What a birthday weekend! (and a bit of carnage)

By Boyd Ruppelt

I took off to Alabama this weekend to celebrate my birthday weekend ( I’m 24! ) with Samantha for some creeking and skydiving action before heading back to Memphis and back to school. Saturday started out right with 3 skydives, a beautiful day, and a crowd of some of our closest friends.
Sunday we were itchin’ so we took off for Little River Canyon, AL with our friends Adam, Joey, and Drew for some classic southeast creekin. Sam decided to try out the Suicide section with us and she did AWESOME. It was a beautiful day and perfect weather for creeking in February! We seemed almost alone in the canyon until we paddled into the eddy above Avalanche; suddenly a mass of Jackson Kayaks and new Heros and lots of friendly, familiar faces scouting below… We went straight through to join the crowd on the other side without scouting (kind of a bad idea at that low of water). Everyone had good, but bumpy, lines through and I dropped in last after Sam. Not really worried about the drop and feeling quite complacent, I dropped in angled just slightly right not realizing the flake was sticking out far enough below to just barely grab my bow. I was pinned in the entrance slot with my head just getting air. It just goes to show you that the moment you start letting your guard down, things can happen fast and to anyone. 🙂 We’re all inbetween! I was completely calm but required a bit of assistance to make sure the bad pin didn’t get worse, but with the quick and friendly help of Stephen, Nick, and crew I was out with grin and back in in no time! Staying calm, open & established communication, and a deliberate group effort lead to a quick and pleasant rescue and a reminder that sometimes a quick look is a good idea on class IV+ and V. Someone got pictures and maybe video too so I see a good safety article coming out of this one! 🙂 I couldn’t have asked for a better scenario with a pin like that. It was good for my worst carnage of the season to be with so many good friends available to help… a good lesson/reminder and good times followed with great lines by all the rest of the day and not even the slightest problem after.
On down the river we had amazing lines and a great time like it hadn’t even happened. Samantha styled her first lines through the canyon and I think found a new favorite with the only exception being the hike. 😉 I was especially pleased with the way my Rocker performed through pinball changing momentum and direction was a breeze in the flume and boofing over the hole was a cake! For a quick moment I truly got to feel the Rocker in flight! I’ve attached some photos from pinball so enjoy!
Boyd 🙂

 


Beautiful day!


Boyd in the set up eddy above the main drop in Pinball


Boyd rocketing over the bottom hole in his Rocker


Entering the flume on Pinball


Setting up to boof the hole


Staying high and dry