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$2.95 Newsstand price 1 MAN OF RUBBER'S THE ZIP-LOCK HAS PROVEN KSWAmOOFNESS IN MANY RAPWS AND UINSTORMS AND ?HE WFFEL BA9 DESION HhS VIRlUALLY liIMINA?ED THE -ONE ARW ROPE lECHNIQUE FOR lHAf SWEAmt OR ROLL OF FILM ON THE MmOM OF fHE bA9. YOUR ALWAYS FRIENDLY AND EFFICIENl SERVICE IS AN AUMD PLEMURL. THANKS FOR A WAlPROWC? r OlCK UCE - ALASKA IMPASSE, JUNEAU, ALASKA TAVINO A SVPlRlOR PRODUCl IS ONLY HALF TllE EQUAlfON WHEN If COMES 10 WER EQUfPMENl...BFfH ANU OARY HARPER OF MANOF RUBbELSlARlEU fHEIR COMPANY WflH A BELIEF IN 1HEfR PROWClS, ANU HAVE CAKR1EU IT THROV OH...MhN OF RUBBER HAS ALWAYS BEEN 1HIRI r fOM WAONFR-NORlll AMERICAN RIVER ICWERS, IIICO, WV Wff EN If ABSOLUMY, PosmWEW ff AS TO STAY VRY CALL MAN OF KUWP AT 613-338-2775OR FAX SOO-HWW AVAILABLE IN SIX SEES ANR AN MORTMEW OF @#%A1 COLORS Tom DeCuir, 1st Place, Ocoee Rodeo BILL BURGER Response's advanced design features give you more control plus more stability. This kayak will go as far as you can take it! Like 1st and 2nd place in men's and 1st in women's at the 1990 Ocoee Rodeo! 1st and 2nd overall at the New River Rodeo in Virginia. Top finishing playboat at Montana 's Big Fork Festival. -= Want to know more ? =-- - A - A - - - a = m-mnnmm- Call or write for our free catalog! m 0111 II mum -uuuw~~~rn m m m uw- P.O. Box 1500, Harriman, TN 37748 6151882-0404 I American Whitewater v September/October 1993 gressed his confidence and skill increased exponentially, so that eventually, he be- Humble Pie came just one of the gang, not requiring any special attention. I spent the third week of June eating During the next couple of years I humble pie in the Wild, Wild West... the boated with Snake once in a while, but not Arkansas at 5', the Roaring Fork at 2500 on a regular basis. First he was living in cfs, the Piedra at 3000,the Animas at 6000. Detroit, then he moved to Aspen. I heard Yes, after several years of mediocre melt- that he was getting good, but I didn't real- downs, Colorado's rivers were raging. As ize just how good he was getting. Carla would say, it was the Big Wahoo. But I found that out this summer in Colo- it wasn't just the tremendous flows that rado. It was a real eye-opener. put me in my place. It was the company I It was our second day together and we was keeping... were on the Lower Piedra at an uncom- To be more specific, it was the com- monly high level. Snake had never experi- pany of my buddy Snake, a young man enced the Piedra before. I had paddled the known to the non-boating world as Dave Piedra a number of times over the years, Pizzuti. but I had never seen it like this. Let me explain. At more typical flows I consider the I first met Snake in the late winter of Piedra an interesting, but not particularly 1990 on Indian Creek, a tiny tributary of challenging, river. But as we were swept the Youghiogheny River near Ohiopyle. In- downstream toward the final box canyon by the booming, brown water, I started to dian Creek doesn't run often; it takes a lot fresh out of college and new to of rain to bring it up. But when it is really whitewater. Indian Creek was, by far, the get anxious. I knew that the most difficult clipping, like it was that day, it is a vigor- most difficult run he had attempted. He drops on the river lie within and imrnedi- ately below the congested, inescapable ous class IV,demanding and exciting, appeared at the put-in with a mutual though not truly deserving the class V rat- box. And it was becoming increasingly friend, Jan Matthew, full of anticipation this ing bestowed upon it in the very conserva- and enthusiasm. clear that, at level, they were not go- tive, local guide book. I'm generally not wild about nursing ing to be very forgiving. By the time we entered the box my But Snake didn't know that. He was novices down rivers, especially those who whine or snivel, but Snake wasn't like anxiety had given way to genuine concern. I was hugging the shore and catching ev- that. Although he took one swim and his ery eddy, then peering downstream, technique was raw, he was athletic as hell, searching for the holes and pourovers that with a promising roll and a gutsy, go for I knew were surely lurking in the broke attitude. wavetrains, waiting to ambush the un- You could tell that he was one of those