The new Liquidlogic Freeride 57 and 67 is finally out and in stock at your local retailer. John O’Neill from Alpine Quest Sports went down to Glenwood with me to test it out and see how it performed on a big flushing wave. At the higher flows of around 25,000 the river left side was definitely getting flushy and you had to really pay attention to not get washed off. Especially for those in smaller more park specific boats it was difficult to get long rides. John and I had planned on trading off and each taking some rides in the new boat but he ended up not wanting to trade me back, he stated the boat was perfect for catching waves on the fly and really easy to make it back to the eddy for more action. I had to wait to try it another day with Shane Benedict when he came to town at a slightly lower flow around 22,000. Click on the video below for some of that slippery wave riding action.

After the PaddleFest weekend we grabbed Ted Keyes, the Liquidlogic rep for the western U.S. and routed a lap down Pine Creek to cool down from our first weekend of Colorado sun. I grabbed a Remix 79 from his truck and we all followed down in close Team LL style. Such a beautiful river and great way to end the weekend of fun.

Another beautiful pic from Brianne:

The crew in close comfort:

Of course, enjoying the sun in Colorado is never too good to be true. Monday morning we woke to 40 degree temperatures that quickly dropped as we climbed up the pass for some training runs on Homestake creek. I was pumped to put some scratches on my brand-new Black Ops Jefe Grande and get a feel for my local run again. Here are some scenes from the high water training laps on Monday morning.

Isaac flying down his first training run of the season:

Mike Dawson, another strong contender about to take his Leap of Faith on the bottom drop. Definitely trickier at the higher flows:

Honza, the Czech representation:

And we finished up just in time for the strong storm to swing in. Snow in the end of May, only in CO:

Here is a quick video clip that Team LL Isaac Levinson put together from one of his training laps. Enjoy:

After heading up for a sweet day at the Boxes Brianne and I went to the next drainage over for an awesome camp site right at the base of Vallecito Creek. It feels good to have everything you need with you at all times in the rig. We had a nice fire to keep warm and are figuring out this camp cooking thing. The cold winter storms that seem to keep coming weekly kept the flows pretty low. I think everyone in the state of CO is ready for some sunny days and warmth to get the rivers going. The gauge in the morning read 1.9ish and that meant the door was just open to drop in. This fall I was told there was a really significant wind event through this area. There was definitely trees strewn all over the place within the gorge. Some seemed well anchored and easy to get around, while others are just waiting for that high water to wash downstream and get in our way. The locals have done a good job of keeping the flow clean but it will be a constant battle this spring to get them out after high waters shift them. We went in the next day at around 2ft and pulled a log out that moved during the night, below fuzzy bunny. So; be careful out there and keep an eye out for wood.

Brianne hiked in and got some great shots from the rim of the gorge and I put together a GoPro edit. I switched up the style a bit since I shot footage from Vallecito last year in my Driven project. Check it out, it’s less than 2 minutes long. Tell me what you think of it.

Here is local Reece Hanson dropping into entrance falls.

Cruise Quenelle in the long boat.

And me in the run out of Trashcan.

Here are some interviews and quick clips I got from race day. Don’t worry it’s not 45 people going off Gorilla over and over. Enjoy.

Green Race 2010 from ross herr on Vimeo.

More scenes from the Green. Interviews with Woody, Tommy Hillike, and Cory Volt. Some green house timelapses and more shots from race day. Enjoy.

www.kayakingRoss.com