Southeast Steep Creeking in Chile... Rio Nevado! 

If you refer to yourself as a creek boater and haven’t heard about this river there is something wrong with you. It’s a little piece of Southeastern steep creeking tucked into the quintessential kayak destination of Pucon Chile. Multiple 20 footers, a bed rock slide, and enough mank to keep Mark Taylor and Aeon Russo smiling.

Aeon Russo taking flight

Aeon Russo probing the right side of wall drop

Nevado from Chris Baer on Vimeo.

Mark Taylor falling into? Crack drop!

Aeon Russo, Dulce Amor

Aeon Russo in the quintessential Chilean gorge

Casey Tango is the BOSS!!!

Tango sliding into the freezing waters of Minnesota

Perched inches away from a 15 foot seal launch that leads directly into a 70 foot waterfall, Casey leans forward putting his skirt on and says, "So my girlfriend just broke up with me via email, this is how I deal with my emotions, like a BOSS."

Dirty Jersey

Tattoos, dark shades, and a flat brim hat

Casey Tango, also known as Dos Litros for his love of cheap Chilean wine, hails from Dirty Jersey, the arm pit of the East Coast. Tango is stereotypical Jersey. He is covered in tattoos, wears a flat brimmed hat, shaved head, big mirrored sunglasses, curses like a sailor, and wants what he wants right now. The perk of traveling with some one who looks like they may have just gotten out of jail is that we never had to worry about security. I think some of the possible thieves eyed our posse not as a target, but as a threat. What more could you ask for from a traveling partner?

Dos Litros, enjoying Chilean wine

Jersey blood is what fuels the Boss, and what drives him to constantly be on the go. His pace is full steam ahead. Ten minutes after waking up Tango is ready to charge. A dozen cups of yerba mate later and he is bouncing off the walls. He turns into the proverbial over-caffeinated ADD crack baby. Dealing with a spastic 29-year-old child is never easy. Loading boats or paddling downstream he keeps a mind-blowing pace. I could barely get my camera out of its Pelican case before Casey charged off the next horizon line.

Traveling, and Destroying kayaks

Warning this video has very unacceptable lyrics, Tango is the Boss.

Warning this video has very unacceptable lyrics, Tango is the Boss. 

Kayaks are usually cumbersome and exceedingly expensive to travel with. Stepping out of customs Tango was boastful about his kayak getting on the plane for free. Pointing at his recently trimmed mustache he said, "The baggage lady dug the stash." I had an equally ugly new mustache and it cost me $175 to get my "wave ski" on the plane. Irony made its self more than apparent only a few days later. During our first day paddling in Chile Casey's boat began to sink. He had opened up a twelve inch gash directly under his seat. The impending sinking feeling only increased his pace as he charged into the unknown on the Vientedos Saltos section of the Rio Claro.

Portage?

Casey must be scared of the jungle because he sure wasn't walking around any rapids on this trip. Handing me his paddle one day, he asked, "Can you take this to the bottom for me?" He then strapped on his hand paddles and charged into The Portage on the Rio Palguine. Realizing his skill level, Tango was excited to test it on the nastiest looking drops in Chile.

Tango spicing up the Upper Youghiogheny

Whether finding the best bread in town, getting another tire patched, or bargaining for horses, Tango's Spanish never let us down. Attempting to gain access to the Salto Nilahue, Tango had a remarkably detailed and compassionate conversation with a local Mapuche woman about religion and beliefs. His more then ample Spanish saved us piles of cash and countless hours.

Tango staring down Pine Tree Falls in CO

On the river Tango has transformed his Jersey pace into a positive. He is an aggressive paddler who always has his head on a swivel. I can't think of anyone more willing to put themselves on the line in a true rescue situation.

Casey hates being cooped up

Casey Tango is a BOSS.

Story and photos by Chris Baer

Merry Huckmas from the Rios Palguin, Puesco, and Maichin

Casey Tango showing off the beauty of the Rio Palguin

Palguin

Twenty minutes out of Pucon you come across the Rio Palguin, its attributes are stunning. The crystal clear water cascades down steep gradient that manages to pool up at appropriate places and plunge off of clean waterfalls the rest of the time. Two years ago I celebrated Christmas by trying to paddle as much of the Rio Palguin as I could in a day. This year I tried to step up and run even more, it didn't work...

