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Kayaking & Packrafting in the Canadian Rockies: Local River Beta | RallyCrew Paddling Passport — Transcript

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0:04So again, hello and welcome. I'm Deborah
0:06Kane with Rally Crew. If you are here
0:08for the talk about paddling in the
0:10Canadian Rockies, you have arrived at
0:12the right place. And um if you notice as
0:17you sign in that the name displayed with
0:20your beautiful face is not yours, all
0:25you need to do is click those three dots
0:28and you can rename yourself. I see a lot
0:30of you all doing that. Thank you very
0:32much. Um again, welcome. We're going to
0:35give it one more minute to let as many
0:37people as possible in from the waiting
0:39room. Uh before we get started, uh if
0:44you would just say hello in the chat,
0:47let us know where you are listening
0:49from. And because today's discussion is
0:52hosted by Rally Crew, let us know if you
0:55are already a Rally Crew member,
0:59if you would in the chat.
1:04All right.
1:06What's the Canadian?
1:08>> And we've got Justin who is also on
1:12staff with me at Rally Crew. He'll be
1:14helping moderate today's discussion.
1:17Thank you to Justin and thank you to the
1:20yeses. I'm seeing folks who are already
1:22in Rally Crew. Um before we start
1:25talking about the Canadian Rockies, I'll
1:26give you a those of you who are not yet
1:28in the the rally crew world, I'll give
1:30you a real quick tour so you understand
1:32what it means to be a Rally Crew member.
1:36And
1:37I think I'm going to give it one more
1:39minute and then we'll get started. I
1:42still see a lot of people trying to get
1:43in from the waiting room.
1:46Um the other little housekeeping item,
1:48um everyone should mute themselves if
1:51you haven't already done that.
1:54That will help us once the conversation
1:56gets started.
2:02All right. I'm gonna uh knowing that
2:04Justin uh will abley and capably keep
2:08letting people in out of the wait room
2:09and in the interest of time we have a
2:11lot to cover today. I'll go ahead and
2:13get started one more time. My name is
2:15Deborah Kaine. I'm the founder of Rally
2:17Crew, which is a new online resource for
2:19the whitewater boating community. And
2:21I'm joined today by Simon Coward with AQ
2:24Outdoors. And for the next hour, we're
2:27going to be daydreaming about paddling
2:30uh in Simon's, you know, home home
2:32territory. And hopefully at the end of
2:35our talk today, um Simon, you will have
2:37inspired some of us to come join you. Uh
2:40so again, I'm Deborah Kane with Rally
2:42Crew, and we're super excited to
2:48sponsor today's talk. I'm going to give
2:51uh those of you again, we asked in the
2:53chat how many of you were members of
2:55Rally Crew. I saw that a lot of of you
2:57were. For those of you who have not yet
2:59had a chance to log into the Rally Crew
3:01system, I just want to give you the
3:04briefest of tours. We'll talk about
3:05Rally Crew at a few different points
3:07during today's discussion, but at its at
3:10its core, Rally Crew is intended as a as
3:13a new online gathering place, if you
3:14will, an online Eddie where whitewater
3:17boers can gather, you know, find each
3:20other, share beta, learn about events,
3:22and basically get inspired to get back
3:24out on the water and and and connect in
3:27real life. Um, if you join Rally Crew,
3:31one of the first things that you'll do
3:32is you'll create an online profile. So,
3:35we're basically looking a list of all
3:36the at this point 3,113
3:40people who have joined Rally Crew. And
3:42I'll just show you one of my absolute
3:44favorite features. It's the ability to
3:46search and sort paddlers by location
3:51um by skill and by watercraft type. So,
3:55I could come into the Rally Crew
3:56universe and say that I wanted to find
4:01I'm going to scroll down to the United
4:03States and I'll just look for Boers in
4:07uh where I am, which is Oregon.
4:11So, I can type in United States, Oregon.
4:14I'm going to say I want to see all the
4:16hard shell kayakers. And I'm going to
4:17leave comfort zone blank. I just want to
4:19see them all. But if I was, you know, if
4:21I was at a spe particular need, I could
4:24also sort and search by skill level. But
4:28I'll leave it at that. And I hit return.
4:31And I get a beautiful, nicely organized
4:34list of all the voters. Oh, there's
4:36someone who's not my friend yet. Let's
4:38see who that is.
4:40Oh, the Clackfest. That's a actually a
4:42fantastic uh event in Oregon. And
4:45hopefully this gives you a sense. It's
4:46just a list of all the voters in Oregon.
4:48And I'm going to scroll down all the way
4:50to the bottom of the list to the very
4:52first person who joined in the state of
4:54Oregon. And that was got a lot of things
4:57open on my desktop. Well, I'm not even
5:00sure who the first person was. Let's
5:02let's look at Clinton Begley. Um Clinton
5:04might be known to many of you as the
5:06founder or the uh president of American
5:08Whitewater. And one of the things that
5:10you see uh in Clinton's profile is
5:13basically that he has done some posts.
5:16So, Rally Crew functions functions a lot
5:18like Facebook. He's logged some trips
5:21and we're going to look at trip logs for
5:23the Canadian Rockies uh and a little bit
5:25with Simon and he's shared some
5:28information about who he is in his
5:30profile. So, that's a super quick
5:33overview of just the profile and the
5:35paddler part of Rally Crew. You can also
5:38um explore businesses and groups who
5:43that are forming on Rally Crew. And you
5:45can also search and sort through
5:49hundreds of events in the whitewater
5:51paddleport world that are now being
5:53posted on Rally Crew. And again, we'll
5:56talk more about Rally Crow as we go
5:57through the presentation, but I want to
5:59make sure we save most of our time, the
6:02majority of our time for discussion
6:04about the Canadian Rockies. So, um,
6:08again, it's an area that's been on my
6:10list for a long time. Uh, you know, as I
6:12just mentioned, I'm in port. I'm in
6:13Oregon. I'm in Portland, Oregon. And,
6:15uh, for me, I feel like all I have to do
6:17is get in the car and drive north. And
6:19as far as I can tell, I will be, you
6:21know, in the land of epic boating. Um,
6:24so
6:26speaking of epic boating and epic boers,
6:29our speaker today is Simon Coward,
6:32someone who has been, you know, made his
6:34home in the Canadian Rockies for upwards
6:36of 20 years now and is also um the
6:40co-owner and CEO of AQ Outdoors, which
6:44if you're not familiar with is a
6:45phenomenal resource in the area
6:48offering, you know, gear rental, uh,
6:51gear to purchase
6:53courses, tours, uh if it has anything to
6:56do with whitewater, I'm pretty sure that
6:58AQ Outdoors is involved. So, without
7:01further ado, I want to hand it over to
7:03you, Simon, uh to kick us off and tell
7:06us more about paddling in the Canadian
7:09Rockies.
7:11>> Well, thanks Deborah. Um yeah, I'm
7:13Simon. Thanks everyone for being here.
7:15Uh it's great to to see a bunch of
7:17people interested to learn more about
7:19paddling in the Rockies. I uh my accent
7:21is not from Calgary, from Australia
7:23originally and got into white water
7:25paddling in New Zealand back in
7:28>> back in the day. And
7:31>> that's you a lifetime uh white water
7:34paddler and an instructor. So, um it's
7:38telling me I'm muted. Deborah, can
7:40everyone hear me?
7:42>> Can we can get get a few in the chat?
