The Callaghan river is about 14km out of Whistler, one of the most touristic/busiest towns I’m BC. Whistler is the ski mecca in the winter and for downhill and mountain bike in the summer, however there are many other things to do in this mountain village.
The Callaghan flows from early season to mid summer which combined with the proximity to town, the easy shuttle and the amazing waterfalls and white water it has to offer makes it the local run. The run is about 4km, including a 15ft and a 20ft waterfall and many good and technical rapids. The water is clean and has an awesome turquoise blue look.
Another great run in the area is the Upper Cheakamus, a class IV non stop run with a nice waterfall at the put in and many boulder gardens all the way to the take out, pretty sick! Last weekend was pretty busy in town with the 4th annual Callaghan Race, a race started four years ago to help gain awareness on the Callaghan as it’s currently under direct threat for hydro development.
Due a warm previous week we had pretty good water levels on the Cheak and Callaghan and a good number of motivated boaters from all over the place ready to race and have fun! A time trial took place on Friday evening on the Upper Cheak and a team race on the Callaghan on Saturday afternoon to round it off! After a solid day at work I had a good run down the Cheakamus and managed to come 1st followed by Darren Albright who was going to be my partner for the team race on the Callaghan.
After a couple rafting runs on Saturday morning at work the race started in the afternoon with 25 teams and 52 racers, the biggest numbers the event has seen so far! Team after team we al enjoyed the amazing whitewater of the Callaghan from top to bottom while trying t go as fast as possible! We had a good start but didn’t managed to stay together all the time what made us a bit slower than we could. Anyway we had a good run and managed to win the race which was good! Stoked after that we all headed to the cabin for the after party! Thanks Sandy! Overall a great weekend of kayaking in BC paddling two of the best classics around Whistler.
Thanks to Steve Arns for putting this together organizing the event and taking measures to fight back the threats about damming the Callaghan.
Check out https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheCallaghan and learn more about it, you can help!
Thanks to Darren Albright for racing with me and to everyone who volunteered doing timing, results, safety, shooting video, etc It was a great weekend, wish the levels were still good right now!!
You can also check www.liquidlore.com/callaghan for results and more info about the Callaghan race and a lot of beta from many rivers in BC and Canada.
http://www.liquidlore.blogspot.ca/2013/07/whistler-race-weekend-results.html
Photos by Jordan Bastin and some more… (sorry!)