Each Spring the entire paddlesports industry (or at least it feels like it anyway) descends on the small town of Old Forge, New York for a weekend full of all things paddling. The event is Mountain Man Outdoor Supply Company’s Adirondack Paddlefest. Myself and fellow Team Pyranha paddler Tony Gianfagna held down the fort for Pyranha at the event. We got people psyched on the new Burn, and answered every question under the sun about whitewater paddling. On Saturday afternoon Tony and I teamed up to teach a very well attended rolling clinic for paddlefest participants. We showed different types of rolls, got some cheers with hand rolls, and then someone asked the question, “what do you do if you can’t roll up?” I lost the rock paper scissor decision had to demonstrate the wet exit. We had a lot of fun with the folks who were watching. There were certainly a few new whitewater paddlers in the crowd.
Friday of Paddlefest was almost a total “wash” due to the torrents of rain falling from the sky. We got up really early on Saturday morning to see beautiful blue skies and the gauges on Tug Hill Plateau sky high. We rushed out the door, loaded up the truck, and we were in the water before 8:00 AM. Our good friend Eric Adsit provided us the necessary local knowledge to make a run of the seldom paddled “BrokeBack Gorge” (yes that is what it’s really called). This unique gorge is a shale/limestone crack in the middle of dairy farms as far as the eye can see. It is a dreamy steep-walled canyon smack in the middle of farmland. It is a bizarre geological anomaly that makes for some really fun paddling. We made a quick run of the multiple small drops and slides all the down to the super committing 35-footer that signifies the end of the gorge. It was an unbelievable way to start the day.
Supporting Pyranha and Mountain Man Outdoor Supply Company at this year’s Paddelfest was probably the most fun yet. It is always a good time getting to hang out with paddlers from other parts of the industry, getting people psyched on Pyranha, and getting to do some awesome paddling at the same time.