Christmas morning the group started coming together, and early that afternoon I put on the Rio Palguin with eight friends. To paddle the entire river takes skill, guts, and a bit of luck. Our group of nine was about to test the limits of all of these attributes. The run starts with the very optional Salto Palguin, an 80 foot waterfall with a super tricky entrance. The entire group, and most mortals, start below this impressive Salto. The normal run starts with a busy lead-in rapid that drops into a sticky hole immediately backed up by a rolling eight foot ledge. Next is a fast paced hallway that hangs a tight ninety degree turn and falls off of a twelve foot ledge. The ledge has multiple rock flakes to launch off of at it's lip and one big hole to land in at its base. The third rapid is a super clean twenty foot falls. The twenty footer has an island in the middle, whichever way you pick, right or left, it offers similarly clean lines. Beyond the third falls the run transitions into boulder gardens for a bit.

Approaching the next horizon line is the first exit point out of the canyon, and on your right there is a well beaten trail. The horizon line is a twelve footer referred to as the Crack Drop. There are two islands separating the water into three different cracks. The left and middle cracks are paddle-able, but have a very marginal risk to reward level. The other exit point is just downstream on river left. This exit is exceedingly hard to spot from the water, and a guide is suggested for your first run. It would be very easy to miss the take out and accidently paddle into The Portage.

It's Christmas day and I am standing above The Portage, I'm feeling good and I have watched a handful of my friends paddle into it. Their lines all look very similar. Paddle to the edge of an eight foot crease and fall into the trough. Then they disappear under a rock that your standing on and reappear fifteen feet downstream. I have yet to see anyone in control as they reappear and immediately fall another twenty feet into the hydraulic below. This is the kind of rapid I have a tendency to laugh at and walk around. The risk to reward in my head just doesn't calculate.

Looking towards Casey Tango I giggle and said, "For the past four years I have been doing foolish things for Christmas."
Tango smiles. He says, "You have been doing foolish things your whole life."
That sealed the deal. I was going to borrow Casey's plastic hand paddles and doggy paddle my kayak into the rapid known as The Portage... I was thinking this isn't foolish, this is plain stupid, as I was trying to put the hand paddles on.

Hand paddling in moving current is something I have never done before. Sure I have played around in a heated indoor pool, but never ever tried to go downstream with them. The only reason I was contemplating the hand paddles is that the entrance move is rather easy, and once you fall off the entrance you are simply out of control. It doesn't matter if you have a paddle or not in there. There is absolutely nothing productive that you are going to do in that violent melee of swirling water under a rock. The fact is that a fair amount of people break their paddle, or worse, the paddle breaks them. The hand paddles seem to eliminate some of these variables.

Clutching the hand paddles in my teeth and sliding into the kayak my smile started to grow. I was doing something way outside of my comfort zone. The hand paddles were adjusted and slipped over my fingers, again my smile widened. Pushing away from the eddy I got the first feel of the moving current on my new means of propulsion. A couple strokes later and I eyed up my target. One last big push and the water engulfed me. I felt the immense power of the entire river landing on my shoulders. Then the chaos started, and I was flipping over. I expected the rapid to be violent and chaotic, I knew I was going to roll at least once. What I didn't expect was the next blow. My shoulder felt a sharp stab. All of my body weight, and most of the river's power slammed my shoulder into a rock. There was a fair amount of pain but the ride wasn't over. I felt my boat start to resurface and gave my wrists and hips a good flick. An eternity passed as I went cart-wheeling backwards off the twenty foot ledge. The impact at the base of the falls was rather unimpressive compared to the beating I had taken above. A few moments and thirty some odd feet below I snapped my hips and hands one more time and was sitting upright. I slowly hand paddled over to the edge of the eddy. My paddling companions with cameras and smiles on there faces awaited me.

"Sorry guys, my Christmas is over."

The throbbing in my shoulder was starting and I was concerned that I had done legitimate damage to it. The hike out of the canyon was by myself. I pondered what I had done in the last year to piss Santa off so much. Coal for Christmas was starting to sound good compared to the beating I just received.