7:45>> Okay, cool. It just kept telling me I
7:47was muted. Sorry about that. So yeah,
7:49moving moving on from that, like the
7:51Canadian Rockies is a place that I'm
7:53super fortunate to call home now. Uh
7:56it's a pretty short jump from Calgary
7:58where we live. Um anywhere from 30 to
8:02well actually 5 minutes to a couple of
8:03hours, 3 hours away will deliver you to
8:06a a plethora of wonderful of wonderful
8:09paddling in this in this area. It's very
8:12very sparsely populated. um the paddling
8:16community like we we sort of refer to
8:17the CA Canadian Rockies in the east
8:19slope and the west slope which we'll
8:20sort of cover a little bit more in a
8:23little bit more detail as we go along.
8:24But for those of you from sort of the US
8:27and such that understand the the the
8:30nature of the Rockies, we kind of have
8:31our front range rivers which are on the
8:34east slope and then we sort of have our
8:35interior rivers which are on the west
8:38slope. So
8:40move like the Rockies. So, it's funny
8:43for this presentation. They asked me all
8:46these questions that put me well out of
8:48my comfort zone. It was sort of you had
8:49to come up with these words to describe
8:52the Rockies, which I'm not very good at.
8:55But as far as the Rockies in three words
8:57went was came up was with picturesque,
8:59which I think goes without saying. I
9:01think it uh there's a lot of romance
9:04attached to the to the Rockies, whether
9:06it's in Colorado or whether it's in in
9:08Canada. And they are certainly
9:10picturesque continuous. The white water
9:12is quite steep, not dissimilar to like
9:15Europe. If you're in Europe, like the
9:17French Alps, really continuous and
9:19crisp. We didn't want to say cold cuz
9:21that sounds a little bit uh that sounds
9:23a little bit imposing, but crisp, I
9:25would say, is crystal blue water, really
9:29beautiful canyons, beautiful rock, and
9:32yeah, the water's a little bit on the
9:33chilly side, but it's h Yeah, I would
9:35say crisp is is a good way to to
9:37describe it.
9:39>> Perfect. Thank you, Simon. And I
9:41advanced that slide on you a little bit
9:42quickly. I was looking for the the range
9:45ones.
9:46>> All right.
9:47>> And but but I also think that you were
9:50uh you were in in general giving us a
9:52pretty broad overview of what we could
9:54expect if we came up. So
9:56>> yeah, definitely. And we can sort of
9:58bounce around on that. And so the white
10:00water, yeah, the overview of the white
10:02water here is it's it's super varied
10:04actually. Um if if you start on the east
10:07slope, definitely less bedrocky. It's a
10:10younger younger sort of geologically. Um
10:13so you have sort of I guess chsier rock
10:16and and everything from sort of broad
10:19medium volume rivers like we have the
10:21Bow River in Calgary which we have a a
10:23man-made course on uh all the way
10:26through to ultra technical ultra steep
10:28some would refer to as Mankey class 5 um
10:32in the upper in the upper realms of
10:34difficulty. On the west slope, it's
10:37definitely a little bit more bedrocky.
10:38Um, slightly older, slightly older rock
10:41and a bit more polished. So, you tend to
10:43get a little bit more of that classic
10:46canyon kind of vibe. Um, east slope is
10:49definitely snow melt and rain. West
10:51slope is that, but you that also comes
10:54associated with very high water early in
10:56the season. It tends to get come into
10:58its own when the glacial melt kind of
11:00happens midsummer and later in the
11:02season. Uh, so yeah.
11:05craft of choice tends to be half slices
11:08and and creek boat/ riverr runners. We
11:10do have some great playboating here, but
11:12the cold water temps uh kind of probably
11:16don't put that in the ideal department
11:17for a lot of people. Uh and I would say
11:20just to sort of follow the thread of
11:22this this uh this slide here is there's
11:25a really strong history of paddle sports
11:27in the Rockies. The 80s and the early
11:3090s were a kind of the glory days of
11:32exploration. We've got a really strong
11:35uh history in in slalom paddling here as
11:37well. We've had some good freestyle like
11:39world world um not world champions but
11:43people who have competed at world
11:44championships in freestyle as well. But
11:47a really diverse and a really welcoming
11:50sort of paddle sports culture around
11:52river running and a really strong and
11:54longunning history in the club scene
11:55here as well. So yeah, definitely
11:58mountain culture here and uh it's it's a
12:01pretty neat place to be.
12:03>> Um and also some uh relatively
12:06well-known puddlesport events.
12:09>> Yeah, for sure. Like I think one of the
12:12things that piggybacks off such a strong
12:14club uh scene here in this part of the
12:17world um we've managed to navigate the
12:22the decentralization of paddle clubs
12:24onto Facebook and and things like that
12:25and and the clubs here are very very
12:27strong. Uh so the three rivers rendevous
12:31happens early sort of midmay here and is
12:34our big kickoff to the season. And it
12:36happens in the southern Rockies in the
12:38foothills there and two to 300 paddlers
12:41kind of show up and it's it's like as
12:43cowboy as cow not cowboy as in rogue but
12:46cowboy as in cowboy country gets the guy
12:49Chuck Lee who runs it has his name just
12:51suggests what he looks like. You cowboy
12:53hat, belt buckle, the whole nine yards.
12:55You eat you eat great barbecue and they
12:58provide food and everything and there's
13:00a lot of great great um lot of great
13:02paddling. It's often referred to as the
13:04Pincher Creek Snow Fest. It's not always
13:06blessed with the best weather, but
13:08always lots of good paddling and good
13:09people.
13:11>> Canfest is one of the longer running
13:14events and it's close to Calgary, 30
13:16minutes away. We'll talk a bit more
13:17about the Canonascus River shortly, but
13:20it's a summer festival. Um big fun
13:24party. The picture you can see in the
13:26top with the guy um riding the
13:29inflatable flamingo there, that's our
13:31inflatable rodeo. So that's a legitimate
13:33uh a legitimate competition at at
13:35Canfest. So that kind of gives you a
13:37vibe of what it's about. It's come a
13:39long way. It started out as our national
13:42freestyle team trials and over the years
13:44it's evolved into evolved, some would
13:46say devolved, others would say, but I
13:48would say probably, you know, a little
13:50bit of column A, a little bit of column
13:51B. So really fun event. The Rebel Stoke
13:55Paddles Sports Festival is one of the
13:58quickest growing paddling festivals like
14:01in Canada for sure. And it's really
14:03wellrun. They have good funding. They
14:05have an event manager running the thing.
14:08And it's just uh some really good
14:12beginner intermediate opportunities. But
14:14for the class 3, four boers or above,
14:17they have some great rowdy races there.
14:20Um so that's a really good festival for
14:22the the intermediate and advanced crowd
14:24for sure. And then the Clear Water River
14:27is not one of a kind, but it's very
14:30unique in Western Canada. Big volume,
14:33warm water. This one's definitely a
14:35party festival. It's it's uh it's a lot
14:38of fun for sure. And they have some
14:40really great beginner opportunities, but
14:42again, kind of geared towards that
14:43intermediate, advanced crowd with, you
14:46know, mass start, class 3, big water,
14:48boats kind of style races and things
14:51like that. So Clear Water is a sleepy
14:53town up in BC, but kind of comes alive
14:55with a couple hundred people or so for
14:57their their festival every year.
