Come meet up with Team Wave Sport/Team Alder Creek on the road!

The End of Summer...

For the past month and a half, I have been working 45 hour weeks at the local kayak shop, Alder Creek Kayak and Canoe in Bend, Oregon. Teaching both whitewater and flat-water classes, the work is very rewarding and I learn a lot myself.

Over the next two weeks, Todd Baker and I will be traveling around the state, getting in as much paddling as we can before school starts September 29, 2008.

Starting September 16th or so, we'll be in Hood River, Oregon for about a week, week and a half, paddling the Cispus, the Little White, Truss and a few others.

We will then will make our way south back to Eugene either through Bend, Oregon or Portland, with a possible stop at the coast.

We are hoping to do some clinics along the way, as well as meet some more paddlers, so if you want to join us on the river or grab some grub, give a shout!

The best way to get in contact with me on the road is by cell phone:

(541) 693-4377




Kim Russell

wwpaddler03@yahoo.com

Employee of the Week: Nick Fehringer

Nick Fehringer:

Role: Sales Associate

Location: Bend, Oregon

 

About “Little Saint Nick” :

Nick Fehringer comes to Alder Creek from Nebraska.  He has lived in Bend, OR for the last 5 years working as a  specialist in Yakima and Thule roof rack components.

If you have a question about how to carry your boats and gear there’s no one more dedicated to make sure you and your family stay safe.  His background in outdoor sports  (Kayaking, Bicycling, Camping, Fly Fishing, Hunting, and Golfing) make him an interesting fellow to talk too… and his passion and enthusiasm to help others makes him a great member of the Alder Creek Team.

Thanks Nick!

Employee of the Week: James Fredericks

Employee of the Week: James Fredericks

Role: Sales Associate
Location: Bend, Oregon




About James Fredericks:


James got his intro to whitewater kayaking in 1984 as a senior in high school. He started seriously whitewater kayaking in 1993. In August of 1995 James first set foot in the Portland Alder Creek. Within one minute he saw the boat he needed to buy (without prior consideration). James has entered many whitewater events and won several, including the 1998 Nike World Masters freestyle event. He has a few first and second descents of various rivers and waterfalls, including Oregon's 68 foot Koosah Falls.

In the past James has seriously engaged in or competed in cross country skiing, road and mountain bike racing, rock climbing and multi-sport events.

James has been working at the Bend Alder Creek since 2003 and currently one of the two managers there.



Thanks for reading,

Kim Russell

Three Creeks in a day and back!

The morning view (Photo by: Todd Baker)

After paddling the Callaghan River late in the evening, we all made a quick dinner stop in Whistler Village, then headed to camp at the Cheakamus River nearby. We were unsure were to camp, so Kirk and Trevor pulled the vans up into the trailhead parking lot, while we pitched our tent in between for bear protection (Crazy, eh?) Ya... we were a little nervous about the whole bear thing.

Good Morning! (Photo by: Todd Baker)

Anywhoo... the next morning, we learned we should not camp in the trailhead parking lot, but rather on the opposite side of the river somewhere. Cool. Thanks BC Parks!

After we woke up, we did a quick lap on the Cheakamus River, an easy class III run in the beautiful hills just outside Whistler.

Bryan Kirk Lap 1 of the put-in Falls (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Bryan Kirk lap 2 of the put-in falls (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Cheakamus take-out (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Trevor playin' fetch with Babs (Photo by: Kim Russell)

By 1:00 pm, we were off to the Callaghan River again for a second lap. (I decided to run shuttle this time and save up energy for the last river of the day, the Soo, as I was still getting over being sick).

Callaghan put-in (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Once the boys made it off Callaghan, we headed to the Soo River, but not before heading for a quick scout on 21 mile creek, a sweet little nearby creek with a series of 3 or 4 15-20 foot waterfalls. Picture perfect shots, and beautiful scenery. Sweet.

Hiking around (Photo by: Kim Russell)


Boulder-mess (Photo by: Kim Russell)



The first falls of the series (Photo by: Kim Russell)

After checking out the flow, and debating whether to actually hike our boats up the steep trail, and down the even steeper slopes to the river, we decided to bail on the mission and move onto the Soo River, about 20 minutes north of Whistler.

