Northwest Paddling » Sam Drevo Photography

World Record Waterfall Descent

Sam Drevo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:07:14 +0000

I think this whole thing is a little silly, and very dangerous, but none the less, the limits were pushed a little further in Whitewater Sport for new heights in successful waterfalls run in a kayak. Tyler Bradt ran Palouse Falls in April- which was a 198 foot waterfall- but they are calling it 187. Regardless it was a breathtaking descent and I had front row seats having rappelled off the ledge to run safety and snap a few photos. Here is an article about it in the Oregonian.

http://www.oregonlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2009/05/portland_kayaker_witnesses_pal.html

You can also check out some still photogaphy and a flash video at www.kayakwaterfalls.com

It was published in the first week of May Sports Illustrated, and in the June/July issue of National Geographic Adventure Magazine.

East Tibet Whitewater Trip

Sam Drevo — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 20:20:48 +0000

There are only 2 slots left. Call to sign up for this one. It is going to be an experience of a lifetime with some of the best guides in the world. Call 503.887.5033 and talk to Sam or email- sam@eNRGkayaking.com- Its coming up quick, and tickets to Lhasa from the west coast are about $1600 right now. Click here for the full itinerary

Rivers of East Tibet

Tibet has long been a place of great mystery and intrigue. World famous for high mountain ranges, this vast plateau is also the source of water for 25% of the world’s population. As the waters that feed the world make their journey from sources high in the remote sub-ranges of the Himalaya, they present whitewater opportunities to great to be ignored!!

Come join us on this rare chance to experience some of these incredible rivers as the flow off the Eatern edge of the plateau. Because of the logistical and political challenges of paddling in Tibet, very few groups have boated here before. Trip leaders Willie Kern and Jed Weingarten have unsurpassed experience and knowledge of the rivers in this remote area, making this a truly unique opportunity to paddle in this beautiful region.

April 19

Arrive in Chengdu. Flights to Chengdu are available from every major city in China, as well as from Bangkok.

April 20

Fly from Chengdu to Lhasa. You will be picked up by our vehicle at the Gonggar airport, about an hour outside of Lhasa. A scenic drive will take you to the Dekang hotel in the old Tibetan quarter of town. The hotel is centrally located to the Jokhang and Barkhor, allowing you to truly experience the spiritual side of Lhasa. We will spend the afternoon sightseeing and people-watching around the city.

April 21

Today we continue our acclimatization process while visiting some of Lhasa’s most famous landmarks. The Potala Palace will be on the schedule, as will whichever of the big monasteries (Sera, Drepung) we are allowed to visit. We will also take a walk through the Jokhang, the most important monastery in all of Tibet.

April 22

We will gather up our kayaks and after some outfitting, we’ll head out to the west of Lhasa following the main highway towards Xigaze. About an hour and a half out of town we will arrive at the Nyemo gorge section of the Yarlung Tsangpo, where we’ll get our first taste of Tibetan whitewater on Tibet’s largest, most famous river. Don’t worry, this gorge is nothing like the fabled gorges lower down on the Yarlung. We will return to Lhasa for the night after boating.

April 23

Leaving Lhasa, we’ll head east, crossing the 5200m (17,056 ft) Serkhym La. Dropping down off of the pass, we’ll begin to follow along the crystal blue waters of the Gyamda Chu. We will run at least one section of this river before camping along side of it.

April 24

Continuing on our way east, we will drive through the towns of Bayi and Nyingchi before going over the Senchen La, another high pass. If the weather is clear, we will enjoy spectacular views of the two mountains that sit on either side of the infamous Tsanpo Gorge, Namche Barwa and Gyala Peri. Coming down from the pass, we will end up following the Rong Chu river. We will stop and run a section here, before heading up the Tong Chu to camp.

April 25-May 6

We will spend this time cruising around E. Tibet paddling different sections of the Parlung Tsangpo and it’s tributaries. We aren’t doing a day by day itinerary here because we want to leave this very flexible as to accommodate for water levels, group paddling level, and the group mood. We will take at least one day off of paddling to explore an amazing area of glaciers, lakes, and alpine peaks and valleys. We will visit Rawu lake, the headwaters of the Parlung Tsangpo, as well as a couple of monasteries and shrines in the region. Rivers we paddle, depending again on water levels and group dynamics, will include the Parlung Tsangpo, the Po Tsangpo, the Yigong Tsangpo, the Jepu Tsangpo, the Sumzom Chu, the Drugla Chu and the Druk Chu. We may run some of these sections twice.