15:00>> Love it. Um I think our next slide is
15:04going to get us into some of those
15:06regions that you were trying to Yeah.
15:08describe a picture
15:10>> kind of.
15:10>> Yeah. So sort of jump sort of sort of
15:12jumped around a little bit here, but as
15:15you can see here, the the image is
15:17fairly telling of where the Rockies are.
15:18We've got that big corridor of mountains
15:20in the middle and and sort of Lake
15:23Louise
15:25to Calgary is what we sort of liken as
15:27that that's the east slope and then
15:29anything past Lake Louise kind of drains
15:32west and that's the that's the west
15:34slope and so the characteristics are
15:37definitely you know just to repeat it
15:39the east slope is definitely an earlier
15:41start to the season uh and tends to be
15:44reliant on a snowpack. I saw someone put
15:47in the chat, what's the snow pack like
15:49this year? I would say that it's it's
15:51about average, slightly above average.
15:53We're definitely having a much better
15:54year than the Colorado Rockies, which
15:56seem to be struggling at the minute for
15:58snow. We started off with a bang, had
16:00our typical January drought and and
16:02things are picking up again. So, you
16:04know, if things trend normally, I think
16:05we're going to have, you know, a
16:06slightly above, you know, 15 20% above
16:08snowpack average this year. Uh the east
16:11slope definitely relies on rainfall a
16:13bit as well to really get get the juices
16:16flowing. Uh snow melt alone will give us
16:19kind of a a prolonged low and slow
16:22season, you know, where everything's
16:23paddleable, but it doesn't get super
16:25exciting, which is great for courses. We
16:26really like that. So, it's a bit of a
16:28yin and a yan cuz personally, I want the
16:30rain to come and everything to jack
16:31right up and then it's really fun. But,
16:33you know, we we tend to get our best
16:36water levels kind of in June and into
16:38early July. And then things tend to dry
16:39up a bit on the east slope. Other than
16:41the classics which are often dam
16:43released like the Canonascus,
16:45>> the west slope tends to have like a
16:48little a little window really early in
16:50the season, but access is obvious is
16:52sometimes hard because the roads are
16:54still covered in snow, but you get
16:56decent levels and then it kind of jacks
16:58up pretty high through the spring and
17:00you tend to paddle a few bigger volume
17:02classics and then as the as the flows
17:04drop off in in sort of mid to late June
17:07and into July, you start to get those
17:09those runs kind of um start to come into
17:12their own and they give us a really
17:14prolonged season within a 3 or 4 hour
17:16drive of Calgary.
17:18>> I think um I think the next slide does
17:21that a little bit, right? It places some
17:22of these rivers on the map as well.
17:26>> Yeah, very much so. So, just a few of
17:27the really classic ones. it it it was
17:30hard to really pin down what the the
17:33really classic classic runs are. And
17:35these were just the ones with a bit of
17:37history and and something a little bit
17:39unique, I think, was the ones we came up
17:40with. And so the first ones on the the
17:43east slope ones on there are the
17:45Cascade, the Canonascus, the Elbow, the
17:47Sheep, and Cataract. So we'll talk more
17:50about those in detail in in in some
17:52future slides here. And then on the west
17:55slope there, we've got like Rebel Stoke
17:56has the Illis Silhouette River, which
17:58isn't on there, but that's a real
18:00classic. The Kicking Horse is really a
18:03really classic medium volume run. The
18:05Coutney isn't. Yeah. Yeah. We'll talk
18:07about them more. That kind of splits
18:09east and west slope a little bit.
18:10>> I love seeing them on the map though.
18:12That really helps.
18:14>> All right. Smells like
18:16>> Yeah. Again, so we're going into Simon's
18:18uncomfortable zone here, which is good
18:19for good for me. It fresh and clean.
18:22That's all I could come up with. It
18:23smells like one of smells like the a
18:25real version of one of them little like
18:27pine tree things you hang in your car.
18:29Those things are a little bit
18:30aggressive. I don't love them. But if if
18:32you imagine what the real version of
18:34that is, it kind of smells like that
18:36where we paddle. If you go a little bit
18:38further east, it smells like diesel
18:39fumes and and quads. But where we go
18:42paddling, it tends to be pretty fresh
18:44and pretty clean smelling.
18:46>> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you for
18:48stepping out of your comfort zone. It's
18:49good for us. It took me a while to get
18:52through these ones, I tell you what.
18:55Talk about the paddling all day.
18:57>> Yeah. Well, okay. This is a good segue
18:59for you then. Tell us about the seasons
19:00and the flows. You've been doing that
19:02all along, but is there anything else we
19:04should say about flows?
19:06>> Yeah, not really. I think I think the
19:08main thing is is if you're if you're
19:10planning a trip to this neck of the
19:12woods, depending on your outcomes, you
19:15can always paddle here. Like even in a
19:17low in a low snow pretty I've been here
19:1921 years and I've never had a year where
19:22we couldn't paddle the classics at low
19:24water at the very least for a period of
19:27a few weeks. So, if you're looking at
19:30the east slope of the Rockies,
19:32definitely like,
19:35you know, early June to early July, that
19:37month slot is is kind of your most
19:39reliable is your most reliable. But then
19:41in saying that, it's a quick jump across
19:43the other side of the Rockies to get to
19:46um to get to more consistent flows later
19:48into the season. Um
19:51>> I think a lot of Oh, go ahead.
19:52>> Define quick jump. What do you mean?
19:55like it's just a quick drive, you know,
19:56like from say from the Canonascis or the
19:59B area to to drive across to the Kicking
20:02Horse which is on the other side um is
20:05less than 2 hours. It's like an hour and
20:06a half kind of a drive. So, and then to
20:09you know from from Lake Louise to to
20:12Revel Stoke is a couple of hours to two
20:14and a half hours give or take. So, it's
20:16it's a it's a vast country, but the the
20:19road system, which just amazed me when I
20:22first moved here, is you can you can
20:24travel long distances fairly quickly.
20:26So, you can get from point A to point B
20:29to point C and D like relatively
20:31effectively. So, you know, if you're if
20:33you're planning on paddling on the east
20:34slope and it's not working out, the
20:36water's too low, you can drive a couple
20:38hours and and you'll be in a spot where
20:40you can get good where you can get good
20:42uh good flows more than certainly. If
20:45you I think if you're if you're if
20:47you're looking for hard paddling, if
20:49you're looking for hard paddling, then I
20:51would say the key kind of block of time
20:54is the second week like second week of
20:57June to the middle of July is where
20:59you're going to get pretty good like
21:01juicy flows on both sides for the most
21:04part. If you're sort of more in that
21:05class 2, three sort of a boater kind of
21:08category, you can come later in the
21:11summer and have a grand old time.
21:12Whether it's on the the canonascus or as
21:14the kicking horse drops, it's, you know,
21:16continuous but fun. Class 3 for the most
21:18part, ill silhouette drops off and it
21:21gets fun and and even some of the
21:22classics like Horse Thief Creek, which
21:25is pretty continuous. It it drops out
21:27and a class 3 boater can kind of paddle
21:29it pretty comfortably. So later in the
21:31season presents a lot of opportunities
21:33for those who are maybe not wanting to
21:36really push the grades and and I know
21:37for us with our programs, we tend to run
21:40our intermediate advanced programs a
21:42little later because it gives us just a
21:44few more options where we don't stick
21:46people on a on a roller coaster ride and
21:48and and have a bad time. So you know
21:52climate wise it's the Rockies. June
21:54rains quite a lot. We call it monsoon
21:56June. that's been a bit on and off the
21:57last few years, but we won't go into
21:59that in too much detail. Uh, but it is
22:02it is a it's it's, you know, four
22:04seasons in one day in the spring and
22:05then once we get into sort of July,
22:07August, September, we have pretty nice
22:10summers up here. They're just short.
