This last month I had an awesome kick off to my 2008 paddling season. With time running out before my busy season would arrive and usher out any chances for a decent paddling trip till next winter, I knew I was going to have to throw something together quick. After a quick Google session and a few phone calls, I had decided on Chile’s World Famous Futaleufu . The next day I had my flights booked and arrangements made with Expeditions Chile for 7 days of Futaleufu big water fun.
Day 1 Saturday
After about 25 hours of flights and 2 days killed in Porto Varas and PortoMont, I boarded a smaller charter plane for what would be an amazing flight beside the Andes Mountains on the coast line of Patagonia. After a lunch and drink in the town of Chitan, we picked up a few guests and clients returning from one of the sea Kayak tours the company also runs. Then it was 3 hour drive to the town of Futaleufu where I would be staying. The drive there goes by in what seems like half an hour as you try to take in the gorgeous mountains and valleys.
The flight to Chitan
View from my Hostel balcony in Porto Varas, one of the many volcanos behind the clouds.
Day 2 Sunday
After a quick breakfast and briefing, I and another guest were off to the Rio Azul, one of the tributaries of the Futaleufu. This is another beauty of a river making its way through another amazing valley. The river has a real turquoise green kind of color. The Azul was at a lower level from what I was told, but was still quite fun with a nice mini canyon, and creek like kind-of-feel near the bottom. At the confluence with the Futaleufu we feasted on some sandwiches and Sane Noose(Local Chocolate bars). From there, we hopped back into the shuttle and drove down river for the EL Macal section of the Futa. This is the chunk of river used to introduce the feel of the big water of the Futa without the huge gradient loss like above. There were a few nice surf waves and cool pourover features for playing while getting used to your new boat and big water. At the put in for this section, if you look up river a few hundred yards you see a thundering grade 5 rapid parted by a jinormous rock. From that vantage point I was sure Ididn’t want anything to do with any of that rapid. That night gets a little blurry after happy hour and dinner.
Day 3 Monday
This morning's briefing informed me I'd be paddling The Rio Azul again except this time continuing on from the confluence and running down to the "Terminator" section of the Futa, and then from there carry out the Bridge to Bridge section. Nice!!! Things are about to get bigger. The Azul gave me time to prepare and partially psyche myself out for the big gnar below. When we hit the confluence of the Futa we again ate lunch but this time carried on down to the Rapid called Terminator. There were a few big bouncy rapids that were quite amusing before we hit the Terminator. This rapid got its name from the first attempted descent of the river as the massive hole about half way down the rapid sucked in a raft and held it for about half an hour randomly spitting out gear. Essentially terminating the run. This rapid is truly something to even see. I opted for the well worn path around this one while our guide showed us the line through the center. Normally at higher water there is a grade 4+ sneak line down the river left side but with the lower water there are lots of pour over and under cut rocks to pick your way through. Watching the guide run this rapids puts things a little more into perspective and truly gives you a better understanding of the magnitude of this monster rapid. After a few more awesome rapids like Himalayas whose name is kind of self explanatory after you run the mountain sized wave train in the center. There were a few more 4+ rapids before the end of the Terminator section and the Bridge to Bridge or Hart of the Futabegins. It's called Bridge to Bridge because the normal run is to put in and take out at 2 of the bridges over the Futa in this section. It's known as the heart because it is the most popular and commonly done section. It's got lots of grade 4 /4+ drops on it that made it one of my favourite sections of the Futaleufu. Some of my favourite rapids were Pillow which gets its name from the huge pillow wave you dive head first into as the river smashes into amassive boulder and turns left. Entrada is another 4+ rapid that I really enjoyed because of its length and being one of the first rapids on the run that gave you a good idea of what’s to come. The bottom section of this run has two options; one is to pull out just above the bridge or the other is to carry on down river and run two grade 5 drops and then the El Macal section.I opted out of the two grade 5 drops feeling I already had a long and hard enough day. I hopped into the shuttle vehicle and went to meet the other client and guide that carried on down river. The client that carried on downriver did end up going for a bit of a swim on one of the grade 5 drops. Hearing this didn’t make me want to paddle the two drops any more than before.