Unfortunately, we managed to pick the most awesome week ever to be traveling around Whistler! The same weekend as the Pemberton Music Festival! All along the highway from Whistler to Pemberton, BC, there were police checks, and as a result mile-upon-mile long lines. I think we went about a mile in half an hour. Sweet. So much for 3 rivers in a day....



The LINE (Photo by: Kim Russell)

The line kept on moving, and eventually we made it to the Soo River, putting in at a super random road that doesn't even look like a road. Awesome. Being late, no one took cameras on the river, but I will say the Soo is a must-run if you are ever in the Whistler area! It's a boulder gardeney, semi-pool drop, continuous class IV run with great potential. With milky turquoise blue water, and amazing rapids, it's a must do!

The next day, we were on the road driving back to the states, crossing our fingers we wouldn't get pulled over again at the border.

Two hours later, we were safe back in the states remembering the most amazing two weeks any of us had had in a long time.

Sunset crossing the bridge in Vancouver, BC (Photo by: Kim Russell)


Cheers!

Kim Russell

PS- Don't camp at the Cheakamus take-out or else you might end up with a warning ticket zip-tyed to your tent that looks something like this..... Cheers to our friends from England!

Up to Whistler!

Wednesday morning rolled around, and we all decided to call it good at Skook and head to Whistler. After a week at Skook we were all pretty worn out, but completly relaxed in such a beautiful place. If you have never been to Egmont, BC you have got to check it out! Lush forests all around you, an epic wave, sealife, amazing food, and no cell phone service! YES! Skook is definetly a place where you can actually relax and not be bothered by the norms of society. Anywhoo, back to the story....


We began loading the van at 10:00, but Bryan, Todd and I are really ADD and get easily distracted. Somewhere in there, I think we ended up tinting a van window, browsing super cool stuff online, reading a book, and running around.

The line-up (Photo by: Kim Russell)

We ended up rolling out around 3 pm, we made it to the ferry terminal
to catch the 5:30 ferry, thanks to Bryan's superior van-driving skills!

Trevor posing as a superhero in the line-up (Photo by: Kim Russell)

An hour later, we were off to Whistler, about an hour and a half north of Vancouver, BC.

On the way there, we saw a lumberjack!

Lumberjack (Photo by: Kim Russell)

AND... a 40-footer near Quest University!

Scouting the lip (Photo by: Kim Russell)

The wreckage below (Photo by: Kim Russell)

The falls (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Unfortunately, the falls was too low, and each log we tossed over managed to either break in half, get lost under the river left wall, or end up in the mess of logs just downstream.

"The Cheif" in Squamish (Photo by: Kim Russell)

After arriving in Squamish after dark, we decided to call it quits and camp out in the Walmart parking lot to save ourselves the trouble of finding a campsite late at night in the middle of bear country. Good idea.

The next morning, we woke up, did some walmart shopping, where we determined the Walmart's in Canada are SOOO much cooler then in the states. They have Passion Flakies and shoes for $5.00! And they weren't just shoes... they were waterproof ked's things for chicks! Yee-haw! (Needless to say, no one got any...BUMMER)

After a breakfast of eggs and english muffins in the parking lot, we went to check out Mamquam Falls, a 70-footer just out of town whose flows are controlled by a local water-bottling company! (go figure)

Todd, Trevor and Bryan at Mamquam Falls(Photo by: Kim Russell)

Mamquam.... the big one (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Once again, it was a tad bit too low, so we shot some sweet pics, and headed up to Whistler just in time to run the Callaghan River nearby.


Bryan and the boys hikin' to the river (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Todd Baker, Bryan Kirk, Andrew and the rest of the boys on the Callaghan River, BC

(Photo by: Kim Russell)

Unfortunately, I did not take my camera on the Callaghan this day, as I didn't want to deal with a pelicase in my lap at the time, so you'll have to do a little research and find some pics online.

Callaghan Creek is amazing! The water is milky blue-white, and not too cold. The run starts off with a little bit of class II, quickly changing to class IV. The run overall is Class IV boulder gardens and drops with two bigger drops toward the beginning (a 15 ftr with a log on river right, and a clean 25 ftr downstream). Sweet. Def. a creek to check out if you're ever in the area.

Stay Tuned for the next post! Three Rivers in a day: Cheakamus, Callaghan and the Soo!

Hope you're staying cool in the warm weather!

