Chirripo Pacifio huck fest

Todd Wells, Caterata La Perla

First Descent of La Perla,

La Perla is a 50 + foot drop that starts with a tricky slide into a 30 foot vertical drop. Todd and I had this gem in our sights for the last 3 weeks. We had been keeping ourselves busy with other adventures but today it was time to pluck this first descent. The drop is just a short hike up the hill from Casa Mariposa, (the hostel I have been home basing out of).  After scouting the beast one more time there was little hesitation in running such a magnificent drop.

The lip of the falls is rather ugly, there are two rock flakes most of the way down the slide portion of the drop. The rocks are unnervingly close to the sliver of water that I want to be on, and look as if they might launch you out of control. There was a distinct possibility of launching out flat, or on your head into the pool 30+ feet below. To make it more interesting the main flow rides up on a curler at the lip of the falls. The water then drives left into the nasty left rock flake. It is a pretty thin line at the top of a rather large drop.

At the top of the falls I felt unusually calm, I had a third of the butterflies in my belly that I was expecting. Once again I had a funny song in my head, this time Avril Lavigne's "Alice" was rolling through my head. I hopped in my boat, slapped the skirt on, and slid into the water. My pre big drop rituals are rather impromptu, today it was a extremely short lived wiggle warm up dance. Three strokes later my boat was right on line. I tossed in a quick correction stroke on the slide, and a second later I was rolling up in the pool with a huge grin.

Chris Baer, with big smile for La Perla

Ignorance is bliss, and it will make you hike some more in Costa Rica. I hadn't learned my lesson about the upper upper Chirripo Pacifico, as Todd and I continued down stream. Our attempt was to paddle down to the most upper paved bridge. As we headed down stream we encountered a married of ugly and painful drops. After bouncing off of a hundred rocks, we found a set of very marginal drops. A quick discussion led us to hiking out of the river valley. To our luck we were in the back yard of Casa Mariposa, a short walk brought us to base camp, and beers.

Once again, the Upper stretches of the Chirripo Pacifico have turned out to have great hike and huck potential, and a low tolerance for allowing any downstream movement out side of bouncing off of rocks.

First descent of Catarata Pacifica, 

Chris Baer, airborne, funnel, wheelie on Catarata Pacifica

The team had left, Ferdinand had clients to paddle with, Todd was going to spanish school, and this left me solo. I had been studying the water falls in the valley for the last 3 weeks, the valley was home. After all this time I had a calling, I wanted to run one more of the big drops. I knew that Catarata Cloud Bridge was runnable but it looked painful, and I never got a good view from the lip of Catarata Pacifica. So I set out for another hike, I wanted to get a really good look from the top of Catarata Pacifica. I stopped at the normal overlook, and peered down onto the drop. The lead in is rather intense from above, and I couldn't see a proper way to get to the lip of the falls. The embankment is all over hanging and full of lush vegetation. Upon further investigation I was able to wade down the river left side and get to some slippery rocks right at the lip of the beast. I was astounded, it looked.......ok?

I split the drop up into a few categories,

The lead in,
The river bed was made of bed rock, and had odd shaped eddys, and diagonal holes protecting the true lip of the falls.

The disconnects,
Upon rolling off the lip, the water disconnects for 15 feet, and then hits a small rock flake. It then disconnects again for another 15-20 feet before it gently reconnects with the bed rock a total of 40+ feet below the lip.

The funnel,
40 feet down the drop the rock starts to funnel together, the right wall is slightly overhanging and the left wall is the major issue. The drop at it's widest is 20 feet, the exit is 5 feet wide, the left wall does all of the funneling. The results of hitting the left side from 50+ feet above looked painful at best. Not only was the rock pinching together from side to side, but it was also ramping into the pool. This transition into the landing zone made me feel a little better, I knew I would have a half a second to try to control my angle.

The pool,
Looked ok, there was a deep boil rolling up 20 or so feet away from the base of the falls. There was also a relatively calm large pool on the left side to collect my wits in. The right side of the pool was moving fast off the next 6 foot drop, and also looked rather under cut. At this point it looked perfect, a 50/50 chance for a nice pool.

