It's been an amazing year of kayaking all around the world , here's a review I've done with the best memories of 2013 !
January –
I keep trying hard to recover. My back
still hurts , it’s cold and there’s no boating to be done anywhere next to my
area. During the last 3 months I don’t see much progress on my recovery and
I’ve been asking myself If I’m ever going to be able to kayak again… I am
losing my mind, I don’t know who I am and what to do with my life.
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| Lara !!! My favorite dog ever and my best friend on the recovery process... |
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| super stoked to join the red bull family in 2013 !! Huge help and support from these guys ! |
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| my little bro Sauc !!! good times hanging out with him ! |
February –
We get some good
rain in the west coast of Spain so we drive to Galicia and Portugal and I
finally get my first kayak sessions of the year. Feels amazing to be back on my
boat paddling with friends. I still feel a lot of pain but being on my habitat
is worth it.
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| first days in the water. felt so good ! |
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| first waterfall in over 7 months !! |
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| all smiles ! |
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| Running the Panadeiro slide in the rio Umia !! This place is sick ! |
March –
I receive an email from Teva inviting me to a video-shooting in
Chiapas. Not sure If I should go considering that big waterfalls is not what my
body is asking me. But I see it as a good opportunity to get out of the cold
winter in Spain and to see an amazing place ! I love it down there… it’s my
first time in the Agua Azul and Santo Domingo ! One of the most scenic and
special rivers I ever been.. the trip ended up being really crazy and
scary. I come back home with a
busted rib and a really sore back from running so many waterfalls without being
in good shape…
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| Paddling in las Nubes... this place is unreal ! |
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| chilling out in the turquoise waters of the Agua azul |
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| the whole crew all stoked after a successful run on the Santo Domingo |
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| scouting the big one on the ague azul |
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| Rush running the 60 footer on the azul while I do safety. |
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| Filming for the Teva shooting on the beautiful Palenque ruins |
April – May
I spend the
whole spring in the Spanish Pyrenees. I’ve got an apartment there so I can
really focus on my kayak. I boat everyday single day twice. My body is feeling stronger but my back
is still giving me pain... There’s a LOT of snow in the mountains but the cold
weather doesn’t let it melt, surprisingly low water levels…
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| Racing on the Ara ! |
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| sick sequence on the Palomeres drop |
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| my little bro !! |
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this year we where lucky to see some real high water levels !
This is a big hole that forms in the Upper Noguera ! |
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| my first backflip ever !! Loving it now ! |
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| cleanest water in the Pyrenees ! |
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| Lean on the Palomeres slide ! |
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the top drop on the Upper cinqueta...
The 2 times I've run this one I have ate shit against the wall...
probably it's about time to start running it different. |
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| Boavi at extra high flows ... this thing was so rowdy ! |
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| the red bull chicas !! |
June
The melting
month ! Highest water levels I’ve ever seen in Spain in my 22 years life. I
make sure to be out there every single day of the week. I am paddling a lot… I
get out of home early in the morning and arrive there late at night. Days are
filled up with great kayaking times. I am paddling good and my body is ready to
take some impacts once again. I do a 3 day shooting with Verve productions and
Heli films for Red Bull Spain who’s recording a profile on me. Stoked with the
result of it !
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| la princesa waterfall on the rio cinqueta. this falls are bad-ass ! |
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| beautiful shot of myself paddling down the Isil village ! |
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| The Extasis !! This gorge is so much fun ! |
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| good times with Aixas this spring !! |
July
I fly off to Norway
! The place where I broke my back last year so I am a little concerned about if
it’s a good idea to go back so early… it definitely is and I enjoy some of the
best paddling ever. We shoot a sick episode with Substantial media house.
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| the voss tent ! big parties... |
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| sick 1st D on the Valdall valley |
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| 1st drop in the Rauma ! |
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| Rauma falls !! This waterfall is insane ! |
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| 1st rapid on the Skjoli... one of my favorite sections in Norway ! Love this place ! |
August – September
I come back to
Spain for a few weeks, I get to do a solo mission to Cauterets and a few late
low water laps around the Catalan Pyrenees…
Pyrenees video:
then I make my
way to British Columbia. Always wanted to get there and paddle the Stikine and
all of it’s classics. I get to do 5 laps up there, one of them in 1 day and a
complete descent in 2 days. Mind-blowed by the quality and power of the
Stikine. Favorite river of all time. Can’t wait to go back !
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| good to meet up with my brother once again.... he is a machine and he's paddling better than ever in 2013 |
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| the new chicken line on wall 2 ! |
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| the always scary Chicago hole ! |
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| sick photo by Mikael on the wall2 ! |
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| Site Zed !! Insane rapid , props to Benny for being a beast and running it first !! |
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| getting aire on the bottom part of site zed ! |
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| Mamquam gopro shot ! |
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| good times shooting with Reel water productions.. the most bad-ass people setting up zip -lines ! |
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| Garden of gods I. i love this rapid! |
October
We fly to Peru
together with EG, Ryan Lucas , Eric Parker, Rafa Ortiz, Albert Aixas and
Juanito de Ugarte for a 1 month epic expedition. We run the mystique Apurimac river
, the Urubamba, a surprisingly good 1st D on the Upper section of
the Sacsara and a few more classics runs… we have an epic 2 days hike out on
the rio Huallaga. After realizing that the water level is too high to keep
going we have to leave our boats hidden inside the gorge… the multi-days in
Peru are insanely beautiful, such a savage and powerful place !
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| one of the biggest rapids I ran on the Huallaga ! |
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| cool kids on the village of the Vilcabamba ! |
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| Our videos from SBP getting shown at planes !! Really stoked on that ! |
November – December
Finally we make it to Chile ! going boating in this country feels too easy after Peru, we paddling good and we are fired up to run some waterfalls. We run all the rivers around Pucon , countless runs on the Palguin and Nevado… over 10 laps on middle palguin .. it’s a really low water year, we are really stoked to go south and get the Baker !
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| myself flying off the middle palguin. 10x times this 2013 ! |
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| Rio Blanco... the most epic river in Argentina ! |
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| Terminator !!! |
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| good times in the rio Florin ! |
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| alerces waterfall ! |
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| stoked to get my double backflips on !! |
Overall this has been one of the best kayaking years of my entire life. So many countries, rivers and people who I had the pleasure to kayak with. Coming out of a sever injury everyday in the water felt like a present that was given to me.
I am super thankful for the life I am living and for the places I get to see.
For 2014 I am planning on having the sickest kayaking season of all time.. I want to improve my kayaking to new heights and USA is going to be the perfect training ground for me to do it. It is my first time visiting, can’t express how stoked I am to finally paddle in all the spots I’ve been seeing for ever… going back to Canada (Stikine) for more big water training and eventually If everything works out some epic mission in Pakistan !