22:13Don't expect it to be in the 30s too
22:14often. You know, like the mid20s, high
22:1620s will have most Canadians kind of
22:19lamenting how hot it is. So, you don't
22:21want it to get too much hotter because
22:22otherwise they'll tell you about it. Um,
22:25and then but yeah, it's it's cold water,
22:28warm days in the summer, real mixed bag
22:30in the spring.
22:31>> Okay. Um, the next slide, Simon, we had
22:35was about, you know, what to bring, kind
22:37of a gear and packing slide. Um, and
22:40it's also a good opport I'm not
22:42following the chat too closely, but it's
22:44a good opportunity for me to take a
22:45quick break and just say, um, that all
22:48of these slides, they're chalk full of
22:50information. And uh if you're if you're
22:52in the call, we have your email address.
22:54That means that you'll get an email from
22:55us at the you know tomorrow morning
22:57probably with all the slides, the
23:00recording, the write up so that you know
23:02today you can really just be listening
23:03knowing that you'll you'll get all this
23:04information in a follow-up manner. Uh
23:08but having said that, what should we
23:09bring in packing? Yeah, I think
23:12depending on where you're coming from,
23:14you know, without going into the into
23:16the challenges of of traveling with
23:19traveling with boats, um, we'll leave
23:21that to to discuss with your your your
23:24carrier if you were to be flying here.
23:26But there are a number of options to
23:28rent good modern boats up here. There's
23:30a few there's a there's a few
23:32organizations just within Calgary, which
23:34is a pretty logical place to fly into.
23:36You could also fly into Vancouver and
23:38access it from the other side, but it's
23:39a bit bit of a longer drive. Uh, but
23:42there are opportunities to rent pretty
23:44modern boats. I would say that if you're
23:46coming early in the season, it's pretty
23:48for the most of us, it's pretty much dry
23:50suit weather. Um, you know, just the
23:52fact the water's cold, the weather's
23:54likely going to be cold. And I think
23:57that that's one of the things that can
23:59make a really make or break a trip can
24:01make you comfortable or not. um nights
24:03can get down below zero pretty pretty
24:05regularly in the spring. So frozen gear,
24:08especially if you're camping, isn't
24:09isn't the best. Um so good drywear if
24:12nothing else, wet suit, good dry top,
24:14that would be the minimum I would say.
24:16as you get later in the season on those
24:18hotter days, you know, the ones that get
24:19Sorry, I'm not great at the the
24:21translation, but you know, 30s uh
24:23Celsius, you know, the mid mid 80s and
24:26above sort of Fahrenheit. Uh you can
24:29certainly get away with a dry top and
24:31shorts or even some days we'll paddle in
24:33shorties, but it's a bit of a rare treat
24:34that we we kind of do that. So, gives
24:37you an idea of the layering. I think
24:40those of us who have numbed our hands
24:42into submission paddle largely without
24:44gloves, but we find that most people
24:46that come and visit in the spring who
24:48haven't paddled in cold weather a lot,
24:50whether it's, you know, wherever you're
24:53from, is gloves or pogies are definitely
24:55worthwhile bringing along because it can
24:57be the difference between a thoroughly
25:00unenjoyable day and a day that you
25:04actually can can really lean into and
25:05enjoy. So, uh, yeah, good layers. Um,
25:09just plenty of spare gear is really
25:12important. Um, and I think with that is
25:14just that cold water mindset is you
25:17might be paddling half a grade or a
25:18grade below what you used to, but if
25:20something kicks off and you end up in
25:21the water for a while, being being ready
25:23for that is pretty pretty important. And
25:25you know, you can depending on the level
25:27of paddling you're doing, you can
25:28certainly wind up in some pretty remote
25:31places if you want to and and in some
25:33pretty deep inaccessible or challenging
25:36to access canyons. And so, and the other
25:39thing in Canada is that cell phone
25:41reception is borderline garbage once you
25:44get off the ma out of the main cities.
25:47So, if you are self-directed and you are
25:50going to be exploring and getting off
25:52the beaten track, I think having a spot
25:54or an inreach or some kind of satellite
25:57communication device is a really is a
26:00really valuable tool up here. It's a
26:01it's something that's in all of our
26:03first aid kits every time we get on the
26:05water. So, I think that's an important
26:06one to note as well.
26:08>> Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um, I believe
26:12we're about to give the people what they
26:14came for. Um, today, well, you've been
26:17doing that the entire time. I'm sure
26:19everyone would agree. Um, but we're
26:21moving into the portion of the
26:23presentation where we're going to ask
26:24Simon to kind of just talk us through
26:25specifics on certain rivers. And, uh,
26:29before we do that, I did just want to,
26:31you know, throw up another uh, screen
26:33screen image of some of what you can
26:35expect to find in Rally Crew if you're
26:36not already a Rally Crew member. If you
26:39are already a Rally crew member, you
26:41know that um in addition to building
26:43your paddling profile and um you know
26:45searching for events that you might be
26:47interested in, one of the other features
26:49within the app is you can log the trips
26:51that you do so that you have a living
26:52record of all the rivers you've been on.
26:55And uh on one hand, it's a great thing
26:57to do just for yourself in your own, you
26:59know, paddling progression. You know,
27:02you might not remember what it felt like
27:05on the, you know, in my case, I'll say
27:07the Clackamus. You know, I ran the
27:08Clackamus last year and it felt really
27:10low, but I don't remember what it was.
27:12Well, if I had logged it as a trip in
27:14Rally Crew, I could have gone back and
27:16looked and realized, oh, yeah, 900 ft
27:20was too low. I said, you know, in my
27:21Rally Crew trip log from last spring, I
27:23would never do that again. So, you know,
27:25on one hand, it's just nice to be able
27:27to keep a a record of what you've run
27:29and and the levels that you've run it
27:31read it on. And then for those of you
27:32that are crew members, um just you know,
27:36insider information for you because
27:38you're participating in today's
27:40discussion, you may you may already know
27:42and understand that when you log a trip,
27:44it's visible to you, of course, and it's
27:46visible to your friends. Uh you can
27:48share your trip logs with all of your
27:50friends. Uh but we've been hearing ever
27:52since Rally Crew launched that it'd be
27:53really great if everyone could see
27:56everyone's trip logs. And so we are
27:59actually now working on functionality
28:00where you can, you know, kind of hide
28:02your personal information, but we do
28:05want to create a space within the app
28:07where all trip logs are public so that
28:10we can all go and look and just check,
28:11oh, I wonder who was on the Clackamus
28:13recently, doesn't matter if they're my
28:14friends or not. If they reported a
28:16hazard or a log or something I should
28:18know about, I can check it within the
28:20Rally Crew app. So, that's functionality
28:23that's coming soon. Uh, but in the
28:25meantime, we get to keep daydreaming
28:27about rivers in Canada. And Simon, I
28:31think one of the first trip blogs you
28:33created for us was on the How do I even
28:36say this? The Canoni.
