Whitewater kayaking doesn't get much more homegrown than the Demshitz. In this episode I sit down with one of the Demshitz founding fathers Dave Fusilli who proves that you can run the shit and not take yourself too seriously. Find out how Dave fulfilled his dream of living in a van down by the river and more. If you just crawled out from a hole and this is the first time you've heard of the Demshitz, the internet is teeming with great old school Demshitz videos. I didn't bring up most of these largely because the stories are already out there. Here are a few to get you started: Demshitz Yul ..read more

Jessie Stone, a kayaker with a doctoring problem, joins me to talk about some of the adventures that she's stumbled into by following her impulse to go kayaking wherever it may take her. From getting lost in the jungle following Eric Jackson, to founding Soft Power Health and finding a lifelong career in Uganda, this episode is bound to make you want to grab your kayak and see where it takes you. 0:00              Introduction 6:30              Finding whitewater 18:50           Learning to kay ..read more

In this episode we explore the world with Benny Clark. Benny kayaks to find peace and Benny kayaks to survive. We explore how Benny's mental health history and kayaking history have become intricately linked. And how Benny has found ways to give back both to the kayaking community and to a community struggling with their own mental health issues. 0:00               Introduction 7:05               Life in Ecuador 12:30            Growing up in Canada 26:50        &n ..read more

Who is Brad Higginbotham: Stunt man? Mad man? Lover? Naturalist? Cover boy? Educator? Family man? Find out that and more in this episode of Tales from the Cripps with Whitewater of the Southern Rockies cover boy Brad Higginbotham. 0:00            Introduction 9:00            If I could just get off of that L.A. freeway 30:24         Rediscovering kayaking and more 43:00         Living in Washington state 1:03:33     Climbing back from rock bottom 1:11:00    ..read more

As David Olson put it, when running the Jarbidge Bruneau section, a series of remote canyons in southern Idaho, "we always thought, ... what would happen out here, if we had an incident..." Well, David and his two companions decided to put that question to the test when they missed a critical portage eddy and dropped into the largest rapid on the run completely blind. Timeline 0:00               A misadventure on the Jarbidge Bruneau 1:55:44        Jon Hindman: bonus stories, joint replacements, and more Today's episode's sponsors ..read more

In late June through early July Orin and Rowan Gartner made their first descent down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in kayaks. At age 10, Rowan tied Bodie Hilleke's record for the youngest known kayaking descent down the Grand Canyon. Orwin, at age 14, also made an impressively young descent. The flow for the trip was around 20,000 cfs, considered a high flow for the run. Join me for a quick interview with the boys a week after they got off their trip to hear about the experience from their perspective. To read more about the trip, check out this article in the Durango ..read more

This bonus episode is a companion piece to episode 14 with Abe Herrera. When Abe described his experience with a rescue on the Foss River, he noted that a Canadian crew had a pin on the same log, but their river rescue took almost 2 hours. Well, I searched far and wide and tracked down a couple of the Canucks who were involved in the rescue, and they're here to tell their story. This story from 2014 was written up from two perspectives on my guest Adam's blog. It's an interesting read. Today's episode's sponsors: 4Corners Riversports 4Corners Riversports is located in Durango, Colorado. Th ..read more

In this episode, Tales from the Cripps goes tubing with Rolf Kelly. But you're going to have to leave your foam cooler of beer at home for this tubing trip because when you're hanging out with Rolf, there's no such thing as taking it easy. If you've ever wondered how to prepare to tube a 100 ft waterfall in 10 years or less, you're going to want to tune into this one.  Check out Metlako Falls in a tube as well some other beauties on Rolf's vimeo channel. See Eric Boomer's report from Metlako Falls on the old The Range Life blog. Timeline 0:00            &n ..read more

Alex Nicks may be one of the best kayakers you never heard of. His self-induced kayak affliction has taken him around the globe finding some of the best whitewater on the planet. In this episode he shares some of those unique experiences ranging from his time on the Zambezi river during a transformative time in kayak history, to exploring the arid mountains in the Middle East. 0:00     Introduction 5:30     Sandals vs. flip flops 9:40     Contracting the kayaking disease 12:10   Zambezi days 23:30   I tried 24:10   Murchison Falls 31 ..read more

What do you do when you find yourself experiencing your 4th near death whitewater kayaking experience, before you've even reached your 20th birthday? For some, the answer is quit. But for Gareth Fryer, the answer is, get smarter. Gareth has spent much of his paddling career learning from hard lessons and close calls. He's done his best to perfect the art of being in the right place at the right time with the right gear and the right skills. That practice has paid off in form of saving multiple lives on the river. In this episode, Gareth shares some jaw dropping stories of paddling around New ..read more