Meg took a short clip of me running the first drop which was a big tongue of water into waves crashing from both sides. Scouting it from shore and even paddling up to it, it didn't seem too bad. Just hit it down the middle right? Well once I was dropping down into it I realized how massive it really was!
That first drop was by far the hardest part of the run (I actually went back and ran it again it was so much fun). Most of the rest was big wave trains and avoiding a few scattered holes which Martin did an excellent job of guiding us around. The water was so high there were small pine trees underwater in the eddies. The run took all of 10 minutes since the water was moving so fast (usually 30-45 minutes I think?). The next morning we asked what the flow level was and they were releasing at 342 cumecs (cubic meters/sec). Normally they do 100-120 cumecs for scheduled kayak releases.
Today we're off to explore Mt. Cook. We won't be climbing it but we'll be in the park at its base. It is in the background of the picture below.
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Wow! Jason, I'll have to admit to a small anxiety attack as I watched the video of you going down into that water. Even though I understood you must still be alive to be writing the blog, it was a scary few seconds. Beautiful picture of the mountain! We miss you.
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MomO
I have a practical question? Did you purchase a camping stove over there? Or are you cooking totally on wood? I am wondering because if I want to take my camping stuff on a plane I wonder about the cooking facilities? My mom and I were going to camp in Florida all last week but the 20 degree wind chills at night and in the morning made that impossible. It was a huge disappointment so we are now looking at buying a little camper trailer.
ReplyDeleteWe brought our stove (Whisperlite International) with us in our checked luggage. We didn't bring a fuel bottle because we'd heard that those can sometimes get rejected even if they are "clean". We bought one here but it was really expensive (~$45) so maybe it would be worth trying to bring a bottle along. We may try washing this one out really well, airing it for a few days, and then disguising it somehow (wrapping it in tape or ?). My uncle has a story of filling a new bottle with M&Ms and saying it was just for holding candy!
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