Whitewater Freestyle

After flying into Santiago via Copa Airlines (and getting our boats rejected even before we got to the counter), Bryan Kirk and I sought shelter at La Casa Roja, a hostel about twenty minutes from the airport. If you ever fly into Santiago and need a place to stay, check out La Casa Roja. A tip: try to reserve your bed via their website before you arrive to guarantee you get one. They fill up fast.

Over the next two days, we searched for how to rent a truck in Santiago. After a bit of trial and error, and knowing that we were going to rent the truck for roughly 35 days, we new that a good price to pay was anywhere from $40-$55.

I have to say thanks to La Casa Roja for helping us negotiate prices with rental car companies. We found it challenging to communicate at the first rental agency we tried (which was actually right across the street from the hostel); afterward, Mario–an bi-lingual employee of the hostel–called around to a few places and found us a truck to rent for $50 per day at Alameda Rent-a-car which resides on the main drag of Santiago (commonly referred to as “Alameda”). Big props to all those guys for going the extra mile.

Having a truck in Pucon means freedom to kayak. Well worth the dollars spent.

The following morning, we set off for the rental car company, threw down a lot of hard earned cash, and proceeded to drive the 9 hours south to the creeking wonderland known as Pucon.

This is main street. Gotta love the view

After a couple of days in Pucon, we were joined by our good Argentine friends Matais, Federico, and Chachi. I insisted that they run the Nevados since it was, at that time, getting on the low side. Here are a few photos from that endeavor.

Chachi enters the slide.

Matias poised and in position on the slide

The very next rapid is wall falls. Our group unanimously decided that the Nevados is the best run around Pucon. Stacked with quality drop after quality drop!

Chachi sticking wall falls. Not a good one to boof.

The crux drop of this run is called the T-Dub crack drop. Officially first descented by the LVM boys (I believe). You boof over this log, put your paddle in-line with your boat to pass through the notch, then pull an extremely late right boof stroke. Check it:

Adam Bixby on the Crack Drop. The water was lower than sin in this photo!

Adam Bixby exits with a good line

Bryan Kirk on the Crack Drop from Below

The two photos above and below were from different days with more water than seen here with Matias and crew.

Looking up at Dulce Amor: Sweet Love

The Nevados ends with one of the sickest boofs in the world: a drop called Dulce Amor meaning sweet love in Spanish. It is about a 15 foot left-turning boof into a pool. After that, it has a stout hole to boof and a another chunky rapid before the takeout just above the Demshitz drop. What a great run!

More photos can be found on my Picasa Web Album. Stay tuned for more updates from this recent trip.

Cheers,

-Adam Johnson