The past few years have been full of adventure. The pursuit of whitewater paddling has risen to become the foremost focus in my life. I've shaped my lifestyle, both personal and professional, into a mold that allows me to more fully immerse myself in the navigation of swiftly moving, and falling water. There is a closeness, a tremendous bond that forms among people who share any passion, or who triumph jointly over great challenges. Often adventure is met at the point where great passion and challenge come together. It can be both enlightening and terrifying, exulting and tragic. Whitewater is the medium on which I choose to focus my passion. It is the challenge for the body, mind and soul that elevates focus and blots out all distractions. And it is over this incredible dynamic medium that I have been able experience and explore some of the most incredible places on earth and share time with some of my closest friends. I hope this blog will serve its purpose of sharing the passion for adventure and whitewater equally with both those who may already be familiar with its draw and those to whom it is foreign. I'd like to nurture that closeness, and strengthen that bond that has been created as a result of these pursuits while also shedding light toward the reason behind my addiction to whitewater for my non paddling friends and family. Through photos and stories this blog is my shot at defining adventure.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge

The Eddy Flower vertical challenge began May 15th and will go until June 15th. This is a whitewater oriented competition between teams and individuals to see who can paddle down the most vertical feet of river over the allotted 32 days. After a strong team finish last year and my 1st place individual showing of almost 34000 feet in last years contest, i have been excited about getting back at it again. We started off on Saturday with a 30 mile paddle from the foot of Mt Adam all the way to the Columbia River, this stretch covers almost all of the navigable whitewater along the White Salmon River. Starting at the foot of Washington's 12500 ft Mt. Adams with our team of four, and then paddling out together, 30 miles downstream into the massive Columbia River with an outstanding view or Oregon's Mt. Hood was reward enough for our efforts, not to mention the fantastic whitewater, elusive canyons and good companionship along the way.

If your interested in following the Eddy Flower Vertical challenge check out the hosting website at http://www.eddyflower.com/VerticalStandings.aspx. You can track our progress as a team, check our individual standings and if so moved, pledge donations to benefit the First Descents kayak camps. First Descents is a great program that uses whitewater kayak instruction to help young adults diagnosed and recovering from cancer begin the recovery process. Check out a great video about First Descents here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPnRYc5p1e0&eurl=http://www.firstdescents.org/cms/. Raising money for the First Descents camps is the other half of this Vertical challenge and a great way for you to participate too. This is truly a great program, we actually host several of their week long camps here in Washington at Wet Planet Whitewater. Donations can be pledged to First Descents through the Eddy Flower Website. Click this link for more information on how to donate: http://www.eddyflower.com/MakeDonation.aspx.


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)