preparation for the Games in London this summer. Tune in for his semi-monthly reports from the field. But first, this primer so you can get to know him...

More paddlers will name be able to claim they’re Okies, if not from Muskogee, at least from Oklahoma City. USA Canoe/Kayak, the national governing body for sprint and slalom, just moved its headquarters from Charlotte, N.C., to Oklahoma City. PL reports on the move, with a special Q&A with CEO Joe Jacobi...

River guides rejoice: finally a book you can all relate to. Former river guide Tom Mahony’s Flooding Granite (Casperian Books) details the plight of river guide Zack Pruitt, a college drop-out who abandoned his girlfriend and young son when things got tough and headed back to the Sierra Nevada to guide. But he gets more than he bargained for. PL catches up with the author for a quick Q&A, and gives it a thumbs-up for those jonesing for whitewater action this winter...

The poach-fest continues. On Nov. 28, Southeast kayakers Pat Keller, Isaac Levinson and Chris Gragtmans dropped previously unrun 90-foot Noccalula Falls in Alabama's city-owned Noccalula Falls Park, causing park officials to scratch their heads and re-evaluate city ordinances. Bonus: Steve Fisher chimes in on a local news outlet's blog...

Proud of your summer paddling feat? That’s peanuts compared to Nepal's Sano Babu Sunuwar and Lakpa Tsheri Sherpa’s Ultimate Descent, going from the highest place on earth to the sea in one continuous non-motorized descent, with kayaks playing the final role...

Holy tie-fest. Marking an event with the most ties in its 16-year history, this year’s 16th annual Green Race on North Carolina’s Green River was once again as carnage- and competition-filled as ever, with Isaac Levinson winning the crown and coveted “Glass” trophy for the first time ever. And for the women, Adriene Levknecht three-peats with a new women’s course record of 4:57...

The U.S. might be slaying it in the stand-up surf scene with the likes of Slater Trout, but when it comes to surf kayaking, Basque Country and the UK are barreling to the top of the line-up -- and podium. That’s how things played out, at least, at this year’s World Surf kayaking Championships, which recently wrapped up at North Carolina’s Outer Banks....

In a sign that the paddlesports retail world is, if not riding a wave at least creating ripples, on October 22 the Nantahala Outdoor Center opened the doors of its groundbreaking experiential retail and outdoor activity concept shop, NOC Asheville, inside Asheville, N.C.'s The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa....

After nearly a century, Washington's White Salmon River in south central Washington is flowing freely again. Earlier today, a hole was blasted in the base of Condit Dam, and its reservoir - Northwestern Lake - began to pour through it. The reservoir is expected to be fully drained by sundown...

The International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHOF) moved to the banks of the South Fork American River Oct. 14-16 to honor members of the Class of 2011, including this year’s inductees: Explorer - Richard Bangs (USA); Champion - JP Burny (Belgium); and Advocate - Oliver Cock (UK)...

The Adventure Travel Trade Association World Summit provided a fitting background for today's announcement of a groundbreaking partnership between an American kayak manufacturer, the Mexican tourism industry and the adventure travel industry...

Who’s the paddler to beat in the extreme kayaking world? Twenty-three-year-old Sam Sutton from Rotorua, New Zealand, who once again demonstrated his dominance by winning the fifth annual adidas Sickline Extreme Kayak World Championship in Tirol, Italy, for the second year in a row (and getting to soak in a hot tub with Miss Tirol 2009)...

After three days of tight competition at the World Rafting Championships on Costa Rica’s Pacuare River, the Teva US men's and women's teams nab 7th, while Japan strokes to its first-ever world title. And PL was there for every dip of the blade...

Don’t think rafting is international? Don’t tell that to the 48 men’s and women’s teams from 32 different countries gathered in Turrialba, Costa Rica, for the 2011 World Rafting Championships on the Pacuare River. PL reports direct from the scene...

With a new conversational format designed to get more participants into more discussions, organizers heralded the 2012 Whitewater Symposium Oct. 12-14 in Jackson Kayaks' back yard of Rock Island, Tenn., as a resounding success...

The Black Canyon of the Gunnison has long been a badge of multi-day courage for top-level Class V kayakers. For good reason...the 12-mile, Class V-VI stretch within the national monument drops up to 230 feet per mile beginning just three miles in at The Narrows, includes one mile-long portage and countless others, and has taken the lives of such world-class boaters as Chuck Kern. A few kayakers, however, are slowly chipping away at its puzzle by running rapids never run before. PL checks in Tom Janney for the Black Canyon lowdown...