S T A N D I N G W A V E S
“Hey bureaucrat, get a load of this one.” PHOTO RICK MATTHEWS
Lemmings
with a CAUSE >>
ANNUAL OHIOPYLE FALLS EVENT IS A HUCK FEST FOR FREEDOM
SINCE THE INAUGURAL American White- water-sponsored Ohiopyle Run the Falls Race in November of 1999, some 10,000 descents of the Pennsylvania state park’s main attraction have taken place without a hitch, yet the falls remains off limits the rest of the year. Ohiopyle Falls is on one of the most popular eastern U.S. whitewater stretch- es, marking the uppermost reaches of the Lower Yough. Averaging about 200 people per year, they usually all anxiously mill upstream as a salivating pack when the competition is on. At its peak, Ohiopyle Falls competitors
flip, cartwheel or simply drop themselves over the edge to impress the judges, at least one per minute, sometimes as often as one every 10 seconds. It’s an event veiled by competition, fea-
turing a freestyle, upstream race and over- the-falls portion, ironically, to showcase people using the waterway safely. Lead organizer Barry Adams said paddlers from intermediate to expert and from their early teens to more than 60 years old have taken the plunge in support of the ultimate effort to open Ohiopyle Falls year-round. In the late ‘90s proposals by AW to the
Pennsylvania Department of Conserva- tion and Natural Resources to open the falls outright were not met favourably. However, day-use permits for the compe-
tition were issued after several revisions and compromises. In 2006, after seven years of light-
hearted competition, organizers took a new step forward, earning the right for additional days of use throughout the summer leading up to the autumn race. Although bad weather hampered their success, this past year Adams saw to the creation of two additional days’ worth of waterfall running clinics in the hopes this would further swing the opening argu- ment to AW’s side. “Our main goal is to open up the falls
permanently,” says Adams. “Similar falls are being run elsewhere and generally speaking, very few falls are restricted. But nobody in the government agencies wants to come forward and say ‘let them run it,’ because then their butts are on the line.” The falls freestyle and over-the-falls por-
tion of the one-day event are being used as solid evidence for a case to open Ohio- pyle. Many of the participants aren’t there to compete at all, but to get their shot at running the falls as many times as they can within their one-day window. For your shot at running the falls, and
to dethrone Dave Fusilli of Strattanville, Pennsylvania, the two-time winner of the Jeff Snyder Cup for landing the best wa- terfall tricks, this year’s event is scheduled for August 25. —Neil Etienne
15
RAPID
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52