The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 93

Flag illustrations by Garyck Arntzen

Welcome to

choppy

Chile
After a good meal and a good night’s sleep, it was
time to hit the river. I joined some friends who I
had worked with last summer in Canada plus
some new friends and headed to the Rio
Nevados. Although the water level was lower than
ideal, this was still a fun low volume creek with
some narrow, fun drops and a big slide. We took
out just above the 50-footer called ‘Demshitz’
drop, I’m sure I will come back to it another day.
From there we headed back for a spot of lunch
then set off for the Upper Palguin. This run is
super fun, slightly higher volume than the
Nevados with a bunch of fun drops along its
length. We made two portages and headed all the
way down to our take out right above the Middle
Palguin 70-footer. Again scouting took place but
we decided it was something to come back for.
Chile is usually cold and rainy at this time of year,
and this year is no exception. It has been cold
from the moment I got off the plane! The next
day was even colder and rainier but I saddled up
for another round on the Nevados. Once again
more scouting of ‘Demshitz’ but once again left
to another day.

Seth Ashworth on one of the
smaller drops of the
Siete Tazes, Rio Claro

The day that followed was the coldest and wettest
so far. I honestly thought about going back to
bed. However, we managed to rally a crew
together and headed back to the Palguin. This
time we got to the middle and Blair Trotman
(NZL) and myself decided that today was the day.

ThePaddler 93