Pincher Creek Festival – Alberta

This past May long weekend saw the first of Western Canada’s whitewater festivals. Pincher creek is an area in the southern part of Alberta, located in the South-East and boasts some incredible views and some incredible white water.

This area provides an almost erie contrast in land formation. Looking East you can see Alberta famed expanse of flat or rich land, and to the West the Rockies soar straight up out of the flat lands providing a wall of sorts that separates Alberta and British Columbia.

For those of you that are regular Gauley Festival attendees, Pincher Creek festival provides a similar sort of atmosphere.

The ambiguity of the event provides an amazing sense of community and really shows the strong presence kayaking has in Alberta.

Although there are not as many vendors at this event, a number of stores provided demo’s and Aquabatics provided guided trips and clinics for those interested over the weekend. For those looking to push their limits there was a great selection of rivers all within a two hour drive from the festival camp grounds.

Being new to Alberta these events provide a great way to meet new people and get a grip of what this area has to offer.

With the helo of a few knowledgeable locals we managed to tick off four runs over the weekend, some with as many as eighteen people on the water at one time. Although a logistic task of sorts, it was great to see so many people out pushing their limits and regardless of level everyone seemed to rendezvous back at the camp group for home made dinners,camp fires and tales from the days boating.

A big thank you to all the organizers, Aquabatics, Endless Adventure, Undercurrents, and Just Liquid for sponsoring the event, and putting on such a great show…

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