28:40Oh, now you are muted.
28:41>> Yeah, I am muted now. So, uh,
28:43Canonascus, you nearly got it. You
28:45nearly got it.
28:46>> All right. I was so close.
28:48>> So, there's been a lot of my voice and
28:50that's going to continue whether you
28:51like it or not. I guess you can hang up
28:52if you don't enjoy it, but I see there's
28:55a lot of familiar there's a bunch of
28:56familiar names in the group. So, thanks
28:58for the Alberta and Saskatchewan and BC
29:00crew that are here. It'd be awesome in
29:02the chat if you could all add your
29:04favorite Rocky's run. I think that would
29:07be super neat. So, if you are familiar
29:08with this area, whether you're from this
29:10area or you're from elsewhere, if you
29:13could just like whack your favorite run
29:15or two in the chat, that'd be super
29:17cool. And then we can just kind of go
29:18through that as we go along. Uh so the
29:21Canonascus is our local classic. It's
29:23about 3540 minutes from downtown
29:26Calgary. It's class 2 three run. It's
29:28it's dam controlled. Uh and it's when I
29:32first came here 20 odd years ago, it was
29:36the first river that I saw in this area
29:40and I as an instructor I just went this
29:43is my Shangrila right here. You know,
29:46that's maybe overstating it a touch, uh,
29:49but it was like I couldn't imagine a
29:51better river to teach on. It has
29:52everything from amazing playboat
29:54features. We can teach creek boating. It
29:56has challenging features with simple
29:59runouts that we can teach river safety
30:00on. And it allows us to build an
30:03incredible progression for whitewater
30:07paddlers all the way from like beginner
30:09beginner up to being really competent in
30:12class three. So, it's has reliable
30:14flows. Um we're having some challenges
30:17with Transala at the moment uh which we
30:20are working very hard to ensure doesn't
30:22go you know we we still have good water
30:24flows into the future but it's it's a
30:27great warm-up river all of our longer
30:29format courses we spend our first day on
30:32it whether it's you know if you're
30:33coming here to run class 4 we spend time
30:35there because we can really help people
30:37improve but it's a we also forget
30:39locally how awesome it is just to paddle
30:41it. Um, it's it's yeah, it's a pretty
30:45pretty great run. It's hard to get sick
30:46of. So, the can is our local
30:49affectionately known as the can, and
30:51it's our local favorite.
30:53>> I want to call it the can. I like that.
30:55>> All right. I think next we have another
30:58one that I want to just say over and
30:59over and over again. The cine.
31:02>> Yeah. Well, yeah, I say coot.
31:05>> Okay.
31:05>> Uh, so, but I wouldn't I can't be
31:07trusted. I also say words wrong and get
31:09people I get in trouble. So we we'll
31:12roll with coutney or coupney somewhere
31:14in between. So so uh the coutney is an
31:20interesting one. So we we
31:22in my 20s I thought that kayaking was
31:24only about paddling class 5. And as I've
31:26gotten older and had kids and that sort
31:28of thing. I've evolved into a mindset of
31:31being on the river in beautiful places
31:32with wonderful people and my family and
31:34stuff is doesn't have to have that much
31:36white water attached to it. And so for
31:39people in Calgary and this area, we
31:43totally take the coupney for granted.
31:44You can do a 1 day to 7-day trip on it.
31:48It depends on the time of the year, the
31:50color of the water, but if you do it
31:51midsummer to the end of the season, it's
31:54sort of it's that glacial silty
31:56beautiful blue water. You have these
31:58giant pebbly or sandy beaches to camp
32:01on. There's commercially you have to
32:03have a permit, but for recreational use,
32:05no permits, which from people who come
32:07up from the US just just shake their
32:09head. They're like, "Man, there'd be a
32:10three-year wait list to get on this
32:12thing in the US."
32:13>> Yeah.
32:14>> Uh and it's no more than class 2 plus
32:17really grade two plus, class 2 plus. And
32:20you know, early season you get some
32:22pretty rollicking like big wave trains,
32:24but later in the season it's class 2,
32:26two plus raft support. I know people if
32:29there's any pack rafters amongst it
32:31amongst us there's a good uh forestry
32:34road like forestry road network around
32:36there so people will do bike packing on
32:38it so they'll kind of like ride it and
32:40bike back up or vice versa and I guess
32:43I'm a bit biased on this one because
32:45I've had and I know there's other people
32:47on this call who have had you know core
32:49memory trips on this river with their
32:51family and friends
32:53and so I hate to oversell it but as far
32:56as a class two float with amazing
32:58camping, easy logistics. There's there's
33:01businesses nearby that do shuttles in in
33:04uh it's uh it's bloody hard to go past.
33:06It's pretty awesome. It's one of our
33:08most popular trips actually through
33:10through AQ. So, it's pretty pretty
33:12fantastic.
33:13>> It looks stunning. Um
33:14>> and the fishing's really good, too. The
33:16fishing's really good later in the
33:17season.
33:19>> Well, I'm gonna we're taking a short
33:21commercial break from triploss to take
33:23you back out of your comfort zone.
33:24Sorry.
33:25>> Oh gosh. Um, but no, I'm so curious
33:27because uh Carmen, my colleague who was
33:30putting these slides together, she said,
33:31"Is it okay? This is what he said." And
33:33I was like, "That's okay. It's what he
33:34said."
33:35>> Yeah. I don't know where
33:38>> that picture pretty much sums it up
33:40there. You know, like a good kind of I
33:43don't know where it came from. My I I
33:46went through a series a period of time
33:47where I didn't mind the gin and tonic
33:49and that crisp clean the clank of the
33:53the clank of the the ice on the on the
33:55glass and that little spritz of lime
33:58just kind of when they asked me that
34:00question I pondered it and I couldn't
34:02come up with anything else. So I just I
34:04went with gin. I'm sure some people
34:06would go with a good a good hoppy beer
34:09you know
34:10>> but I don't Yeah, Don. That's it. Pedley
34:13Falls. That's on the That's on the Cney.
34:15We just talked about it. So, that's
34:16actually really good timing. That's one
34:17of the the the really popular spots to
34:20stop. So, that's my that's my rationale
34:22about Jin. I'm sure that you know,
34:24popular opinion, not popular opinion.
34:26I'm sticking with it.
34:27>> I I the slide I've been looking at it
34:30for a while. It looked good to me. Um,
34:32all right. Back to trip logs.
34:36>> Okay.
34:36>> I don't even
34:37>> No. What's happening?
34:38>> What's that?
34:39>> What I was about to say? I was just
34:41three rivers. No. What's happening?
