By:
Ben
Coleman
By Aeon Russo The Dagger Nomad has been my most trusted chariot on every stout I’ve stepped up to because of its responsiveness, forgiving nature, and reliability. The Contour Ergo outfitting makes me feel as if the kayak is an extension of myself and the impacts are way softer than you could ever imagine. When I drop in, the Nomad gives me the confidence I need to turn off my mind and tune into the flow. Top 10 Reasons Why the Dagger Nomad Stomps the Stouts 1. How smoothly it transitions to vertical. All you need to do is relax, plant a stroke, and tuck up when you’re about to plug ‘er deep...
By:
Chris
Loomis
Cancer is lonely. Young adults affected by cancer know this all too well. One of the biggest contributors to feelings of loneliness for young adult survivors is the lack of belonging. It can be hard not knowing if there are others out there like you, dealing with the unique challenges a cancer diagnosis presents during the “formative” years of your life. On September 26, 2013, just two weeks after my 24 th birthday, I was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, an aggressive form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Just mere months after graduating from college, I was to be sidelined for the next 6 months...
By:
Brendan
Wells
I know it's a bit late, but here's a post from a few weekends ago. Rush told me that over the weekend, there would be a helicopter filming some of my favorite rivers and waterfalls around my home town of Trout Lake, Washington. I was super excited to see a new perspective on kayaking, especially on the rivers that I have grown up with and have shaped me into the person I am today. We started out the weekend by driving to one of my very favorite drainages that runs off the east side of Mt. Adams-- the Lewis River. The all too classic Upper Falls was at a perfect level and something like...
By:
Hannah
Kertesz
I arrived in Medellín on Thursday night (11/6) and the next day I was hiking through the jungle towards my first Colombian river - el río verde! We drove 2 hours outside Medellín to a village called San Francisco. Not exactly the same as the San Fran we all know. The streets are narrow and more populated with donkeys and horses than with cars. Jules met up with his friend who owns a hardware store full of machetes, etc and arranged for a shuttle driver. We packed in with the driver and continued down a dirt road through San Fran, pushing through the herds of donkeys. We came to a fork in the...
By:
Tom
Janney
We had to divert back to the takeout and jam into one vehicle but luckily Rolf was able to get us a shuttle driver saving us 2-3 hours of driving. We made it through the maze of backroads to the hike in spot just past ross crossing at 4pm and down the hill we headed through a nicely groomed trail thanks to Darin Mcquoid. We were geared up and shoving off at 5:30pm, all of us had done the run and felt good bombing most of the first big drops. Jim got out to scout the biggest drop on the run since it had been 5 years since he had been down but besides that we stayed in our boats and made good...
By:
Jason
Beakes
“Flow” is a state of mind – achieved when athletes feel completely engaged in their performance, lose their perception of time, concentrate on the moment (without distraction or dilution), and, perform at extremely high levels. Essentially, these are the moments in sport that we as athletes, coaches, and consultants are all striving to accomplish. Not only has the Flow state of mind been linked with outrageously positive accomplishments in sport, it is also the state of mind that has been shown to offer us meaning in our lives.” Racing kayaks down hard whitewater is one of the finest ways to...
By:
Chris
Gragtmans
Surely that amount of positive energy being snuffed out could be sensed by every person alive. It felt to me like a celestial event- a supernova star with incomprehensible energy at the end of its life. Its death sends a shock wave out through the...
By:
Christie
Eastman
At first I was questioning if the 8.6 would be too much boat for me (I'm 5'11", 140 lbs), but the edges offer a lot of control while zipping in and out of eddies. Even when the Mamba is fully loaded for a multi-day trip, it rides high on the water...
By:
Laura
Farrell
The snow has officially started to melt out here in California and its not going to last long so get it while you can! Last weekend I took to the water and kicked off my Spring kayaking season on two local classics- South Silver and Golden Gate. I...
By:
Aniol
Serrasolses
There’s nothing similar to see the photos of a place than to experience it by yourself, so when I heard that River Roots (Rush & Rafa) where planning a mission down there I was really excited to go with them and be part of it. The crew posing...
By:
Jason
Beakes
“Flow” is a state of mind – achieved when athletes feel completely engaged in their performance, lose their perception of time, concentrate on the moment (without distraction or dilution), and, perform at extremely high levels. Essentially, these...
By:
Laura
Farrell
Now, let me be clear, there is absolutely nothing wrong with paddling a short boat, but if you haven't taken the time to paddle the Dagger Green Boat yet, you really are missing out! While this past winter has been a fairly dry one out here in...
By:
Todd
Wells
The Joy of Air from ARC'TERYX on Vimeo . Leave the ground beneath your feet, Rise up, your inner legend greet. A body in motion – Twisting, turning, churning, yearning – Apex found, heaven bound. But remember, what goes up must come down. Director...
By:
Chris
Gragtmans
While this is extremely fun to do, and is generally how the largest drops in the world are run, many people have trouble with getting themselves in the right mindset and zone for running a park and huck. It feels strange committing to something...
By:
Tyler
Bradt
My Fall paddling has been held close to home as I am preparing for a major expedition but what I found is that through my gallivanting around the world I have overlooked some gems lying right in my backyard. Here are a few of the rivers I was lucky...
By:
Tyler
Bradt
Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Mexico with my good friend Erik Boomer, Forge, and Camp 4 Collective. These are the types of trips I used to live for until I broke my back 18 months ago. Since then it's been a slow steady progression...
By:
Todd
Wells
I had to finish my classes two weeks early, figure a way around work responsibilities and raise enough money to finance the trip. It was a lot of work, but now that I'm here in Chile things could not be any better. Before I dive into this blog post...
By:
Jason
Beakes
Yesterday during an address to the Nation in which he honored our Veterans, President Obama told the story of Taylor Morris, a member of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team who was seriously injured and almost died while serving in Afghanistan...