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.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Vertical Challenge wrap up

It's been nearly a month since the Eddy Flower Vertical Challenge ended and a solid month of non stop kayaking has given way to the busy rafting season here in the North-west. Returning from Idaho spent but happy, I've since had the chance to travel down to southern Oregon to teach a couple of kayak instruction course on the Wild and Scenic Rogue river, Eddy Flower has just announced the top finishers from the contest and our Washington based team, The Off the Cowch Team, has taken the top spot by a landslide margin. Our total vertical feet paddled was nearly 150000 ft, or 28 vertical miles! The top four individual finishers were from our team, and I reached my personal goal of logging more than 40000 feet over the 32 day span. Over the four years of the competition this is now the most ever recorded! In addition and of incredible importance is the fact that as a team we also were able to raise $6470 for the First Descents Program, sending young adult Cancer survivors to week long kayak camps as part of their recovery. This also makes us the first team to lead both the vertical standing and the donation standings. Thanks to many of you guys, we have set a new bar for all teams that participate in the Vertical Challenge in the future. So again, to everyone, your encouragement and excitement about the competition was so valuable and appreciated. To those who were able to contribute financially; I got to help out a few days with the actual First descents Camps; your contributions are so valuable and mean so much toward the greater goal, i am honored that you were moved by my paddling to become involved in this competition yourselves. Thank you all so much.

View of the Columbia River Gorge from the mouth of the White Salmon after our teams 35 mile paddle from Trout Lake Creek to the Columbia, Day One Vertical Challange 2010
Photo: Curt Joyce

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