The rest of the group continued downstream, minds set on a Merry Huckmas. A little boogie water and there is a mini canyon that has a tendency to acquire wood. After the mini canyon is another ominously named rapid, Boof to Swim. It is a twenty foot curler that comes off  the right wall and lands in a pocket hole. Depending on flows this rapid can be fun, or a guaranteed swim.

Josh Oberleas ditching his paddle on the Medio Palguin

The big one, Medio Palguin, is up next. This rapid has more video, stills, and write-ups then any other in Chile. It is a spectacular seventy foot falls that consistently gives paddlers the big waterfall taste they are looking for.

Gordon Klco peering over the lip of Medio Palguin

From Medio down the run tames a bit. There is one more suggested portage around Brennan's, a tight mini canyon that leads into a deadly undercut room. The take out is a few kilometers downstream at a well traveled bridge.

Puesco

The Puesco is the best kayaking I have done in years. The tallest drop is under six feet and there is a good eddy every couple hundred yards. Rio Puesco is all about kayaking, there are no stunts, no portages, and the photos look bland. I have been referring to it as Chile's North Fork of the Payette. Heads up kayaking at it's finest for kilometer after kilometer.

Maichin

Casey Tango paddling into another beautiful canyon on the Rio Maichin

Beautiful is the first word that comes to mind when describing the Maichin. The river passes through a handful of gorgeous moss covered canyons. The overall class of the run is 3+ with fun boulder gardens and multiple channels. There are two rapids of note, the first one is early into the run and easily scoutable from river left. It is a multi-tiered drop that lands in a blasting hole, the downside to the rapid is that both walls are severely undercut. The other rapid of note is towards the end of the run, you can scout and or portage river right.

Casey Tango boofing the "hard" rapid on the Rio Maichin

Story and photos by Chris Baer

Nevado

Casey Tango putting down the landing gear at the Crack drop.

Another day in paradise... the Rio Nevado just out side the town of Pucon, Chile is an absolute gem. 

The doomsicle getting chopped up, to help weld Casey's boat.

Before we could paddle the Nevado, it was time to fix Casey's boat. The twelve inch crack was getting bigger by the day. We found a donor boat at Dave Hughes's Pucon Kayak Hostel. Oddly enough the donor boat was previously owned by two of my friends. Casey fired up the chain saw and we went into repair mode. An hour later Casey's boat was looking good and it was time to go kayaking.

Gordon Klco flying through the Crack drop.

This year Pucon is dealing with rather low water. I feel lucky that Casey Tango, Gordon Klco and I were able to catch a good water level on our run of this amazing creek.

Gordon Klco getting his nose down at Dulce Amor.

The Nevado might be one of the best, and most well rounded creeks I have ever gotten the chance to paddle. The rock is extremely polished granite covered in slick green moss, the water is crystal clear, there is a fun slide with a rowdy step-up jump in the middle of it, and three different twenty foot drops!

Casey Tango looking for the auto boof.

The day was going super smooth. Casey's boat floated. All of us had fun lines on the big drops until... The second to the last drop. I gave Gordon some horrible Chilean-style beta, and he tried his best to follow my verbal directions over a dry, two foot tall rock. Gordon fell off of the back of the rock and into the hole. He did an amazing stern pirouette and then landed on his head. The right wall denied his first roll attempt and he started washing down stream. Next, a well placed branch slipped between Gordon and his paddle. The fight was on. A couple more unsuccessful roll attempts  and an undercut rock sealed the deal. Gordon jumped out of his boat and was quickly swept into the next sieve pile of a rapid. Which happens to be the only ugly rapid on the entire section. To my amazement, only seconds later, Gordon was able to scramble on top of a rock in the middle of the junky rapid. The clean up went well, except for Gordon's missing paddle, and we were all excited to see the first booty beer of the trip get consumed. Two days later on our next trip down the Rio Nevado, his paddle reemerged just feet away from the swim location.

Photo and write up by Chris Baer

Florian, road trip part 1

Paddling with the kids,
The adventure continues, one group leaves another shows up, the group dynamics change again. Some for the better some for the worse, but always entertaining. My latest adventure to the Florian and Gol Gol was with a extremely young group of paddlers. The group consisted of Kyle Hull age 20, Jake Greenbaum age 21, Steven Forester age 18, and my self Chirs Baer at age 31. With a big age and experience difference you know there is going to be some major differences in group dynamics. With as much deference as there was, we have in common something much more important, we are all good paddlers, and we were going to tackle some great rivers.