34:43Yeah, this is Three Rivers. This is the
34:45This is the uh this is the Alberta
34:48>> Rockies Triple Crown, I guess you would
34:50call it. So, these are our Calgary local
34:53runs. And I couldn't pick one from the
34:55other, so Carmen just like lumped them
34:56all in together. So,
34:58>> the Elbow is that picture in the bottom
35:01left with Tom in a pack. That's Elbow
35:03Falls. Uh and so that's our local creek
35:05run. It's about 30 minutes or so from
35:07Calgary. We can do it before work, after
35:09work, early season. Really short. has
35:11three pretty dope rapids in it. It's cl
35:14Yeah, class 4 gets a bit spicier in
35:16higher water levels, but really classic
35:19little canyon. Quick, you can do quick
35:20laps on it. Um, has a great class
35:23continuous class 2 section below. Little
35:25bit woody, but once you know it, it's
35:27it's it's really easy to manage. And
35:29then we have on the far right, we've got
35:31the sheep, which is unbelievable,
35:35actually. It has one of the best class 2
35:39plus grade two plus canyon runs I've
35:42experienced and I've paddled in 30
35:44countries or something like that. It's
35:46it's unbelievable and it's uh yeah I
35:49don't know how how to say it more than
35:51that. It's pretty again don't want to
35:52oversell it but it's pretty awesome. And
35:54then the upper section has a really
35:56great mix of you know if you can paddle
35:59class three really comfortably, grade
36:01three really comfortably, you can do the
36:03canyon. You just walk a couple of the
36:05big burly class four five rapids. Uh but
36:08it starts in this big broad kind of open
36:11alpine valley and then channels into
36:13this like just beautiful vertical walled
36:16bedrock canyon harlequin ducks all over
36:18the place and and there's often uh like
36:21mountain goats and stuff up on the
36:22canyon walls and that it's very
36:24quintessential front range rockies
36:27creaking. And then uh again these are
36:30all that sort of early sort of early
36:32June to early July kind of windows of
36:34paddling. And then cataract is is a bit
36:37of a step up in the sense that it's a
36:39pretty committing remote class 4. We
36:43want to paddle class 4 reasonably well
36:45to do it. Uh and it has some real test
36:48piece class 5 five plus rapids on it
36:50which are quite easy to walk as well. Um
36:52that's Titan waterfall that you can see
36:54in the picture there. That's one of the
36:56That's one of the It's a pretty
36:59manageable waterfall actually, but you
37:00got to do like a 15 to 20 foot seal
37:02launch right above it to get into it,
37:04which adds to the spice level. But that
37:07you can do and it's something that many
37:10local Rocky's
37:11>> paddlers have done is is the triple
37:13crown. So you do all three of those in
37:15one day. Makes for a bloody long day,
37:17but yeah, lots of smiles at on the
37:19tailgate at the end of the day kind of
37:21thing.
37:21>> Wow. That's that's that's awesome. And
37:24then the the ginonics, don't forget at
37:27the end as well.
37:28>> Yeah, that's that's go, you know, the
37:29tailgate. Yeah, they're a bit out of
37:31favor with me at the minute. I don't
37:33drink at the moment, so I feel like a
37:34bit of a I feel like a bit of a that I'm
37:37sort of pulling the wool over people's
37:39eyes, but there you go. Full
37:40transparency. Don't really drink at the
37:42minute.
37:42>> So, it's high fives at the end if you
37:44did this.
37:45>> Very much so. Yeah. Yeah.
37:46>> All right. Um, we're doing another
37:48little detour just because this is
37:51surely obvious. I see, you know, as as
37:53Simon, you were saying, so many people
37:54in the chat are probably familiar to
37:56you, possibly because they've taken
37:58courses at AQ Outdoors. Um, you all
38:01really set the gold standard for
38:03instruction. You've been, you know,
38:04mentioning a here and there which rivers
38:07you teach on, you know, when you teach,
38:09etc., etc. So, I just want to make sure
38:11that that people know that AQ Outdoors
38:13is a resource uh for you in your
38:15paddling progression. And I think that's
38:17true. Um, having just looked at your
38:20catalog pretty extensively, that's true.
38:22Uh, you know, you've got you've got teen
38:24programs, you have youth programs as
38:26well as adult programs, you have
38:27programs just for women, you have
38:29programs for hard shell kayakers, you
38:31have programs for packrafters. Uh, it
38:33seems like you you're busy.
38:36>> Yeah, we've been at it for a while. Um,
38:39I've been teaching whitewater kayaking
38:41since
38:43uh since I was 18 or 19 and I'm closer
38:45to 50 than 40 now. And we've got a
38:48really great team, great crew here and
38:51run a pretty diverse range of programs
38:52and and for those of the the locals in
38:55the chat, I think a good percentage of
38:57them will have at some point or another
38:59taken a course or we've been on the
39:00river together, which we're really
39:02grateful for. Uh yeah, we run everything
39:05from evening programs all the way
39:06through to sort of five and seven day
39:08progressions and we pride ourselves on
39:11having a very structured yet flexible
39:14progression that allows people to just
39:17bite off little chunks. We're definitely
39:18more of a technical instruction program
39:21than a guide you down the hardest river
39:23of your life kind of program.
39:25>> Yeah.
39:25>> Um we definitely
39:28Thanks Craig, that's awesome. Um we
39:33yeah it's and to get a bit of a taste of
39:36it like we we actually work with a
39:38really talented videographer named Matt
39:41from a company called Flying Fox
39:43Productions and we have a pretty robust
39:45instructional catalog on our um on our
39:48YouTube channel that is not behind a
39:50payw wall and will continue to not
39:52behind be behind a payw wall. It's
39:54something that we're pretty passionate
39:55about. we invest a lot in and and uh we
39:58feel as though that makes a really
40:00positive impact on the community. But
40:01yeah, everything from beginner five-day
40:03programs all the way through to uh you
40:06know week-long class 3, four programs
40:09again with a very strong instructional
40:12thread. We get a lot of people coming by
40:13who have paddled for a long time and
40:15we're like ah okay we're going to spend
40:17the first morning on flat water and
40:19they're like what? And I've you know no
40:23one's ever really complained about the
40:24flat water. People dig it because we I
40:26think we break it down in a way that
40:28resonates with people and it gives them
40:30really solid, simple to execute tools
40:32once they move back into White Water
40:34again. And so something that we're
40:35really proud of and and and love working
40:37on with people. So I'll leave it at
40:39that. But go check out the YouTube
40:40channel. There's a lot of really cool
40:42stuff. We're really close to having
40:4310,000 subscribers. So if you don't mind
40:46subscribing, that's as big a plug as
40:47you're going to get from me. But we're
40:48getting close. I think I I think we get
40:50a plaque at 10,000.
40:54>> A little badge.
40:56>> Um
40:56>> I I'll I'll put the plug in the the
41:00whitewater instruction videos that Simon
41:03that you put out are fantastic. They
41:05are.
41:05>> Thank you.
41:06>> Truly fantastic. Um I know you're
41:08posting them on YouTube. You are also
41:11starting a fledgling group within Rally
41:13Crew. Uh, and you know, I made reference
41:16to all the courses because I I was just
41:18helping Simon get a lot of his courses
41:19loaded into Rally Crew and and I was
41:22really struck, Simon, because in loading
41:24your courses, right, I had to declare,
41:26is this a guided tour? Is this skill
41:28building? And they were 99% skill
41:30building.
41:31>> Yeah.
41:31>> Yeah. It was, it was so clear that
41:33that's your, you know, your specialty.
41:36All right. I think we're back to trip
41:37blogs. Kicking horse.
41:40>> Kicking horse is an ultra classic. So
41:42it's actually a really popular rafting
41:45destination in Golden BC. So 2 and a
41:48half 2 hours 2 and a half hours from
41:49Calgary and early season when it gets
41:53high, big snow melt, big glacia fed,
41:57lots of rain, it's an absolutely
41:59rollicking ride. It's so much fun. It's
42:02so so much fun. Uh it's, you know, high
42:05water. You want to be a pretty confident
42:07sort of class grade class 4 boater cuz
42:11it's big and it's cold and it's fast and
42:13it even though it's medium volume, it's
42:14still, you know, the rocks aren't that
42:16far away.
