Solo Whitewater
Recently I have seen articles discussing paddling alone on whitewater in a few blogs, and even in print publications, which surprises me. I have been paddling whitewater for over 40 years, and have been confidently paddling IV-V for around 30 years. Conventional wisdom is never paddle alone.
When the topic comes up, I have a couple of standard responses.
"If you have to ask, you should not be doing it."
"What is the first rule of Fight Club?"
Do I paddle alone? Yes, I do. By admitting this publicly I am already violating my own advice, breaking the First Rule of Fight Club.
However, I do have a reason, it is because the skill to correctly assess getting on the river solo happens to be a valuable skill for assessing getting on the water on any given day. This skill is consciously identifying, quantifying and evaluating risk.
Over a decade ago when we were in Patagonia, I was paddling an RPM as a C1 (I only paddled C1 for over 20 years), and, quite frankly, having a blast. Before the explosion of half-slice boats, the RPM was far and above the best plastic surfing boat (composite slalom boats are far better). The Futaleufú is a huge volume river. It is not a high volume river. The Futa is a HUGE volume river.
Most of the time, the huge volume of the Futa makes for a lot of fun. For example, you can do a gigantic mystery move in a 90 gallon creek boat in one rapid...fly over a huge pillow against a midstream boulder about the size of a large American home, drop onto the seam between the current and the eddy below the rock, and get completely swallowed up by the water, resurfacing 50-100 feet downstream. A slicey stern boat like the RPM is an absolute blast on the gigantic green waves.
However, when I got to Throne Room, one of the more famous rapids on the Futa, I shouldered my boat to walk around. My wife was on a paddle raft with quite a few other people. It was toward the end of a week. They had all been watching me paddle alongside the rafts through the rapids.
Apparently one of the customers was rather surprised when I shouldered my boat after looking at Throne Room, and asked their guide why I wasn't running the rapid. Although I did not hear this conversation, my wife told me the guide, a tall broad shouldered South African, simply said, "I guess he's not feeling it."
He was right. Prior to the trip, I had not been able to paddle much due to muscle spasms in my right trapesoid. During the trip a great deep tissue massuse was helping me to be able to enjoy paddling during the trip, but I definitely was not at my strongest. At the tail end of my full time slalom training, even thought not at my best, I was still able to enjoy most of what the Futa had to offer, but when I looked at Throne Room, the risk matrix just did not favor running it on that day.
The move is fairly straightforward, a line through the center of the rapid. Although the line is just slipping off the left side of the tongue in the entrance and being in the right spot for the bottom drop, being off line had epic beat down potential. Everything on the Futa is big. The holes on either side if missing the line are absolutely massive.
I was paddling well. The chances of missing the line were low, but I was not in a particularly forgiving boat and if it went sideways...I was going to get chundered good. It was not the right decision on that day, and I have no regrets about not running Throne Room, quite possibly a once in a lifetime experience for me. This skill of critically evaluating risk, the reason why I walked Throne Room, applying this skill also happens to be why I chose to paddle solo.
I do not run anything at more than medium to low flows, and always runs I am already very familiar with. Although I enjoy high water, typically I am capturing the opportunity to paddle in between the obligations of being a husband and father to two young boys. Familiar runs well within my comfort zone at very manageable flows are the only way I ever decide to paddle solo.
Further, paddling is no longer about being fast and loose on the hardest water I can get on. It hasn't been for at least 20 years, now. Long ago it became about the experience of moving water, being on the river, being in the moment in a wonderful place. To this end, solo missions accentuate this type of experience.
In fact, it is for this reason I have increasingly try to paddle as early in the day as possible. I love being on a whitewater river just as the day is dawning and enjoying the zen of the moment.
If I invite you on a dawn patrol, know it is for one of two reasons. One, the run is higher or harder than I am comfortable running by myself, or two, possibly I consider you worthy of sharing this type of experience with. If this is the case, consider yourself lucky. There are not many.