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ERIK BOOMER SWAPS FIRST DOWNS FOR AN ARCTIC FIRST GO AROUND
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KELSEY THOMPSON PHOTO: RYAN CREARY
THE 12 HARDEST RUNS IN THE NORTHEAST
Erik Boomer is not a sea kayaker or Arctic explorer. But for three months this summer he’ll be paddling and trudging through the slushy waters, shifting pack ice and roaming polar bears surrounding Ellesmere Island. The unfamiliarity and challenge are part of
BOAUT RREPGAIRES YROYU CAN DO AT HOME p.30
SPLASTIC
the appeal for Boomer, a 26-year-old pho- tographer based in Hood River, Oregon. “I’m looking forward to spending 100 days in that environment,” he says. Boomer is one of today’s top whitewater
kayakers, with a reputation for tackling hard rivers in
remote places—including, count
‘em, six descents of the Grand Canyon of the Stikine—and making daring first descents on waterfall missions with the likes of Tyler Bradt and Rush Sturges. After years of river exploration, Boomer and good friend Bradt found themselves talking more and more about pushing their limits in “something not related to hucking off a huge waterfall.” “I’m really proud of what we’ve done in
whitewater, pushing the limits there,” says Boomer. “We wanted to raise the bar in other areas to that same level, pushing into differ- ent kinds of excitement and challenges.” When Bradt mentioned an expedition with
veteran sea kayaker Jon Turk to attempt a first-ever, 2,400-kilometer circumnavigation of Ellesmere, Boomer jumped at the op- portunity. “The sheer distance of what we’re going to be walking and paddling is a little overwhelming,” he admits, adding that the complete isolation and self-reliance are what draw him to this expedition.
22 RAPID EARLY SUMMER 2011 So far the greatest challenge, Boomer
says, has been the complexity of the plan- ning. “I guess we’ve gotten kind of lacka- daisical with whitewater [trips]—we can just decide where we’re going, and go.” He spent the winter and spring jet setting to Baffin Island for Arctic travel training, and then to Iqaluit, Nunavut, to organize food drops. Despite living out of a whitewater kayak
for up to two weeks at a stretch, Boomer is humble about his sea kayak tripping experi- ence. “I haven’t done a lot of traditional sea kayaking, but I’ve taken a sea kayak down [Idaho’s class III] Main Salmon River—a 100- mile section in one day.” Unconventional but no doubt effective crossover training. The expedition’s greatest hurdle may al-
ready have been surmounted. Just six weeks before the trio’s early May departure date— in a sadly ironic twist of fate—Bradt broke his back when his kayak landed flat off Oregon’s 101-foot Abiqua Falls. Although expected to be 100 percent, his recovery will take at least 12 weeks. After much deliberation, a sobered Turk and Boomer decided to move forward without Bradt. “This feeling of a new challenge, this slight-
ly nervous anticipation,” Boomer told Rapid before the accident, “it’s the same feeling I have when I’m about to run a waterfall, but this is going to be sustained for a long time.” —Virginia Marshall Boomer and Turk depart for Ellesmere the first week of May. Follow their progress at www.rapid-
mag.com and
www.jonturk.net/content/blog.
STANDINGWAVES
Boom Boom survives Quebec’s +100-foot
Chutes de Magnan. PHOTO: BEN MARR
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