We rented another truck this time from Rodrigo Tuschner, (Rodrigo is the active partner and face of Kayak Pucon). The fact that we just rented a kayak vehicle made me a little nervous (kayakers aren't known for there meticulous vehicles). My suspicious about the vehicle were confirmed immediately when the rest of the team brought the truck over to the coffee house. The first things the crew said was that Rodrigo said "don't be going over 90k, and check the oil, don't ruin my shit".

So the journey began all four of us pilled in the truck and rallied at 90 kph for, four hours. We stopped for gas and the truck didn't start after we filled it. So, we simply push started the truck again and were on our way. Once we got to the Florian, I strategically parked the truck so we could easily roll start it down a good sized hill.

Once at the Florian we started our hike in, crossed the bridge and put on. This time on the Florian the gauge was reading 45 cm. This is 10 cm less water then last time we where at the Florian. Immediately I knew that the 50 footer was going to kick a little more, and the double drop might be runnable. We headed into the canyon and ran the first fun drop, everyone had smooth lines.


Jake in the first rapid


Steven boofing through the first rapid

Then as we were headed through some in-between class 4+ Kyle got pinned, pinned bad. His whole boat was under water, I was only feet away but unable to help. I had immediate thoughts of bad accidents I had been around before, but Kyle was wasting no time. Kyle was fighting hard, pushing off of rocks squirming around, and plan old "giviner hell". Quickly the water surged the boat shifted and the water was curtaining right over Kyle's head. It was at this point Kyle finally decided to get out of his boat. Kyle was very calm and precise about his movements. He got his knees up, and in one motion stood up in his cockpit and jumped into the pool below. A few minutes later Kyle was able to reach into the drop and unpin his boat. Once again we were on our way.


Kyle and his nasty pin rapid

The next drop is the double drop that we portaged the last time I was in the canyon. This time it was looking a little less scary and one by one we decided to hire it up. There was a myriad of lines from Jake's far left, to my far right, Kyle's underwater, and Steven's over rotating. Everyone was treated to a different experience, and everyone was ex-static to run a truly difficult rapid.


Jake slipping into the mealy


Kyle boofing the 20 ft exit drop


Steven over rotating off the bottom 20

Next rapid up is a fun 20 ft slide everyone just bombed down and that brought us to the 50 footer. Like I had said in a previous article, this 50 footer is not clean. There are flakes of rock the whole way down the drop looking to grab your boat, and flip, tip, or just slam you around. The group was solid, everyone came over the lip and road the drop "proud" (sitting tall in your boat and anticipating, the unexpected).
Riding proud gives you the best chance of correcting what ever those flakes in the drop decide to do to you, this time. Everyone dealt with thee bounces and had relatively smooth lines with low impacts at the bottom. From the base of the 50 footer it is just another couple hundred feet to the take out.


Kyle at the lip of the 50 footer


Steven in the depths riding proud

The take out trail SUCKS, it is at a 70 degree pitch, is all loose mud and rock, and covered in bamboo shoots that get tangled in every thing. Once on top of the ridge we tried a different technique to get back to the truck. We hiked river right up a old road to the bridge we put in on, across the bridge and back down to the truck. This route is definitely the better option. With this less brutal hiking option, my overall rating of this run has now been greatly improved. So if you are looking for a park and hike and stout hucking and then a decent hike back this is actually a damn good run.

Please remember there are hot-springs at the put in, they cost a little money and be nice to the land owner, the access here could easily be taken away.

p.s.
After the Florian the truck started and we went to another park and huck. The water was too high and we tried to leave, this time the truck didn't start. We tried push starting it, and we tried again, and again, and we had pushed the car the better part of a mile. During this process I popped the hood and found one of the positive leads had come loose, with trusty multi tool and gorilla tape in hand I got the lead jimmied back on. The truck still didn't start. Finally a guy gave us a hand by towing the truck, and after two minutes with the clutch out if finally fired up.