42:17>> Uh, as and it's a real test piece for
42:19for local um I guess recreational boers
42:22in in the Calgary area. What people tend
42:25to do is start like later in August and
42:27September and get it when it's at on its
42:30best behavior, you know, when it's a
42:32little bit more manageable and then
42:34slowly like level up the the the the
42:37water level to to a harder to a more
42:39challenging state. It does have a real
42:42test piece kind of class five section of
42:46river, the middle,
42:47>> which has been run at outrageously high
42:50water levels now that I couldn't fathom.
42:52When we used to run it, I was like, "Oh,
42:53this is scary." And now it's they're
42:54running at three or four times as high
42:56as we did it. Uh so it's really varied.
42:58Everything from beautiful class two
43:00continuous braided white water, but you
43:03go for the you go for the classic raft
43:05se section for the most part and it's
43:07it's it's pretty awesome.
43:09>> All right, perfect. One more I think.
43:11Several more. Oh, wait. I went the wrong
43:14way.
43:14>> You went backwards.
43:16>> I can do this. Oh, Simon,
43:19>> we're going to New Zealand now. Don't
43:21even
43:22>> I'll talk about the Skookumchuck Creek
43:24because that's the next one while while
43:26uh we try to find it.
43:27>> Yeah, I'll get
43:29>> Skookumchuck Creek is for our class 4
43:31creek boers out there. When I first
43:34paddled Skookum Chuck Creek, it was
43:37sold, wrong word, but sold to me as 16
43:40km, so 10 miles of the most continuous
43:44class 3 plus white water that makes it
43:46feel like class 4 as you're ever going
43:47to find. And I was like, "Yeah, class 3
43:50can't feel like class 4." But it does.
43:52It's like
43:53>> and it's in the It's weird. It's not in
43:56the middle of nowhere, but you feel like
43:57you're in the middle of nowhere. Access
43:59and egress is really challenging. And it
44:03is It is as much fun for a class 4
44:08boater as a class boater can get. If you
44:10like continuous white water, nice big
44:13smooth round boulders. You have these
44:14beautiful big weeping walls that are
44:16moss covered and you just feel like
44:18you're in the Yeah. You just feel like
44:20you couldn't be further from from
44:22civilization. And the white water is
44:24utter class. Once it gets the high once
44:27it gets high, wood is a concern. Um once
44:29it gets into the definitely starts to
44:31push into the like really hard class 4,
44:34class 5 minus kind of vibes just because
44:36of the consequences. But at sort of a
44:38medium level like I think two two or so
44:40on the gauge and down it's it's an
44:42absolute delight. if you're comfortable
44:44in that white water. So so good. So
44:46good. Makes me want to go there right
44:48now.
44:49>> I was getting that vibe from you. I was
44:50like, I think Simon wants to be there.
44:52>> Yeah, it's it's fantastic. It's it's
44:55great. It's so good.
44:57>> All right.
44:58Uh out of your comfort zone for I guess
45:02time. Carmon suggested country music,
45:05but I I I pushed back on that. Even
45:08though the Pincher Creek Paddlefest is
45:11very like that definitely sounds like
45:12country music. It's just peaceful.
45:15Everywhere you go is kind of away from
45:18things and you get into canyons and
45:20there's trees everywhere and anyone
45:22who's skied in trees know how knows how
45:24much that dampens sound and it's just I
45:26don't know, you just get away from it
45:27all and feels like you could be a
45:29million miles from anyone which is
45:31pretty awesome.
45:33Love it.
45:34>> Someone hears bananas. That's good.
45:38I
45:38>> think we lined ourselves up with that
45:40for that one.
45:43>> I think this is I think this is the last
45:45one, right?
45:46>> I think it might be. Yeah. And then we
45:47have after this Simon, we go to offwater
45:50activities.
45:51>> Okay.
45:52>> Travel beta. And then we kind of wrap
45:54up. I think
45:56>> questions.
45:57>> Yeah. So, the cascade is is a
46:00packrafter's dream in a way. It's about
46:02it's a 6k hike in I think give or take
46:05and you got to do that with your hard
46:06shell boats. There's no there's no
46:08driving into it. Uh very active grizzly
46:11bear corridor as well. We had some of
46:14our European friends that were out
46:16working with us last year run into a
46:18family of grizzlies. And I don't think
46:19that's uncommon up on the Cascade, but
46:22>> really close to Bamp. Really close to
46:23Bamp. So it's it's uh it's just one of
46:26those old school classics. one of the
46:28the early walk-in test piece kind of
46:30runs and class three class 4 and as yeah
46:35I don't know I'll just carry on
46:38continuous blue water super fun and it's
46:41way easier with a pack that's going to
46:43be my my future on the cascade is going
46:45to be in pack rafts for sure not in my
46:47hard shell I don't think we'll put it
46:49that way
46:50>> all right you heard it here all right so
46:52offwater activities you get I don't know
46:54it's too high it's too low you've gone
46:56all the way to Canada all the way to BC.
46:59What do we do?
47:01>> Yeah, I think if you're coming here,
47:02you're coming here for the most part
47:04with the outdoors in mind. You know, I I
47:06had to think long and hard. I actually
47:08didn't even come up with a not outdoors
47:10option. Carmen, who is from where's
47:13Carmon from? She's from
47:15>> Montreal, Quebec.
47:17>> But she Yeah, that's right. She's Yeah,
47:19she's not from She's not from out west.
47:21She was like, "What about the Stampede?"
47:22And I was like, "Oh, yeah, that makes
47:24sense." So there's a huge there's a huge
47:26uh stampede which is a rodeo and
47:29festival here in early June which people
47:31come from all over the world to see and
47:34I've been in Calgary for 21 years and
47:36didn't even think of that as an
47:37off-water option. So I cannot be trusted
47:40on this slide as it turns out. So yeah
47:43that that's a big cultural thing.
47:45Calgary Folk Fest is really popular.
47:47Yeah, there's two types of people in
47:49Calgary. There's people who dress up as
47:51a cowboy through Stampede, even if they
47:54work downtown. And there's people who
47:55are like, "Ugh, I'll never go to
47:57Stampede. There's not really a lot in
47:59between." Uh, but then other things to
48:02do off the water. There's, you know,
48:03obviously amazing hiking,
48:05mountaineering, mountain biking. Thanks,
48:07Mike. Um, there's glacia, like glacia
48:11tres you can do. If you're into
48:13mountaineering, there's insane
48:14mountaineering here. Uh, horse packing
48:17is massive. Like if you come out with
48:18your family and they want to do
48:20something that's not paddle related, uh
48:22you can go on multi-day horse packing
48:24trips through the the foothills into the
48:27prairies and feel like a proper cowboy
48:29or cowgirl. Like pretty pretty cool
48:32experiences. Really cool experiences
48:34packing all your stuff on your horse and
48:36that. So lots of and obviously there's
48:39not obviously but Ba National Park,
48:41Coupney National Park, the Icefields
48:43Parkway is a destination that people
48:45come from all over the world to see.
48:47Jasper um half burnt to the ground last
48:50year, but still an amazing destination
48:52to see and and yeah, lots of lots of
48:56that. Yeah, gravel biking, eh? Yeah,
48:58lots of gravel biking here for those who
49:00do that. So, I don't know. It's an
49:02outdoor paradise for the most part. It's
49:04pretty rugged. It's not smooth. Like if
49:06you go to the coast, all the trails are
49:08smooth. Here it's a bit rugged, but we
49:10like it that way.
