ELFing the N. Stanislaus: Ramsey Run!

August 5, 2008

By Stephen Wright

While I should be training for World Cup freestyle, I had the opportunity to get on something steep this weekend and went for it. After a fantastic day on the SF American with my girlfriend and buddy Bryon Dorr, we headed south to run a Sierra Classic: Ramsey Run on the Stanislaus. At levels around 200 cfs, the Ramsey Run goes well into the summer, is full of shallow, continuous, manky class 4+, which separates some spectacular bedrock larger drops. This is walled-in by gorgeous granite cliffs, which makes for an incredible day. Bryon and I managed to do the run in about 3 1/2 hours with 1 1/2 portages. The first portage is a super steep approach on river left into a sloping 8 foot drop onto a rock pile–there was definitely a line down the middle at the bottom–but it was unappealing without lots of pads and a full-face helmet. The 2nd 1/2 portage involves a really junky approach down the middle into a crux boof into converging currents that then slides down a narrow chute (with a nasty-looking flake on the bottom left). We slid-in below the crux boof onto the slide to eliminate most danger of an inverted face-shot. The coolest drop on the run is a sweet double drop which I later discovered was first dropped by Clay Wright, who named it Astro-biologist Creep. That drop involves a 2-move approach into an 8-foot drop onto a padded rock, which then throws you into another 5 or 6 foot drop into a hole, which is backed-up by a cave-eddy on the left. My line went better than expected: Lined-up the approach to a boof on the left of the first drop, then good boof to miss the hole on the right–it was Bleedin’ Deadly (which is my newly acquired irish expression for "sweet"–props to Irish Dave and Moe for that one!).

Highlights for the day:
-rallying the huge Sprinter van down the long steep dirt road to the put-in (and hoping the Jessica would be able to get it back out again!)
-miles of read-and-run class 4 boulder water
-Epic scenery
-stomping Astro Creep
-The beautiful drive-out

I’ve now spent a good bit of time in both the Hero and the Punk Rocker and have come to appreciate the strengths of both. I sometimes even find myself looking at a super-marginal rapid–right on the edge of what I’d want to run or walk–and making my decision based on which boat I’m in. The Hero is unbelievably stable and forgiving, while the Rocker makes nearly-impossible boofs and keeps the bow up and over everything. SO looking at a drop that’s likely to sub-out or land in wonky, boily cross-currents which could cause a catastrophic flip (like Astro Creep), the Hero makes it easy. The Rocker makes me comfortable choosing to run a marginal rapid where there are late, critical necessary boofs, or rapids which would make it nearly impossible to keep the bow up and over rocks, curlers, or boils. I ultimately love having 2 great options for downriver creeking and river-running! Both boats are fun to drive and easy to control, which makes it easy to enjoy the river every day 🙂

Enjoy the photos, shot by Bryon Dorr and some jerk!

Live from Reno,
Stephen Wright