Tristan, me and Peoter about to run Zapata on the Bridge to Bridge section.
Day 4 Tuesday
Today started off just like the rest, an early breakfast and to the river. This day we would be accompanied by the rafts for our second run down the Bridge to Bridge run. I enjoyed doing this run again, having done it the day before and knowing now what to expect and a half ass understanding of the lines I was able to play a bit more and enjoy the river with a little less anxiety as to what the next horizon line was going to bring. At the end of the Bridge to Bridge section with a little prodding and positive encouragement I was swayed into running the 2 bottom grade 5 drops. These two drops would be my first venture into the grade 5 realm of boating. I figured this was as good a time as any to try my luck on this type of water, with safety kayakers a safety cat-raft and client raft I at least like my rescue chances should I decide to foul up a move on one of these drops. The first drop below the bridge that wore a grade 5 badge was Mas o Menos, we ran on the far left doing a zig zag pattern from one eddy out into the main current and back into another eddy. We continued this way until the bottom. The real impressive water was the middle line which the rafts and a few of the safety boaters took. Although there was definately some big holes and long bouncy rapids till the end of the drop, the line down the left side felt more like a grade 4 sneak line that you really didn’t want to end up to far right on. I guess because of the nature of the whole drop it has a grade 5 rating to it but our side line was more of a high stress 4. That wouldn’t be the case with the next drop. The next drop had me quite nervous before we even arrived at it. This rapid is called Casa de Piedra, and was the one I had seen a few days earlier from the put in on the El Macal section that was used for the big water orientation day. The rapid I had already decided I didn’t want anything to do with while looking up at its hugeness and steepness from down river, did I mention its hugeness yet? This rapid is quite a long and hard scout but is well worth it. This rapid has many huge boat and paddler separating holes and hydraulics in it but the most impressive part was the huge hole backed up by a rock that is closer to mountain status. That rock and hole separate the river into two. Our line would be down the far right and our goal would be to avoid going too far into the center to what would surly be a beat down to be remembered. I and the other client who had come to ExChile only a few months earlier barley as a grade 3 boater both cleaned the right line and regrouped at the bottom to celebrate what in my opinion was my first real grade 5 drop. The day ended with a leisurely float through the El Macal section and into the lake at thebottom. For this section I threw my kayak onto the safety cat raft and rowed it down to the lake. Shortly after I started rowing the cat-raft I gained a new found appreciation for my kayak and for ore rafts. Man is that a lot more work than kayaking.
Tres Monjas, 7000Ft
Day 5 Wednesday
On this day I found myself doing something that I don’t generally enjoy. Maybe because every time I get into a raft it seems to be a complete gong show, or maybe its just the slow clumsy nature of a raft after having paddled kayaks for as long as I’ve been paddling on white water. Either way I didn’t figure I'd probably get a better chance to have a look into the infamous “Inferno Canyon”. Inferno Canyon is 22km (14 miles) of some of the hardest white water on the Futaleufu. The canyon is marked by “The Gates”, tall black vertical walls that protrude to the water marking the point of no return. The rapids in the Canyon range from Grade 4 to 5 and even a little higher at high water. Raft and all aside I was really happy I opted to come along on this section of the river. That said I’m also quite glad I was in a raft for a lot of it. It didn’t take much more than the first drop to absolutely amaze me at the change in the river. The tight vertical walls really freak out theFutaleufu. All the constriction makes for huge boiley eddies and large nasty rocks making even nastier holes, backed up by weird diagonal hydraulics. Somewhere near the end of it I had pretty much ruled out running this section in a kayak, at least this year. I mean I might as well save something for next year right? At the end of the canyon I and the other client, Piotor, joined the 2 safety kayaks back in hard plastic and carried on down river with the rafts. This section of river below the canyon was home to the white mile, and more famously Throne Room and Zeta. Throne Room being a rather munchie grade 5 with a large potential for a bad day should you boch anything up, is another rapid I opted out of running, along with Zeta. Zeta is bar none, nastiest rapid on the River! This rapid is the only one known as class 6. As I approached this rapid I didn’t quite