Kim Russell
Team Wave Sport

Last days at Skookumchuck!

 

Purple Starfish at Skook (Photo by: Kim Russell)

For the next five days or so, we spent our mornings at the BackEddy Pub and Marina, and our evenings at the wave.

Like clockwork, at 7:30 am, Todd and I would wake up, sneak into
the van, grab some breakfast food, and shut the door as quickly as
possible before waking Bryan. Needless to say, we never did get our
food out without waking him up... Sorry!

 

Bryan and Todd making breakfast (Photo by: Kim Russell)



Todd and I would make breakfast, toast some bagels (more of a burn
than a toast), make some oatmeal and chat with Trevor for a few hours.



 

Mmmmm... eggs! (Photo by: Kim Russell)



By 10:00 am, Bryan would be up, we would all do a quick internet
session, then either log footage from the day before or look at photos.

 

By noon, we would wander down to the BackEddy Pub for some quick, 
delicious grub, then make our way down the road to the trailhead for
Skook.



 

Float Plane at Skookumchuck (Photo by: Kim Russell)



Towards the end of our stay at Skook, we made it out to the wave early enough for it to still be slack tide (no moving water). We were able to wander around the tide-pools and check out all the cool sea-life.

 

(Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

Not to mention, watching the wave grow from nothing... it's pretty cool.





Kelsey Thompson, Trevor Clark and Todd Baker (Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

Check out the photos below of the remainder of our stay at Skookumchuck!





Kelsey Thompson givin' er with a flashback (Photo by: Todd Baker)





Kim Russell with a sweet righty (Photo by: Todd Baker)

 

 

Todd Baker mid Pan-am (Photo by: Bryan Kirk)

 

 

Bryan Kirk going clean in his Kaenon sunglasses (Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

 

Kelsey mid-air screw (Photo by: Bryan Kirk)

 

 

Kim paddling hard to stay on the green wave (Photo by: Todd Baker)

 

 

Bryan Kirk (Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

 

Todd Baker in the Fuse 48 (Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

Backsurfin' (Photo by: Todd Baker)

 

 

BK (Photo by: Kim Russell)

 

 

 Kelsey Thompson going clean (Photo by: Kim Russell)

Kim goin' right again (Photo by: Todd Baker)







Todd mid-flashback (Photo by: Kim Russell)









Stay Tuned for some creeking at Whistler!

Smile,

 

Kim Russell

Team ACKC goes to Canada!

 

Todd Baker, Kelsey Thompson and Natalie Lussin (Photo by: Kim Russell)



After looking at pictures of Skook for years, we are finally here! Bryan Kirk, Todd and I made it up late Thursday evening just in time to meet up with our friend and photographer Trevor Clark as well as catch the wave before sunset.



Skookumchuck Tidal Rapids are located just outside of Egmont, BC along the Sechelt Inlet. During ebbtide, as the tide flows out the inlet towards the ocean, the wave doesn't even exist. Once the water in the inlet gets low enough, the tide switches, and water rushes back in to fill the inlet. As this happens, the wave begins to build, and usually peaks about two hours after slack tide. You can surf the wave as it begins to build all the way to the peak and back down to slack tide.



During the end of July, the tides are set so the wave is coming in later and later each day. Thursday the wave peaked at 6:00pm (we could start surfing at 4:00), and tonight (Tuesday), it is peaking at 8:30 pm, meaning we can start surfing at 6:30pm. To get to the wave you can go either by boat or by land, hiking about 4km to the wave on a sweet trail through the BC forest.





Kim Russell dropping in (Photo by: Todd Baker)



We are heading out to the wave to meet up with Kelsey Thompson in a few minutes, so I'll have to keep this short, but check out the photos, and stay tuned for more!





Bryan Kirk and Todd Baker waiting for the pile (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Kelsey Thompson (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Bryan Kirk logging some air miles (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Todd Baker mid-helix (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Kim Russell with a sweet righty (Photo by: Bryan Kirk)





Kelsey Thompson with a kickass airscrew (Photo by: Bryan Kirk)





Bryan Kirk mid-helix (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Kim Russell workin' the flashback (Photo by: Bryan Kirk)





Todd Baker going huge with a clean pan-am (Photo by: Kim Russell)





Bryan Kirk clean it up makin' a rainbow (Photo by: Kim Russell)



Cheers!



Kim Russell