These monsters are Slave-sized servings of pounding recirculating holes.
Dunno...you gonna run it? Dunno..you gnna run it? Dunno.
Can you tell me how to get, How to get to ...
I’m a star, I’m a star, I’m a star...I’m a big, bright shining star!
These are the rapids that should have been named Pelican. A large colony of the birds breed on the islands in the middle of the
rapid.These islands are a wildlife sanc- tuary and must be
avoided.The area is even a no-fly zone because helicopters were dis- turbing the pelicans. One of the possible routes through Mountain takes us to Molly’s Nipple, a mes- merizing drop that, at the ideal water level, forms a rounded, gently curved ramp into a large, horseshoe-shaped recirculation. The silty water rippling over the underlying sculpted rock takes on the texture of hot butterscotch toffee. For the wild at heart, Fury and the Edge
are super-sized servings of pounding recir- culating
holes.These monsters will consent to the biggest of aerial maneuvers and dole out the largest of thrashings. Various big- name American kayakers have swum out of the Edge.
The intermediate run on this section usu-
ally begins with Turnpike, followed by Avalanche, and finishes with Playground, a really exciting and challenging day for a first big-water run. Playground, which can be accessed directly by the takeout, is as good as it gets for beginner rodeo
stars.Next to a sandy-beached bay lies an outcropping of rocks, creating a fabulous BBQ site and a great rodeo hole conspicuously named Spanky.
Rapids of the Drowned: Pay your respects Last before Fort Smith are Rapids of the
Drowned. Here, the Fort Smith paddling club hosted the 1994 Canadian Whitewater Slalom
Championships.The racecourse was erected around a channel between three or four connected islands. Spectators were shuttled by motorboat to the islands where kayakers raced through gates between the large granite outcroppings.
The rapids are seldom visited by kayakers due to the lengthy paddle out to the playing features. But it’s worth driving to the take- out, to spend an afternoon on the rocks, watching the pelicans feed and looking for black bears foraging on berry bushes along the bank. Or, to truly appreciate these rapids, take a walk at sunset to the lookout directly across from the graveyard.Here, the sepulchral mood is often enhanced by the dark blackened eyes and curiously tilted heads of the ravens perched upon the wooden crosses of the buried rivermen who came before.
SHAWN GRONO has kayaked rivers in New Zealand, Chile, Ecuador, the U.S. and Canada and made the first descent of Molly’s Nipple on the Slave. He is an Alberta Whitewater Association Kayaking and River Rescue Instructor and maker of whitewater adventure films including the docu- mentary Slave to the River.
2002 winter 29
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