understand what made it so much mankier than the rest. Even my preliminary scout as I crawled out of my boat didn’t seem to reveal anything to out of the ordinary. I mean sure the rapid twists hard to one side with multiple keeper beat down holes. Even if it did have a significant abrupt drop to it and pinched to a fraction of the width that I had seen this river narrow to, what made it grade 6? It's not until your down looking at the rapid from the bank do you really get a good look at the pot holes and tunnels carved into the walls on both sides of the river. The shores on both sides are a mess of undercuts, caves, tubes and other sivey nasty obstructions. After a good long look I began to realize why none of the guides were running this one in kayak or raft. Not to be disappointed, the guides still put on a high angle raft lining display as they sent the rafts down unmanned. Another added bonus to walking this rapid is the seal launch you get to do back into the waters below Zeta. Both I and Piotr botched this move up as shown in the pictures. I ended up with water under my eyelids and short of breath from the impact. Still beats running Zeta but the proper put in looks a lot nicer now. Below Zeta is the White Mile. That is, you guessed it, a mile or for us Canadians 1.6kms of continual big wave train, fluffy, and for the most part pretty clean grade 4. This section was awesome playing with down river movesas there was no shortage of features or big waves to throw yourself off of. At times I was glad to be in the 65 gallon Wave sport Diesel 65 but others I'd have loved to have had my play boat. I did manage to throw a few wavewheels in the Diesel though, something I had never thought possible on the rivers back home.
Tristan running the Center line on Terminater
Toby sneaking Terminater
Peoter and I running Mundaca
Day 6
As the last day of paddling in Chile and my last day on the Futaleufu (until next year) today would prove to be not only a pivotal moment in my paddling, but also the best day of paddling this kayaker can remember to date. Today started with a routine but quiet run down the Bridge to Bridge section. I think the quiet was a result of everyone knowing what question was going to be asked at the completion of this run. That question just as I anticipatedwas, “Do you want to paddle Inferno Canyon?”. To which of course I instantly replied “yes“. Well okay maybe not quite like that. After a few rounds of questions and some much needed encouragement from the guides I found myself bumping along the rather long a dusty ride to the put in of the Canyon. Beings that the Bridge to Bridge run and the Canyon are about as far away from each other as it gets, I had plenty of time to ask myself all sorts ofquestions like, “Is it to late to bail out”, “what am I thinking”, and ofcourse “crap where are my nose plugs”. It wasn’t until after the leisurely float down the Grade 2(3) Rio Espolon, and after entering “The Gates” that essentially marked my point of “to late to bail out”, that I finally relaxed. I relaxed right as I peeled out of the Eddy above Entrada, the first rapid of the Canyon that we had just scouted. It was at that moment I think I realized I was actually about to paddle that piece of water that two days ago I was adamant I didn’t want to paddle. I felt ready though and calm as I punched the first big diagonal just like we had discussed while scouting just a few minutes earlier. That’s about when the feeling left me. Turns out I didn’t punch the diagonal quite as well as I though I had. After the wave I noticed I was a little off the line of the guide that I was trying to follow. So between some bad judgment on how far I was away from the rather large pour over just down stream and my desire to get back onto my guides line I found myself a top probably what was the largest hole I had ever paddled into or close to. Catch is, instead of being perpendicular to the huge sucking void in the river I was quite the opposite. In fact by the time I realized the rather munchie foam pit I was about to drop into parallel, all I had left to do for a much needed boof stroke was some feebel draw that I’m sure only made me look even dumber than I already did. Lucky for me the hole was rather gentle on me and spat me back out rather quickly and un beaten. Feeling a little lucky and also a little humbled by the “hole” thing, I had also removed most of my self confidence and my relaxed state of mind that I had worked so long and hard for on the drive up. Not a great way to start the first of the four grade 5 drops to come. Lucky for me I didn’t have much time to dwell on things of that nature because I soon found myself looking over a mist filled horizon line called “Wall Drop”. The name of this rapid sums it up pretty much. It drops, there’s a wall and it drops into the wall, and both the drop and the wall are rather big. The only thing the name leaves out is the huge surging random boils, the