Pikes Peak Whitewater Club News


New Reservoirs for Colorado's Front Range In response to the ever-increasing demand for water in Colorado, water managers are moving forward with projects aimed at developing new water supplies for Denver and the Front Range. Several of the proposed projects involve billion-dollar schemes to move water across the continental divide, from the Upper Colorado River Basin to the S. Platte basin. (click here to read more)
Eric Jackson holds Stokes & Concepts Clinic to support American Whitewater, June 2007 On Sunday June 10th, American Whitewater (AW) members of the Pikes Peak Whitewater Club joined Eric Jackson and his Team Jackson for a stokes & concepts playboating clinic at the Pueblo Whitewater Play Park. Joining us were the AW members of the Pueblo Paddlers, and a couple of other friends who also belong to AW. It started with EJ showing a few flat water drills to the 25+ paddlers. After twenty minutes or so he looked downstream, then told us the only way he was going to do a clinic like this was if he got a chance to play, and play he did. See the clinic photos here...
John Grace & Tommy Hilleke lead Creeking Clinic, May 2007 Tommy and John, as new members to PPWC, lead a creeking clinic in May. They discussed the proper gear, safety, and communication skills required to run harder creeks. PPWC worked on these skills through the Fractions portion of the Ark, simulating harder moves with low class III consequences. At Frog Rock rapid, we discussed the proper way to set safety, which John decided to test us on by swimming the rapid. That caught us by surprise, but we did manage to safely rescue him. However, PPWC members gave him a hard time for paddling that day without float bags in his boat. Everyone enjoyed the clinic. See photos here...
LVM Premiere at Southside Johnny's, May 2007 On Thursday May 24, 2007, PPWC had another in a series of LVM Premieres. As usual, it was at South Side Johnny's on South Tejon here in Colorado Springs. This one was presented by John Grace, Producer and paddler from LVM (Lunch Video Magazine). Issue #22 didn't disappoint, it was filled with mind boggling drops and beautiful shots of mountains and rivers. Also attending was Woody Callaway owner of Liquid Logic Kayaks. The Jefe is a popular kayak with creek boaters. Evan Stafford and Kyle McCutchen, co-authors of “Whitewater of the Southern Rockies,” were also in attendance giving everyone a chance to look at their new book. We all got to check out "The New Testament" of river guidebooks. Quite simply, this is the only book that is going to be acceptable to the Colorado paddling scene. The new guidebook more than delivers, it covers rivers in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming. At more than 600 pages, it is more than twice the size of CRC2. Evan and Kyle thanked Dave Bumgarner for his contributions to the book. He can be seen in several photos, one of which is The Black Canyon of the Gunnison. So, plan on some vacation time, and run some rivers you never read about, until now. Click here to see some pages from “Whitewater of the Southern Rockies.”
PPWC Holds Several Successful Beginner Trips PPWC held their annual Beginner Trips for 2007. There are usually four trips scheduled in May, and a few more in June. These trips help beginners to get started moving pool skills to the river. Beginner Trips were held on the Greenway Nature Run, Lower Parkdale, Upper Parkdale, Paddlefest, Deckers, and at FIBArk. Flows were high again this year, making beginner trips more challenging than usual. All the beginners stepped it up, and worked hard to stay upright and on their lines. Check out photos on the Photo Gallery webpage.
American Whitewater, CKS, & PPWC team up at Paddlefest It is time for PPWC to help with the American Whitewater Weekend at Paddle Fest. Nathan Fay from American Whitewater plans on having a booth at Paddle Fest. In addition, CKS will provide volunteers who sell event tickets or beer at the booth, access to the event the evening that they volunteer. So, if you help Friday, you get into the movie for free, and for Saturday, the dance for free, etc… Please contact Lynn Allen at lallen71@yahoo.com to sign-up and volunteer to sell beer or tcikets. Proceeds go to AW. Read more on The Boof Lounge...
Please Read: AHRA: End of Year Report for 2006 Please take some time to read the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area - Year End Report for 2006. It covers several important issues facing private boaters and kaykers. The Ark is the most popular boating destination for our club. One item of note is private boater use has gone down slightly from 2005 (-2.53%). Private boaters stayed around the same 10% use, as compared to 90% commercial use (a ratio of 282,381 commercial, to 29,385 private boater use).
Mike Brown AW Volunteer of the month, April 2007 Last year out of about 100 Pikes Peak Whitewater Club members, 43 were members of AW, thanks to the efforts of Mike Brown. Mike was also instrumental in identifying a need for an AW river stewardship staff position in Colorado. Fast forward about 8 months and now the Colorado Stewardship initiative heads up the list of AW's top 10 River Stewardship issues for 2007 and the river stewardship position was filled in March with Nathan Fey.
PPWC holds "Kids Class - Intro to Kayaking", March 2007 PPWC held its first "Intro to Kayaking" Class for kids this year. Katy Fitzgerald and Jim Sprouffske, both ACA instructors, introduced the kids to the fun sport of whitewater kayaking. The kids learned wet exits, paddle stokes, and some rolling techniques. At the end of the pool session, proud parents watched as their kids engaged in fast paced games used to develop the new boating skills. Earl Richmond of CKS and Lyle Phetteplace of Renaissance Adventure Guides provided several demo Jackson Kayak Fun1 to try out in the pool. More kids events are expected this summer.
Paddlefest 2007 Buena Vista, CO May 18-20, 2007 Paddlefest 2007 Pikes Peak Whitewater Club will be joining CKS, RMOC, professional kayakers, and businesses in the industry, to celebrate the “Kick Off” to the Arkansas River Paddling season! Paddlefest 2007 will include educational seminars promoting safety on the river, environmental awareness and river health, river conservation, kayak competitions, boating antics and entertainment.
American Whitewater & PPWC Pro Clinics, Summer 2007 To benefit American Whitewater and our PPWC AW members, for the second year, we are fortunate to have some of the best paddlers in the world willing to provide a series of clinics for PPWC members who are current members of American Whitewater. Don't be left out of this outstanding opportunity to develop or enhance your skills with some of the best paddlers in the world and just have fun.
PPWC sponsors Fundraiser for Katie Hilleke, November 2006 On November 14, 2006, PPWC sponsored a special event to benefit Katie Hilleke. Many of you have met and spent some river time this year with Katie's brother Tommy Hilleke, and if you missed his clinic this year, you'll have another chance to boat with him, because he is doing another for us next year in 2007. Those of you who know Tommy realize what a special person he is. Read more on how PPWC memebers came together to help support the Hilleke family in a very difficult time.
Third LVM Premier held September 2006 On September 14, 2006 Pikes Peak Whitewater Club held our third successful LVM premiere. Thanks to all who came out. We had more than 50 people hear Andre and Jed tell some Daniel stories from the days of the Riot bus, and see the LVM 20th anniversary issue rough cut. Based on our track record with 3 successful LVM premieres, we will plan to have premieres twice a year. Our group can expect to get a first look at the next LVM before it is ready for distribution.
Past Events from 2006 Paddle Fest 2006, Buena Vista, CO Pro Paddler Clinics 2006 for PPWC and AW
Misc Articles & Newsletters Past Club Newsletters PPWC Videos page Paddling Basics Safety Pages