May 7

This day will consist mainly of driving back to Lhasa, but we may have the opportunity to stop and run a quick section on the way. Arriving back in Lhasa, we’ll go for a big group dinner before retiring to the Dekang hotel.

May 8

This day will be left for you to explore Lhasa on your own, do any shopping you want to, and visit any sights you want to see that we may have missed before leaving Lhasa. After a relaxing day in this most amazing of cities, we will have our final dinner and party.

May 9

Fly in the morning from Lhasa to Chengdu and on to connecting flights.

What to Bring

We will be paddling class 3-4 whitewater. You will need to bring your own personal paddling equipment. The nature of the rivers is generally continuous, the water is very cold, and the elevations are quite high, so we are requiring that everyone wear a drysuit on the river for safety. Please also be sure to bring sturdy footwear to wear in your boat. We have a variety of boats available for rent, get in touch with us for a list of models.

We will be camping with our vehicles, drivers, and cook at night. In addition to providing your personal tents, we provide 2 large group tents, one for cooking, and one for hanging out and eating.

Weather in this extremely mountainous area is widely varying and changes fast. Daytime temperatures could range from 35-75, and we will most likely see at least some rain. Nights are quite cold, so a warm sleeping bag and puffy jacket are nice!

We will have some foam mats available, however, if you have a therm-a-rest type of mat that you enjoy sleeping on, go ahead and bring it.

We will be at high altitudes for the duration of this trip, which means that we will need to take precautions to avoid altitude sickness. We recommend that you see your doctor before this trip, and discuss this with her. She may wish to prescribe Acetozolamide (Diamox), which is unavailable in Tibet.

River Surfing!!!

Sam Drevo — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 19:49:33 +0000

Stand up and River surfing are super fun. On the river, the wave never dissipates!!! This is a picture of Carrington barrs paddling into Colorado Wave on the Lower Deschutes River in Oregon. Carrington and Gabe are awesome surfers with lots of experience in Mexico, and Indo- but I think this was there first time surfing a standing river wave. This was on the second day of the lower Deschutes river wilderness trip.

kayak polo

Sam Drevo — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 05:30:29 +0000

The winter time is a great time to hit the indoor pool and play some kayak polo. This image is from the league out in Hood River. It is incredibly competitive, and quite fun. We are looking to start a league here in Portland.

Outlet Falls Washington

Sam Drevo — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:59:44 +0000

Here are a few shots of the boyz from the bottom. This was one of the most runnable 70 footers I’ve ever seen.

Kayakers at the bottom give some perspective to the height of the drop.

Outlet Falls from the lip!

Sam Drevo — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:45:11 +0000

Here are some more pics of Outlit Falls in Washington… From the LIP- POV!!!

Here is a shot of yours truly sweatin bullets shooting the video shot from the lip. This nice perch required rapping off a 20 foot cliff to the sloping ledge with 3-4 feet of snow on it… Pretty exhilerating. Almost as good as running it in a kayak.

Outlet Falls Waterfall, Full-On-Action!

Sam Drevo — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:39:52 +0000

This adventure transpired last Friday when the river levels we high yet receeding. The level was perfect for Outlet Falls in Yakima WA. This 69 foot waterfall had icicles everywhere, and the young guns of OR were ready for some action. Eric Boomer, and LJ Grot were all smiles.

I was asked to shoot video at the lip of this monster for Gearbox HD, and it seemed like a paperazzi event with Nate and Heather Herbeck on the scout/beta and filming mission, Richard Hallman on stills with Jed Weingarten, and Charley Munsey hanging off the cliff in different areas, Ryan Scott was there shooting, and Ben Stokesberry and crew showed up just at the right time.

This is a shot from the bottom of Ben Stokesberry. I snuck down there after I got the shot from the edge. I had to rappel down to the lip.

It was a snowy day, but this shot of LJ Groth really adds perspective for the enormity off the place. Way to go boys. Can you believe this is only 1.5 hours from Portland. My hometown never ceases to amaze me.

If you are interested in learning to creek boat- check out www.NorthwestRiverGuides.com or call 503.772.1122

Costa Rica 2008!!!

Sam Drevo — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 01:42:13 +0000

Well, I am back from Pura Vidaville yet one more time, and Costa Rica in December has never been sweeter! The palm tree and pelican paradise was as tropical as ever. Though the waves were pretty small this year, I did get to visit the Surf and Body Boarding National Championships sponsored by Red Bull, and I was able to watch Rambo from Team Aventuras H20 kick some serious butt!