whirlpools and funky hydraulics scattered through this drop as the water hammers off the left hand wall while the river takes a sharp right. I did however manage to stay more on the lines of the guides this time and had for the most part a rather clean line down possibly the second biggest drop I'd ever run, save the one above it. The next drop “Dance of Angles” was alittle softer being a grade 4 drop with a descent wave train down the centerand then into a wall again for some more bubbles and boils. The next drop was Dynamite. This drop had stood out in my mind as the one questionable rapid in the canyon. Even after running it in the raft and looking back up,I still wasn’t sure what my line would be in a kayak. Now that I’ve run it in a kayak and for the most part successfully, I still couldn’t tell you my line through it. From what I remember there was some zig zagging, some holes,some diagonal waves and also just the right amount big swirly eddies to warrant a few quick dunkings. Down at the bottom of this drop are some more big eddy lines and boils to really tie this rapid together. The last rapid of the day and what would be my last grade 5 drop of my trip to Chile is called “Perfect Storm” . This rapid had what seemed at the time to be some of the largest waves and biggest holes that I can remember paddling on the Futaleufu. The last rapid ends the canyon just the way it started, with a big horizon line, some monster big diagonal waves and, of course, what grade 5 drop would be complete without a few monstrous holes. Perfect storm is one of the few rapids I’m told gets harder with lower flows as opposed to higher. This is a good thing because I was so focused on what my next move was and staying on line with the guides I didn’t really have time to take in the rapid. Now a few weeks later when I think back all I can remember is what it looks like from down river and a few fuzzy images of big nasty holes. After many congratulations and thanks given, we were quickly on our way to an “Asado” at Don Wheedon's ranch. Don Wheedon is a good friend of Chris Spelius, the owner of Expeditions Chile. An Asado is a Chilean BBQ, and man do they know how to BBQ. As I walked to the edge of the river that I had just two hours earlier paddled past on my way into the canyon, I got to seewhat was going to make what had already been my perfect day even better. Roasting over the fire was a whole Lamb, and a big fryer full of chicken and sausage. All together there must have been near 60lbs of food. Aside from the table full of salad, bread and of course wine and beer. It wasn’t long till all the clients, guides, staff, and friends and family were stuffed full sitting on the grass beside the river listening to stories of Chris and Don. Chris and Don are both world renowned paddlers and have an ample supplyof stories to tell around a burning fire. My favourite of which was the one about the descent of Niagra Gorge that landed one of them in jail and the other off scott free for choosng the rite side of the border for a take out. It was truly as a good an ending to my trip as I could imagine. The following day brought an early breakfast and ride back to the airport in Chaiten, where I once again boarded the little commuter plane that brought me into this amazing area and returned to Porto Montt. While I’m sure there is something to do in that town, I know I sure didn’t find it. I was also probably not looking overly hard after having had such an awesome week paddling. Two days later and after my flight back to Santiago and from there back to the States and then a short drive home to Canada, I was back at work telling stories and trying to explain my lack of pictures to friends and co-workers. The best reply I had come up with so far was, “Sorry, too busypaddling ``. Apparently my stories and rather weak pictures were enough to get almost everyone from my store and other paddling buddies on board for a return trip next year. This time though we're eyeing up the Patagonia Kayak Safari trip done by ExChile as well. This trip starts off with a road trip into Argentina, for a week of paddling rivers. Before returning to Chile for a second week of paddling the Futaleufu. Given the time and cost spent on travelling there for us Canadians, it definately makes more sense to spend two weeks there instead of one. For some better pictures, videos and more detailed write-ups, check out their website, also trip dates and prices.
http://www.exchile.com/kayakchile.html
Anyone interested in getting on board for the upcoming trip next winter orj ust questions in general about the Futaleufu, feel free to drop me a line or fire me an email. I'll post back on this page when I have a date finalized. Once again I'd like to thank all the guides and staff for a job well doneand a kick in the right direction when I needed it. (Inferno Canyon)
Entrada, The first drop in Inferno Canyon.
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