Gore Canyon at FLOOD

By Jesse Coombs

WOW! There is really no other way to start story. WOW!

Part 1: Gore Canyon at 4,000cfs

Ben and I had a day off before our show with RMA in Winter Park, so after taking care of some computer business and errands in Denver with Ben’s sister, we headed up I70 toward Summit County. We knew we were running short on time, but we were hoping to get a run on Gore Canyon before we ran out of light. We didn’t know the level, but we had heard it was around 2,500. We got to Gore Canyon about 6pm with two hours of daylight left. We ran into Paul who was finishing their shuttle after having just done the run. He gave us the low down that the river was high and wood was flowing down the river. He said they they portaged some of the rapids but thought we may run them. We thanked him for his encouragement and beta and headed off to the put in. Ben and I ate a little sandwich and then put on for the 45 minute flat paddle to the entrance in the canyon. Sure enough the water was high. I had done the river several years ago at normal flow, and everything looked completely different!

We ran Applesauce blind and then got out to scout Gore Canyon. We saw a manageable line down the middle using the airplane turn at the top to enter the meat of it. From there we worked our way right past huge holes and then back to center to run Scissors. At this level, which turned out to be just under 4,000 Scissors looked like 3 heads of cauliflower that would eat you alive and then spit you out. We both ran the center of Scissors and eddied out river left. We then lined up for Pyrite running a left of center line at the top to avoid a ledge hole and then right through the bottom hole. Unfortunately I got flipped in the first hole and flushed to the left and had to probe that with wood all around me. I was not comfortable about that line, but once I was in it I had to just get through it. Ben had a good right line, we both avoided the hole right below Pyrite and continued down stream.

Next we came to Tunnel falls which was not a falls at this level. It was a big sloping entrance into a very unfriendly looking hole. It looked like it might flush on the left, but the left also pushed you right into a very nasty looking undercut that would want to chop off your head. Considering that it was late in the day and this rapid looked consequential we chose to walk it. After Tunnel we ran the HUGE hole called Toilet Bowl on the left. Ben went first, and right after he took off from his eddy a beaver the size of a 100 pound dog appeared where Ben just left. I couldn’t believe the size of this beaver and the fact that he was getting in the water right above a big rapid in VERY fast moving current and rapids. But sure enough, as calm as anything he sat in the water for a second, took a breath, lowered he head, and then headed off for the middle of the river! WOW! I was supposed to be watching Ben’s line but I was completely distracted and amazed by the Beaver.

After running Toilet Bowl we headed toward the monster called Kirshbaums. Kirshbaums was an unbelievable combination of huge wave, diagonals, reactionaries and holes. I lead this portion but had no recollection of the line. We started center and went right weaving our way in 8′ waves through monster holes. We came to some 8′ ledge boofs that we had to clear with our Super Heros or risk getting a serious beat down that may only been resolved by a long swim in flood water.

WOW, that was fun and a full day! We arrived at camp to the luxury of shuttle run and an amazing dinner made by Melissa, Ben’ s girlfriend.

Part 2: Gore Canyon at 5,000cfs

The next morning Ben, Melissa and I had a relaxed and nervous morning thinking about putting on Gore Canyon again. Ben and I encouraged Melissa to put on the river and portage the tough rapids, but luckily she had enough common sense to ignore our wistful optimism and stay firmly on solid ground. Ben put a river level marker of three medium size rocks at one of the boat launches the night before and the water was just licking the bottom rock. The next morning his river marker was completely washed away! Yikes. Teasingly Ben said we could just skip getting in there today if we wanted, but I was excited to check it out, and I think he was also.

We had a great breakfast and headed off to the river. Melissa drove us to the top and we drank and ate a little before heading back out for the flat water warm up to the freight train of destruction knows at Gore Canyon at 5,000cfs. If we thought there was wood yesterday that was nothing. Yesterday’s wood was branches and small stuff. Today there were entire 16"x16" railroad ties in the river, huge 10′ long logs and anything else this ridiculously swollen river could claim from its vastly increased river bed.

