Thursday, December 27, 2007

Closing Out 2007 with some new TRL Video!

2007 has without a doubt been the best year of kayaking I have ever had! From the filming of Pacific Horizons, to the IR Vacation to Hell in Peru, to the never ending Tatlow Season, to rolling 15 deep via helicopter into the Clendinning... 2007 will be hard to forget. Here are a couple new shorts to close out 2007!

New Video #1... MATT MADDALONI FREE SOLOING YOUNG BLOOD

Some of the biggest adventures in 2007 came when partnering up with Matt Maddaloni. After successfully rigging the aerial zipline on the Ashlu last fall, we went for round two on Britannia Creek in the early summer. Finally the tide turned towards Matt in the late Fall when the rivers started to dry up and Todd and I found ourselves helping Matt with his own aerial project at the base of the Chief in Squamish. If you managed to miss the link in the 49 Megawatts post to Todd's Slideshow of this impressive day make sure you check it out. Working with a climber of this caliber has been so inspiring. You gotta check this VIDEO of Matt free soloing Young Blood...a 5.13a. Damn I wish I could climb like that.

Matt on Young Blood

photo by Steve Rogers


New Video #2... THE COMMERCIAL STRETCH OF THE APURIMAC PERU

Once we had re-discovered civalization after hiking out of the Huallaga in Peru, Pierro convinced us to head to Cusco. We were rewarded with the opportunity to join Pierro and Marc Goddard from Bio Bio Expeditions on the commercial stretch of the Apurimac. The rafts hauled our gear, we ate like kings (except Todd who was puking his brains out), and we had plenty of time to start getting nervous about the Absymo section which we would paddle into after leaving the rafts at the take-out. The commercial stretch was three days of great whitewater in an ancient granite canyon. Here is the VIDEO that I edited for Bio Bio to help showcase their Peru trips.

Taking in the Scenery

photo by Todd Gillman

Stay tuned for the full story coming on the Abysmo section. This was one of the hardest sections of whitewater I have ever paddled. The details will be unfolding over the next couple weeks!

Happy New Year!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

NIIIIIIICE!!! Seriosly ridiculous. Did he ever finish the route?

Viva TRL!!!

Robert Payne said...

Nice vid of the Apurimac and Bio Bio. I did the Cotahuasi with them back in 2002. Bio Bio rocks!

Anonymous said...

Hey when is TRL coming back????

Anonymous said...

Hey...TRL..what the deuce?! It's a month to the day! I need some content here since the buzz took our pics away! ;)

Todd Gillman said...

It's been cold here. Nothing's really been running lately, and the snow's been, umm, EPIC since Dec. So we've been shredding the frozen rad. Once it starts to warm up, things are going to get loose. So just zen out for a minute longer & we'll have something for you to chew on before too long.