Last fall Raoul and I decided to take a 5 day creeking course through Calgary Aquabatics . It was part vacation and part improving upon our skills. Once we had an idea of when it would work bet best for water and group size we set out on finding a crew to paddle with. We had a couple of pre req’s for paddlers on the trip. Comfortable class 3 paddler, a swift water rescue course unde their belt and fun guys to paddle with. We wanted a max group size of 6 so the river wasnt to crowded. In the end 5 of us ended up travelling down for the course.
Simon came and picked us up at the airport, we headed by his shop for last minute gear pickup and then we we were off to Sundance Lodge which would be our base camp for the week. Sundance lodge is also really close ( ~10 minutes) to the Kananaskis River. We stayed in wall tents with kerosene heat and they were actually pretty plush. We could dry our gear every night and there was enough room for 3 people to sleep comfortably. Meals were prepared for us by Sean so we had didnt have to worry about cooking breakfasts or anything like that. Our Main instructor for the course was Tim, with Travis and Simon coming out on different days to help out. All 3 instructors were really good at explaining the concepts of what they were trying to teach and were fun to hang around with.
When we arrived we got settled in to our camp and then we were off for a fun run down the Kananaskis River. I cannot say how much fun this river is and I wish we had something comparable up here. You can run the whole river in probably 15 minutes if you just went down the middle but it has so many features packed together (and a slalom course) that you can easily stretch it out for a couple of hours. This river is an awesome teaching river and they are very lucky to have it.
The start of the course began on ……. flatwater. We spent 3-4 hours going over power strokes and power sweep techniques as well as edging and timing. This was very beneficial as we would be drilling these techniques over and over ( and over) again throughout the next 5 days. In the afternoon we went to the Kananaskis River to apply what we learned on the river.
On the river we practiced the concept of getting off the freight train using cross current speed to slow our down river speed, giving us more time to react to upcoming features. We also practiced passing through eddies instead of eddying out, ferrying out and using bow turns to scope out down river features and boofing drops and waves.
On the second day we travelled to the Highwood River and kept on practicing what we learned the day before. We also practiced river signals and running the river as team with one person scouting and giving directions to the people that were following. There was also some good boofing practice spots that you could easily walk back up to and try again.
On the 3rd day we paddled Cataract creek which was a little bit of a step up from the kanaskis. This river had a lot of fun class II-III sections with a waterfall called Zig Zag that we never ran ( but we did learn how to make a hasty webbing harness so we could get down the cliff and back to water level). Another waterfall that most of us ran and a section called cataract ( i think) that none of us ran. We just kept on drilling those skills.
On the fourth day the group decided to go back to the Kan and work on the skill set in easier waters ( practice on easy rivers so its natural on harder rivers)and discussed what gear you should have in your boats for paddling trips. I readjusted some items that I carry from this conversation. In the evening we went to the hotsprings at Banff.
On the Fifth day we were back to Cataract Creek where the trip felt a little less “coursey” and we just had a really good paddle. Reminders were still given on technique and we never did run Zig zag or Cataract but it was a really good time. Everybody ran the waterfall after ZigZag though. The first time I ran the waterfall I wiffed my boof stroke ( information overload at the lip of the drop) so i just pencilled in to the foam pile. I remember thinking I was definitely deep underwater, then I felt my lifejacket pop up to my armpits so I knew I was and then I emerged from the water still upright! pretty cool but not what I wanted to do so i walked up and hit it again. This time I caught my boof and everything was good.
On the last day we had a quick run on the Kan in the morning but this time our Guide, Tim and Cook, Sean got to come with us as they werent working. So it was justa fun paddle where he didn’t have to have his guide hat on. It was fun watching him rip up the holes in his boat . We then had to pack up and head back to calgary so we could hop on our flight home.
Overall this was a very good course and I would definitely reccomend it to anyone. The staff at Aquabatics are super friendly and know their stuff. If you are just starting out it is a really good idea to learn the techniques properly and if you were self taught ( like me) you will definitely learn/improve on the techniques you already know. I definitely came away with better technique and confidence from this course/vacation.