Again we ran Applesauce blind and flushed through the massive tongue and reactionaries below. Next we got to Gore and if there was any question about whether or not the river was higher, it was completely dispelled. While the lines was essentially the same, the holes, waves, diagonals, reactionaries, moves and difficulty was MUCH bigger and MUCH more difficult. I wasn’t sure I wanted to get in there, and neither was Ben. He pulled his boat up after deciding he wasn’t interested in Gore. I decided that I thought the line in Gore was doable and if I didn’t like how it went I could still get out before Scissors and Pyrite. Ben set up two cameras and headed off to test my skills on Gore rapid at 5,000cfs. I had a great entrance move and then lined up for the toughest part: the airplane move at the top. This move was pretty easy yesterday if you just lined up correctly. Today was a different story though. The water was surging so much that the entrance move would fluctuate between a huge green wall with a curl on top to a 4′ pile of white water and back again. This was concerning, because the line was very thin. On the left side of desired line was a ledge hole that looked like it might hold you in its crevasse for a long time. On the right side was a set of folding currents and a hole that looked like it would rip you from your paddle and boat before releasing you to the merciless torrent below. I determined that not matter what it’s from when I got there I would do my best to punch it. I ran the entrance perfectly and was now completely focused on the quintessential airplane move. When I got there I stayed a little more left than the ideal line wanting to make sure I didn’t drop into the nasty fold. The airplane must have become a green wall right when I got there, because I passed through it extremely easily. This meant that instead of taking the green tongue into the next section I caught the right edge of the left ledge hole. I pulled into it and braced on the left in a maw of brown whitewater. Ben said I completely disappeared! I braced on the left and pulled and before I knew it I was headed down stream. From there I needed work through the chaos left to avoid the huge holes below. I did this well and then moved back middle to line up for Scissors. Scissors actually looked better at this level as it had a middle wave tongue. I didn’t get quite all the way middle so I punched a huge wave hole and reappeared down stream upright and headed in the right direction. I caught an eddy and caught my breath on river right. Ben took video of me screaming my lungs out and swinging my arms in the air at the joy of just cleaning up one of the biggest and most difficult pieces of whitewater I have ever seen. For those who have the great book ‘Whitewater of the Southern Rockies’, there is a great photo of Gore rapid on pg347. Imagine being on the river when all of the boulders in this photo are completely covered!

I got out of my boat and headed up the bank to talk with Ben and scout Pyrite. We looked at it for several minutes and I decided despite my less than desirable line yesterday, I was feeling good and would give it a go today. The first hole looked about the same, but the second hole looked much worse. Either way I felt like there was a good opportunity to recover if something happened. I lined up and hit the top hole perfectly making it look easy. Unfortunately the exiting current from the first hole pushed farther left than I wanted and took me left of my desired line. Committed to where it put me I accelerated for the hole below and punched it dead on. I went deep in the brown whitewater maw and could feel that I was still upright and past the hole. Sweet! Wait a minute!!!!! As soon as I resurfaced I went from feeling great about my line to knowing I was getting sucked back into the monster! Sure enough I got pulled right back into the unforgiving hole and then it felt like somebody stood on my left paddle blade which must have caught the green water. I got tossed one more time, and then it felt like someone body slammed the boat and mv from the top row. I thought this was the green water slamming me deep, but in fact it was the opposite. From the video we can see that the boat and I get literally thrown out of the hole in the air. I have never seen or felt this before. The boat and I actually get air and are thrown out of the hole and luckily past the boil. WOW and VERY LUCKY! I rolled up quickly, avoided the MASSIVE hole below and looked back at potentially the most consequential rapid on the river at this flow considering you can’t sneak it.

Ben got in with me and headed down to Tunnel falls. It was big yesterday and even bigger today. Luckily the higher water had the effect I had hoped it would which was to turn the undercut left into a reactionary. This made Tunnel better and we both ran it filming each other. Too fun!

We then chased each other down the river and ran Toilet Bowl on the left without incident. Next came Kirshbaums which was beyond words. The waves, reactionaries, diagonals and holes were beyond description. I was truly paddling as well as I have in years, and I was still getting tossed around like rag doll. Again and again there would be a huge wall of water on one side of me and absolutely nothing on the other. We were working our ass off to avoid holes and stay upright and took the left line this time to avoid the huge ledges. When I came out of there I was completely out of breath and awe struck by the power of what we had just paddled. We watched as massive amounts of wood floated down the river and enjoyed what was one of the most amazing days I have had in a long time!

The car and food and stable ground at the take out looked as good as they ever have!