It was quite a scene at Jaco Beach in Costa Rica for the Surf Nationals.

The whitewater was great this year too. Here are a few highlights. Starting with the guide training trip down Chorro on the Naranjo River. This was a classic, humbling river trip. It started with a group safety talk, at the top.

Shortly downstream we stuffed a rafted into an undercut called cyclops. Everyone was fin and swam to shore, but we spent several hours trying to free the raft.

We actually used a raft bridge to get on the top of that rock on the left. It was a pretty wild maneuver bridging a gap above a shoot with a raft- then climbing up the raft and onto the rock. The next move we made almost resulted in a second raft getting stuck…

Arturo had this idea, and miraculously kept this boat from getting swallowed. This next shot is Arturo and JB trying to get the pinned raft free.

We never got the boat out that day, but as the river came down it came out by itself- once mother nature decided it was time. We eventually came back to make the first raft descent of the year, but we paddled the Rio Guavo first.

The striations on this rock are beautiful, nd it is amazing that this gorge is within 5 miles of the beach- Dominical, a popular surf break in Costa Rica.

This is just one of the Waterfalls that Jeremy Kingsberry and I paddled past on the Rio Guavo. It is a solid class III river trip with one class IV rapid. After this trip we moved over to the Sevegre drainage and ran the Division River. The put in requires an amazingly beautiful drive on a high ridge over looking the ocean and the foothills of the coastal range.

The Division is one of the cleanest watersheds in Costa Rica. It doesn’t have any agriculture or farming on the upper headwaters. The River is emerald green.

This is Josh Galt (from Facelevel) and Slade Andrews (former NFL strong safety), Ingrid, and Arturo dropping into a big ledge.

We stopped at a waterfall during lunch after the Division confluenced with the Sevegre River. This photo really captured a moment.

Agua’s Blancas is a great rapid that has a mean hole in the middle at the right level.

Here is a different angle of the same rapid with Jerry and Bobby from Earthtrek’s rafting in Coloma CA.

When we got to the bottom of this 15 mile run, we had’t had enough and the sun was not down, so we decided to make a run to do the first raft descent of Chorro on the Rio Naranjo- this was going to be a Tri-Fecta whitewater day running 3 rivers- the Division, Sevegre, and Chorro on the rio naranjo.

We had local expert and safety kayaker Felipe Cervilla hucking wave wheels as we paddled into Chorro.

This is Josh and Slades initiation into Chorro. They were ready for anything including a swim… which happened shortly afterward.

The entrance drop was just a little too narrow for the high water, and flipped the raft. Everyone swam through Chorro rapid, but came out on the otherside with a smile.

The drops keep coming.

It was full whitewater action all the way down.

The day ended on the beach after an epic surf session, and lets just say it was a KAVU day with good people, and good friends.

If you are interested in coming on a trip to Costa Rica in 2009, our scheduled dates are Dec. 5-12, or Dec. 12-18th. Give us a call at 503.772.1122, or check out www.NorthwestRiverGuides.com We have designed this trip to be family friendly, and provides a healthy active vacation while honing paddling skills and enjoying the tropics.

Down The River Cleanup Art Show! Success!

Sam Drevo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:27:15 +0000

I have to share this amazing evening from right before Halloween. Jennifer Riley from hippyads.com took the bull by the horns, and created a artist challenge at the 2008 Down the River Cleanup (DRC). She organized 6 artists to create artwork from the 2008 DRC and then teamed up with the Green Source, and Bright Neighbor to host a party, and art show.

This event was the Thursday before Halloween, and was a blowout success. Almost 90% of all the artwork was sold, and Riley helped raise about $1000 for the River Cleanup Artshow effort. Here are some of the art pieces that these wizards turned from trash to art.

This is the story.

Here is some of the incredible art.

These two are Jen Riley’s pieces.

At my guess I would say there were probably 300-400 people that filtered through during the night.

Here are some of the other Art pieces.

This art is made up of cigarette box tin foil. Pretty ingenious art.

Thanks for everyone that supported this event including hippyads.com, and brightneighbor.com

Clackamas River kayaking

Sam Drevo — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 05:42:43 +0000

Look at this group of kayak students at Riverside Park on the Clackamas River. This is a typical eNRG kayaking trip. Kids are always welcome. It is an all ages affair… Northwest River Guides has been teaching on this stretch for years, and we love it so much because of groups like this. Complete with our Olympic Kayaker from Costa Rica Ferdinand. Oh ya you should check out his Blue Pool Paddles.