So as I mentioned before I was solo, no other boaters in sight, probable no other boaters within 100 miles. One of my major concerns about the drop was the lack of proper safety. I never like to count on non boaters to help set safety, but I didn't have any other choice. I turned to John Titan, (Casa Mariposa owner) he is in his mid 40s and constantly over active. John was going to be my safety, I didn't tell him much but I saw in his eyes he understood the possibilities. He was willing to dive into the water and drag me out if so needed. More then his willingness to set safety he had a gleaming light in his eye to watch the first descent of this glorious waterfall in his own backyard.

The day of descent was busy at Casa Mariposa, and it was just after noon before John and Jill where able to ditch there duties and join me at Pacifica. I was mentally prepared, I had gone through all the horrible possibilities in my head. After all the daunting thoughts, I still had the firm belief that I was going to get spat through the constriction at the bottom, with a huge smile.

Once again we had a crowd of onlookers, John was set up on a rock at the base of the falls with my camera in one hand and a throwbag in the other. I went through my final mental preparation and looked at the 5 foot gap 60 some odd feet below with a smile. I was about to make history one way or another. I looked up from the drop and gave John one loud blast out of my whistle, he looked around and got the thumbs up from the crowd, it was go time. I wondered back to my boat nervously slipped my spray skirt on and indexed my paddle. I shrugged my shoulders hummed my song and turned to face the most imposing drop of my life.

I cranked out a couple paddle strokes picking up some speed into the class 3 maze of back wash, eddy lines, laterals, and rock flakes that made up the entrance rapid. I was one move away from rolling off the lip, I was totally committed and right then a giant smile came on to my face. Right or wrong this was going to be one hell of a big ride. I drove up onto a rock on the right hand side inches before the lip, it slid me back to the left onto a pile of water that pushed me back right, and with a slight right draw stroke I leaned forward and started my descent.

I was instantly airborne, with square shoulders and head held high, I anticipated my next reconnect. Uggh, I reconnected with the rock. I was already 15 feet down, I managed another tiny correction stroke and once again was airborne. I cleared my eyes, I was 10 feet away from reconnecting the second time and I looked to the bottom of the drop, I was spot on line. As I reconnected the second time I drove my heals down to match the rock slide and lessen the impact. I was instantly brought up to warp speed, and could barely close me eyes in time to get shot through the funnel at the bottom.

I hadn't really thought about the impact into the pool, I knew the pool was deep, I knew I was going to be going really fast. I wasn't sure what was really going to happen as I got rocketed through a 5 foot gap from 60 feet above. What did happen was the wheelie of my life. I was staring at the clouds doing 40 mph through the pool. My paddle got ripped out of my left hand and so I reached down and swept the water with my bare hand keeping me vertical, and mildly stable. After traveling 30 feet staring at the sky the speed slowed and I leveled the boat back down. I was a couple feet away from the crowd, it wasn't till I smiled that the gaping jaws of the crowd lifted into a rejoining celebration.


Bumping my head,
For the last few years, I have been having rather entertaining Christmas days. Two years ago I tubed the Micos water fall run in Mexico. Last year I ran the biggest drop of my life, the 70ft middle Palguine. This year the plan was to get the second descent of the La Perla waterfall. As I stood above the 50 foot slide to vert, I was all smiles. John got himself positioned with the rope and camera, we exchanged head nods, and it was time to go.

I hoped in my boat, slid into the eddy, and peeled out. I was trying to recreate my line from a few days before. On the way down I got pushed a bit further left on the slide portion and got a little cork screw action in the air. I lifted my paddle to try to square up for impact, and CRACK. This time it wasn't the paddle that gave.

The bow of my boat slid into the water, the right blade of my paddle touched down on the surface, and my head followed through. I resurfaced quickly and immediately raised my left hand to my forehead looking for blood. As I pulled my hand away I saw a little pink. I turned towards the crowd paddled a couple strokes and felt the warm blood flowing down and dripping off my nose. Upon a second inspection I could feel the gap above my eyebrow. I told John I was ok, and I would meet him back on the road to the Mariposa. I took off through the next couple rapids and pulled over a quarter mile down stream and hiked back up to the road.