Our truck broken down in the middle of the road

We where on our way again, this time to the Gol Gol, as we drove it got late, and started raining. We were approaching the Gol Gol, at two in the morning, and it became apparently clear we needed sleep. I started starring out the window and then I saw it, a little covered bus stop with just enough room for two of us to sleep under. We slept in the stinky wet and slug infested bus stop, for a few hours and then headed to the Gol Gol. When we arrived at the Gol Gol, we were tired, hungry, and putting on soaking wet gear. We were about to have a great day.

Chris Baer hungry, homeless and happy in Chile.

2010

2010, well there is still no flying cars, but there is some pretty insane kayaking happening down here in Chile.


The new rental rig loaded down, if they only knew

The new year has brought us a lot of rain and that means levels jumped up again and I was able to get on a couple runs that just don't run this late in the year.

The Desahue came back up, and we were able to get some laps on it.


Chris Baer running the bottom drop right


AJ on one of the countless drops


Bryan Kirk routing the left side


AJ boofing the lead in drop

The Turbio needs a lot of moisture to run and with all of the rain it snapped up into a runnable level for two days. Bryan Kirk, AJ, and I (Chris Baer) managed to catch this little gem at a great level. The Turbio has an interesting river characteristic, the rock is really sharp and manky but the ledges are really clean. This in turn means every good drop is backed up by a lot of junk rock, No rolling and you have to really boof everything.


The Turbio park and huck location, the flowers are amazing


the obligatory Wave Sport shot


Bryan Kirk on the top slide


AJ hitting his boof after the first slide


AJ sending another backed up ledge


AJ in the midst of the mank


Kirk.... maybe over boofing?

The Rio Nevado also came back in with the rain, the Nevado is hands down my favorite run in the Pucon area. You start out with a fun slide, a blind 15 footer, a crack drop into a hall way, a hard ferry over a couple sticky holes, a quick portage, and it all ends with a great wall boof and two tricky junk rapids. That is just too much good stuff for a mile and a half run


Bryan Kirk on the put in slide


Brayn with a beautiful line on wall drop

So I have been in Pucon for about a month and I was wanting to catch a new run, so we ( Bryan Kirk, AJ, Isaac Levinson, Jared Seiler, and I ) all hoped in the little rental truck and took off for a road trip. We arrived at the Florian relatively late in the day, got suited up and hiked to the put in. Jared was our "guide" and when he saw the water level his first remarks where "well that will make the big one softer", it was high the gauge under the put in bridge was reading 55 cm. This did not stop us, we put on and cranked out a couple upper rapids


Bryan on one of the top drops

Next up was a nasty looking rapid, this rapid had a 10 foot spout that looked like it was guarantied to back ender you. The landing zone of the spout is a crack with more water from the right wall falling on you, and all of this is supper boily. To top off the drop there is a 15 footer that mainly lands on rock. We all walked river left up into the jungle got lost, tangled in veins, and eventually made it back to the water level.


the nasty rapid

Back on the water we were greeted with a fun slide and then the 50 footer.


Isaac on the slide above the 50 footer

The 50 footer is not clean, you ferry all the way across the lip break a lateral and try to keep just a tiny amount of momentum towards the right. If you don't carry the momentum or the lateral turns you, you go half way down reconnect in the drop and end up boofing a 50 footer. If you drive too far right you hit the wall get flipped and, well lets not talk about flipping. The whole team had good lines a couple of us caught some of the reconnect but everyone dealt with it well.


Isaac in the middle of the 50 footer


Bryan Kirk styling his line


The posy at the bottom of the 50 footer

The river continues after this into a couple ugly rapids that are usually portaged, so we decided to get out of the river at this time as the light was quickly fading. We got out on river right, and scrambled up an almost vertical slick as shit trail. Once at the top we meandered threw a couple beautiful fields and eventually returned to the river way down stream.


taking a break on the edge of one of the fields


Jared hiking into the sun

Once at the river we ferried across and then hiked threw another field. Jumped some more barbed wire fences and found the road. Jared hiked back up grabbed the truck and we all sat down and had a beer right there in the road, everyone was exhausted from our adventure. Moral of the story the Florian is a great run if you are looking for a park and hike, and portage, and huck, and hike, and hike, and ferry, and hike. All joking aside I would definitely run the Florian again, maybe next year.


Checking out a rainbow on the way home

Chris Baer signing off, back in Pucon