boaters who was destined to im- wary. Snake, on the other hand, was having prove quickly. And, he had a great person- a ball... paddling through the heart of ev- ality and was a lot of fun. You couldn't help but like him. ery rapid, occasionally spinning around to nonchalantly surf the ten foot exploding So it came to pass that Snake followed waves. It seemed downright reckless to me down a number of increasingly diffi- me, but he never had a lick of trouble. GARB cult rivers that spring and summer. The Snake was clearly quite comfortable on Middle Fork of the Tygart... the Big Sandy the Upper Yough. I introduced big water; he had no problem dodging the ... Piedra's mantraps. him to class V water. As the season pro- But it was when we stopped to scout conscious clothing.. Editor: Bob Gedekoh, Box 228, R.D.#4, Elizabeth, Pa 15037 . Emeritus Editor: Chris Koll Graphic design: John K. &ctor, 29080 Westfall Rd., Wiiamsport, OH 43164 Advertising Director: Phyllis Horowitz, Box 85, Phoenicia, New York 12464 (914) 688-5569 Safety: Charlie Walbridge 14760 Memorial Drive, Suite 300-105 Conservation: Rich Bowers, 1609 Northcrest Dr., Silver Spring, MD 20904 Hou ton, TX 77079 Address Changes: Keith Morgan, 2601 Tanglewood Dr., Durham, NC 27705 lu9h Phone & Fax: (713) 589-8747 Missing Copies: Contact Phyllis Horowitz FREE CATALOG DEALER INQUIRIES WELCOME American Whitewater is printed by SPENCER WALKER PRESS, INC., Newark OH. All rights reserved. American Whitewater v SeptemberIOctober 1993 the Eye of the Needle that I Late that night as I slid really got worried. As you into my sleeping bag I came might surmise by its name, to several sobering realiza- the line through this rapid is tions. At some point in time a fine one. skirting a log on Snake's sense of daring had the left ah then, -&no; im- I far surpassed my own. He mediately, a recirculating I had joined that cadre of boat- cauldron on the right. ~t ers pushing the limits far be- lower levels it is intimidat- yond what most of us would ing, but I have negotiated it a have deemed possible five number of times without a years ago. Snake was willing mishap. But on that day, at to take chances that I would 3000 cfs, the rapid looked not take... there was no use particularly vicious. The log denying it; he had more guts was surging up and down in than I do. the tremendous current and But there was more to the cauldron looked inescap- it than that It wasn't easy to able. Brian Hopkins, an ac- admit it, but the simple truth complished, veteran pad- was that Snake's willingness dler, and I took a quick look to paddle more difficult wa- at it and shouldered our ter was not just a function of boats. Snake studied the his youth, recklessness or wida bit longer, and then calmly testosterone level. To put it bluntly, started to climb into his. Snake had become a far better boater I was surprised and alarmed. I than I will ever be. cornered him in the eddy above the This was apparent the next day drop. on the Animas at 6000 cfs; while the "Are you sure you want to do rest of us were struggling to stay in this?" I asked nervously. "If you our boats and out of big trouble, miss the line you could be in big. Snake was driving through the meat trouble." of the maelstrom. He looked a bit surprised. I re- It was apparent on the Roaring minded him that the Piedra was Fork at 2500, where I toiled breath- flowing at an extraordinary level lessly to mimic Snake's impeccable and that we had been told that all lines through an intense maze of the local paddlers who had paddled rocks and holes. the Piedra earlier that day had por- Continuedon page 97 taged the drop. I pointed out that if he wrapped on the tree, or got sucked back into the cauldron, there would be little we could do to Page 6: Bob on the save him. Uncompahgre River He just smiled and nodded, say- Page 7: Snake on the ing that he didn't expect that he Uncompahgre River would have much trouble. And so as Brian and I apprehen- sively set safety, Snake traversed the Eye of the Needle on an irnpec- cable line. The situation was much the same at the next major drop, Mudslide. In Potomac; in fact, the first time he ran the this case a technical approach led to an falls was during the race. eight foot vertical ledge with a treacherous He had even tackled the Narrows of backwash.