All I wanted for Christmas was a 50 footer... I have heard of getting a lump of coal for Christmas, but a lump on my forehead seems a little excessive.

Special thanks to John and Jill of the Casa Mariposa, you have helped set safety, shoot photos, mend ill friends, lend local knowledge and machetes, and most importantly share your home and the best base camp I could ever imagine.


First Descents, Rio Chirripo Pacifico, Cateratas from Chris Baer on Vimeo.

Chris Baer, still smiling with a black eye.

First Descents, Canas, Ceibo Canyon, and Caterate Casuela

A sequence of the hardest big drop of my life

Chris Baer, contemplating the hardest drop of my life.

First descents.

Ferdinand and I had made it through the getting to know you stage, now it was time to do some serious exploring. I hopped in his car once again and we took off to explore a couple runs that have never been done before.

The morning bird show

Canas, 300 fpm class 4+ with one sieved out class 5 move.

I would have never guessed we were about to do one of the steepest class 4 runs in the world as we were driving through the pineapple fields of Costa Rica. Ferdinand had the Rio Canas on his to do list for two years, and I was lucky enough to get to run it after knowing him for only three days. We stopped on the side of the road walked down to the river and looked into the river corridor. The Canas looked good, steep boulder garden style rapids with a couple fun boofs in sight. The level was a bit low, but the water channelized really well. As we headed up stream we stopped at a few more places, and it all looked good. We found an easy access spot, and Ferdinand checked the elevation on his watch against the topographical map. It all was adding up, we had just over 3 kilometers of unrun boulder gardens to negotiate to get to the next good access point.

We headed down stream scouting countless blind horizon lines, most of the times all it took was standing up and you could see a couple fun boofs and a nice eddy at the bottom. Our pace was quick as we headed down through tight slots and fun little boofs. About 2/3 of the way down the run we encountered a fun 5 foot boof directly above a pin rock and a nasty sieve. I took a quick look at it and found a thin line on the far left. I got back in my boat flew off the boof and slipped just past the pin rock. Ferdinand liked my line and fired off the drop right behind me. The pace stayed rather quick and before we knew it we were at the original take out bridge. We both were having a good day and there was plenty of light left so we pushed on, and ran another kilometer of equally fun white water. This run would be great for solid class 4 boaters look to up there skills.

Ceibo canyon, 400-500 fpm

The night before the Ceibo mission Ferdinand and I spent the night looking over topographical maps and planing the assault on what looked like a meandering river, that came out of a slot canon. As we drove up the river valley, the river looked minuscule, my first impression was it was just too low. After talking to some locals we got the information we were looking for, keep on going up stream the river lives in a canyon up there. We locked the hubs on Ferdinand's little Suzuki and went up a ridiculously steep hill with supper loose rock. My head was bouncing off the roof, and I was holding the O'shit Handle out of necessity. We finally made it to a relatively flat area and stopped the truck. The river was a thousand feet below us. It was emerging out of a basalt mini canyon, I got really excited. We left the truck at the flat spot, and hiked another kilometer up the road, to the top of the first canyon.

As we entered into the canyon we didn't get more then 50 feet before we came around a blind corner and spotted a nasty class 5 sieve pile caused by a land slide. Ferdinand was deservingly hesitant, I saw a "hairy fairy" right in front of a sieve and  a marginal line bouncing down a pile of junk rock. We continued through the canyon scouting constantly, and found a hand full of great rapids. The 15 foot slide to boof and fun linked double slide were the highlights of the run. As we exited the canyon the character changed, we were now in a bouncy boulder garden, and the water quickly sprawled out. We paddled another couple hundred yards and got to a swinging bridge and pulled out of the river. After getting the first descent of this beautiful canyon, I am definitely planning on returning to check out some of the upper canyons. Two days and two first descents down, I was feeling a little physically tired but mentally I was on was on fire.

