This has been an amazing kayaking year in Chile! Didn’t promise to be really good because of really low water levels, but we have been killing it putting a lot of motivation on running the big ones down here. Thankfully the last weeks have been full on rain so the levels have gone crazy and we got to paddle everything! enjoy some nice pics!
top rapids in Nevados photo: Lj Groth
boofing the sickest drop of the turbio photo: Lj Groth
the scariest rapid of the upper carhuello photo: Lj Groth
Salto palguin: The first big waterfall of the trip was “salto palguin”, a super stout 80 footer with a crazy lip. I’ve ran this one 2 years ago but didn’t go too good… I boofed it, got my skirt imploded and end up swimming… this year things were different, had a great line on it and didn’t swim! Redemption feels great!
round 2 on salto palguin! redemption! photo: anne hubner
salto palguin! photo by: mathias fossum
Dirty gerd: The next big one was the “dirty gerd”, my older brother had the first descent on this one something like 5 years ago. One of the rowdiest rapids waterfalls I’ve seen In my life, super technical entrance, hard to stomp the line and crazy lines on the left and right, middle to right is the perfect line. Evan went for it first killing the entrance but missing a stroke before the lip and getting pushed all the way left, he was all right at the bottom so I decided to give it a go… I flipped in the entrance and got pushed all the way right in to the crack… anyway It was more smooth than expected and went all right! Can’t wait to go back in this one and give it the 2nd round!!!
falling into the crack but making it down safe... stout!! photo: mathias fossum
eg layin treats on suavemente! photo: mathias fossum
Puma falls: Third one is a big one, the puma vs. cobra!! A crazy 100 footer on the river Fuy never ran before. I did the first D on February, got ejected and ate shit on it, but luckily didn’t get injured!! No one else wanted to give it a try that day, but I’m sure next year this thing is gonna go down again and again!
1st descent of puma falls (100 ft.) photo by brook larson
Salto bonito: Fourth one has been a dream for me for so long… It’s always really hard to find this one with waterSalto Bonito located in villa angostura, Argentina. It got a crazy slide entrance that reconnects with a 70 ft. fall, you are going so fast when you pass from the slide to the real drop. The four of us ran it that day, Evan, Logan, me and Fred. We made 2 groups EG and Logan went on the first one both stomping the line. Me and Fred went after them both falling enough over the bars to have one of the biggest impacts ever… Freddie landed his head on the paddle and broke his nose for the second time of his trip, good for him because after some tips of mine he got it super straight now!
dropping in to bonito photo: Logan Grayiling
This one was a sick trip where a lot of great stuff went down, lot of fun with good friends, great parties with super sexy hot chicks…. Damn can’t wait to go back someday!!! Now I am back at home after almost a year of traveling, I was kind of scared to go back but It feels good actually… But also feel that after this experience I can’t stay In any place for too long now, I’ve become a nomad…
Lot of great trips coming up this year 2012 check it all out here: aniolserrasolses.blogspot.com
Puma falls has always been a big one, a true 100 footer located on the river Fuy. This is the biggest waterfall ever ran In Chile. I’ve been looking at this waterfall for the last 2 years, been to that place so many times… but never had the perfect water level together with a big crew to provide a good safety/footage.
fired up crew on a high water day!
Jake Greenbaum walking through
On the 7th of January everything changed… we got together with an awesome crew who made the 1st descent of the falls possible! There’s a few factor that have kept many great kayakers away of running that drop. On the right side you got a pocket wall with difficult safety, If you got bad luck and your skirt implode and you swim in that direction you better start praying… also the high speed of the water at the lip is really scary… boofing this one is not an option.
I sat on the lip enough time to get fired up, not sure about how everything was going to work out, but knowing that the only way to know, was going for it… so I went!
scared and excited minutes before running the beast!
aniol riding on the lip of the falls
I sticked the entrance, not too fast and keeping my boat on the line. Didn’t take enough of a stroke because I was scared of boofing and tucked too early landing sideways and over my head.
The impact was terrible strong, so big that I got ejected right away… I tried to swim and reach the surface but took me a few seconds that felt like forever… luckily for me I got pushed to the left side where the water’s calm. I wasn’t injured and I was super stoked that everything went fine. Later on I realized that my skirt was broken in two parts…
Aniol Serrasolses 1st descent of Puma falls, rio fuy, chile
Obviously pissed because I didn’t stick the line, but in any big drop that you fuck up and you don’t get hurt, you must be really happy, so I am!
Dave Meyers ! both stoked!
We kept going with the whole crew down the middle section of the fuy, super fun rapids with a sick 40 footer waterfall! Another awesome day in our lifes!
beautiful sunset from our campspot in the rio Fuy
thank you all for the support ! Anton, Johny, David, Brooke, Logan, Lorenzo, Fred!!
Here is the teaser of Bombflow episode 8, gonna be a good one!