49:12>> Amazing. Um I think the the last little
49:16encouragement slide was about just
49:17travel bay. Anything to know if you're
49:19coming by plane.
49:22>> Yeah. So I think
49:24>> yeah, fly into Calgary. That's going to
49:27be your best bet to get to the Rockies
49:29for sure. You can rent vehicles. Um,
49:32often it doesn't cost cost much more to
49:34rent a truck rather than a like an SUV
49:36or something. So, if you're carrying
49:37boats around, if you can if you can
49:39swing that, go for it. Just makes your
49:41life a bit easier. Do be a bit careful
49:43though. They're a bit fussy on they're a
49:45bit fussy on scratches and stuff. So, if
49:47you've got rando like local paddlers
49:49with you, just make sure you give them
49:50the solid word not to drag the boats
49:53across the tailgate or whatever. Um, you
49:55can actually rent roof racks too from a
49:56few places in Calgary. Us and a couple
49:59other places.
50:00As far as accommodations go, lots of,
50:03you know, there's there's Airbnbs and
50:05stuff like that. Depending on where you
50:06are, like some towns in the like in the
50:09national park and that don't allow
50:10Airbnbs, so you're a bit restricted to
50:12hotels and host and campgrounds. If
50:15you're outside of the of the national
50:18parks and such, especially in BC, Crown
50:20Land, you can camp. I think there's a
50:23right to you can basically camp for two
50:25weeks at a time without moving. So, a
50:28lot of these rivers and in paddling
50:29maps, which we can address a little bit,
50:31we haven't got much time left, so I'll
50:33probably slow just hurry up here. But
50:35basically, you can camp randomly around
50:37a lot of the rivers in BC. And yeah, I
50:41don't know. Just like everything else,
50:42respect private land accesses, lots of
50:45bears and wildlife. It's not like
50:46Australia, you can't keep your your esky
50:48or your cool box outside of your tent.
50:51You got to lock all that stuff up or you
50:53might have an unwelcome visitor in the
50:55night. So, just getting tuned in with
50:57that, but you can research that a bit
50:59more if you decide to come up.
51:00>> Perfect. Well, and you mentioned
51:02paddling maps, and I want to make sure
51:03actually that we get there. Um, I know
51:06>> we can breeze right through this next
51:08side. Feels like rugged, like going back
51:11in time
51:13and smells delightful and crisp. So, I'm
51:16getting I'm getting the
51:17>> the vibe about what you wanted to convey
51:20there. Um, I want to maybe move us
51:23through this slide knowing that people
51:25can peruse it on their own leisure at
51:27their own pace because I really do want
51:31to make sure that you have some time to
51:32talk about paddling maps which is a
51:34resource that you've invested very
51:35heavily in. Um, and I want to say, you
51:39know, you did just say it. We're we're
51:41nearing the end of the formal
51:42presentation, but we do want to make
51:44sure there's time for questions. So if
51:46you have a question, go ahead and uh pop
51:48it in the chat and my colleague Justin
51:50will help me monitor them. But um while
51:53that is happening, Simon, can you talk
51:55to us about paddling maps?
51:58>> Yeah, so paddling maps, super simply
51:59put, is a paddling location or a paddle
52:02spot resource. It's everything from the
52:05most benign of flat water all the way
52:06through to the hardest class 5. We
52:08wanted to build a a a resource that was
52:12useful to the like the whole paddle
52:14sports community, not just the, you
52:16know, the class 5 boers or even just
52:17white water boers. And so it's all
52:19crowdsourced information. It's
52:22represented very very strongly in
52:24Western Canada and increasingly so
52:26across eastern Canada as well. the US
52:29has a sm like a smattering of trips in
52:31the US like some certain hot spots that
52:33have be become more popular and then
52:35also areas you go in there and be like
52:37well there's trips in Ecuador and Costa
52:39Rica and Kenya of all places like why
52:41are they and they're just all places
52:42that I know people have traveled to. So
52:44they kind of got populated early on and
52:46and have acted as a as a sort of niche
52:49resource for people going to to some of
52:51those different paddling destinations.
52:53So yeah, it's it's an app. The Android
52:55app's a bit janky at the moment. We're
52:56actually just about to relaunch that. Um
52:59the the iPhone app is is pretty slick
53:02for the most part and it's connected to
53:04river levels. U there's tools in there
53:07to to put trip reports and hazard
53:09identification and all that kind of
53:11thing. And anyone can add to it. So if
53:13you're listening to this and you've got
53:15some cool runs or flat water locations
53:18in your neck of the woods, we'd love to
53:19see them. We'd love to see them added
53:21cuz the more the marrier for the most
53:23part. So easy to use, free to use. It's
53:26uh run developed by a company called
53:28Appar Media which is again just one of
53:30my friends and he's a really talented
53:32developer. So he and I have put in a
53:34bunch of time and resources to make it
53:36to make it fly and again just keep it
53:38free and keep it accessible for people
53:40because that's kind of the goal with all
53:42of this.
53:43>> Simon, you and I, you know, when when we
53:45initially connected and I said, "Oh, you
53:47know, I I built this thing called Rally
53:49Crew and I just yeah, I just want to
53:50make it free and you know, I'm just
53:52working with some developers that I know
53:53that are really talented." said you were
53:55like, "Oh, girl."
53:59>> Yep. Have fun with that.
54:02>> That sounds like a story I know. So, um,
54:06>> it's the way to do it, I think. But, uh,
54:09>> I taking us to the very end, the very
54:12official end of our presentation. Um, a
54:14little last plug for Rally Crew. If
54:16you're not already in Rally Crew, it is
54:18absolutely free to use and always will
54:20be, just like paddling maps. um we'd
54:22love to see you there and we will be
54:24sharing information about future
54:26paddling passport discussions within
54:29rally crew and you know actually that's
54:31perhaps another question to put in the
54:33chat is um we've done a paddling
54:35passport discussion focused on New
54:38Zealand that was our first one our
54:40second one was today's discussion with
54:42Simon uh on the Canadian Rockies I'm
54:45fairly certain we have our next one
54:47scheduled uh with Noria Newman uh Noria
54:50is going to take us on a tour of
54:52Valessia, paddling in Valessia, Italy.
54:55Uh so apart from those three
54:57destinations, if there are places that
54:58you would like to learn more about for
55:00your next paddling trip, uh you know,
55:02pop it in the chat and we'll add it to
55:03the list and or you know, send us a note
55:07within Rally Crew and let us know what
55:09you're most interested in hearing about.
55:11Um Justin, do you have any questions
55:14that you can get us started with for
55:16Simon in the last few minutes that
55:18remain? And then as we're fielding some
55:20of those questions and I'm How's your
55:22time, Simon? If if we have
55:24>> I'm good. I got nothing else to do. I
55:25just got to cook dinner. So we can we we
55:28en roll.
55:31>> All right. Um one more time, I just want
55:33to say thank you so much to Simon. You
55:35know, for those of you who do have to
55:36pop off because we're at the end of our
55:38hour, thank you for joining us. But the
55:40biggest thank you really to you, Simon,
55:42for sharing your expertise and taking us
55:44on a tour. Um, I think you're going to
55:47see lots of us this next summer.

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