Ferdinand, in the midst of Ceibo Canyon

Caterate Casuela and the Cloud Bridge section of the Chirripo Pacifico, is a hike and huck

A few weeks ago I scouted this section and, my original opinion was that almost all the drops on this run where, marginally runnable, at best. Over the last couple weeks I have scouted almost every vantage and access point. When Ferdinand offered to set safety I was both excited and nervous. The morning came, and I was going through my mental readiness, stay calm, eat a light breakfast, listen to an upbeat song (Katy Perry "I kissed a girl"). Before I knew it Ferdinand and I jumped in his truck again. We cruised up to the Cloud Bridge reserve, and parked the truck. From that point on, there is no motorized vehicles allowed. We started our two kilometer hike into the reserve. We had a fan club following us, John and Jill from the hostel Casa Mariposa, the care takers of Cloud Bridge, and a couple other folks all came up to watch. As always it took a while to get cameras and safety in place. Then Ferdinand gave me the thumbs up, the Katy Perry song came back to the front of my head, I did a little happy dance, and new I was ready.

Caterate Casuela might be the most complicated big drop I have ever ran. It starts with a small slot on river left, that leads you  across the creek to a 8 foot drop. At the base of the 8 footer is a huge curler that explodes off the right wall. That curler drops another 15 feet into a cauldron, the cauldron is about 10 feet wide and rotates back under the curler at a proximately a hundred miles an hour. Then, the water falls off a beautiful 40 footer into a shallow pool. I am amazed I wanted to run such a messy drop, but as I have traveled and gotten better, I have fallen in love with "roller coaster" drops. The more dynamic the rapid the greater the reward for me. The idea of dropping 8 feet bouncing off a wall another 15 into a cauldron and then running a 40 footer all in the mater of 2 seconds was too much of a draw, I had to fire it up.

I hopped in my boat, checked my life jacket, helmet, spray skirt, did my supper quick stretch routine, and gave Ferdinand a loud whistle blast. A couple seconds later I heard Ferdinand whistle back, (safety and cameras were ready). I looked down at the shaft of my custom Blunt Family Paddle, and right there in the middle are the words "FIRE IT UP!!!". I gave the paddle a quick nod as to agree. I paddled back to the middle of the pool, rolled my neck, shrugged my shoulders, and started humming the song again. Out loud I reminded my self to just float over the first drop. I paddled to the slot with a nice right hand angle, and as I came through the slot I picked up a ton of speed. I was flying toward the first 8 footer, leaned forward and rolled over the first drop. A nano second later I got a quick left sweep stroke and the nose of the boat up on the curler. I followed it with a quick right stroke and was blinded by the spray of the curler, about then I felt gravity kick in. I got my left paddle blade ready for a brace and before I knew it I cleared the curler and was a foot away from the lip of the 40 footer. I didn't even get a chance for a stoke off the 40 footer, I did push my weight forward and cleared my paddle to one side. A half of a second of free fall and I entered the landing zone. I glanced off a rock about 9 feet under the surface and paddled away from the drop with a huge smile.

Chris Baer, about to hit the curler, Caterate Casuela

Chris Baer, reemerging from the curler, Caterate Casuela

Chris Baer getting the nose down, Caterate Casuela

I took a couple minutes to shout in celebration and a couple more to reflect on the scale and difficulty of the drop...

looking back up at the hardest drop of my life

dumbfounded that it went so well

Soon enough I gain composure and headed down stream. The next drop looked very marginal, I charged for a small rock flake and got pushed off early. I dropped 10 feet and glanced off another rock. The following drop looked absolutely horrible and Ferdinand and I both walked. Putting back on the river, I paddled another 15 feet to the next horizon line and saw another very marginal drop. The river in this section drops about 1000 fpm and was looking very unrunable.

Just another rapid on the upper upper Chirripo Pacifico

Ferdinand and I had a quick pow wow, and decided to abandon the project. All said and done this is one of the hardest hike and hucks I have ever seen, and I am absolutely stoked to have gotten the first descent of this amazing drop.

First descents of Ceibo Canyon and Rio Canas, Costa Rica from Chris Baer on Vimeo.

Three days and three first descents, not a bad mid week.

Chris Baer