Collection of Photos and Posts from the Baker River
Hey Folks
Here’s another of my buddy Matze, running a little drop on the Baker River, in Patagonia, Chile. The Baker River is absolutely awesome, 4 or 5 of the biggest Class 5 rapids anywhere. It’s huge water. I was fortunate that some of my friends were nice enough to get out of bed early one morning and come run the Baker in nice light. Matze took this crazy line after doing some scouting – it wasn’t his smoothest line, but he made it OK.
Kayaking the Baker is a tough haul. it’s a full on mission just to get there. Our trip took us almost 20 hours of solid travel from Futaleufu, which is already several days drive from Santiago. We had a 20 hour bus ride, 11 people in a little 17 seater bus (17 people for the first 5 hours), 7 kayaks cam-strapped on to the roof of the bus, thermarests and sleeping pads used to protect the roof, as we didn’t have a roofrack, and countless bags and packs and river gear. And it was SO worth it. The Rio Baker is an absolutely gorgeous river, in a gorgeous part of the world. It’s currently slated for daming, by Endessa, the local power company, and I sincerely hope that never comes to fruition. Seeing a river like this makes one realise just how important it is we develop or redevelop ways of living that allow us to live within the land, and the environment, rather than against it. It’s hard to look at a canyon or a river as beautiful as this and think of it as being lost. I camped by the river, right by these falls, for 2 nights, and it feels so alive, so organic and sensorial – I really get the impression that to dam a river like this is to kill it, in a very real sense. It’s a terrible thing, and I sincerely hope it doesn’t come to pass. You can read more about this on the International Rivers Network website. Also, visit Futa Friends and read some information there on the whole issue.
I need to get some rest. I’ll be back tomorrow, with a few more whitewater kayaking photos from the Futaleufu and Baker Rivers, in Patagonia, Chile. More whitewater kayaking photos.
More Whitewater Kayaking, Baker River, Chile
Hey Folks,
Here’s another from my recent trip to the Rio Baker, or Baker River, in Patagonia, Chile. In this photo, Santiago Ibanez is running the very first rapid on the river, a relatively small drop from a calm pool into a tumbling turbuent pool. Santiago ran the drop several times during our trip, and this was probably his sweetest line. He paddled back over to me after the drop with a huge smile, and said how good it felt. I was grinning from ear to ear myself, because I’d already viewed this photo, and was just as happy aas he was. I showed him the image on the LCD on the back of my camera and he loved it. I knew I had a nice chance of catching a little rainbow in the frame, and the line he took put him right in the middle of it. Thanks for a great photo, Santiago.
Photographing whitewater kayakers is tons of fun. Just being that close to such action is an adrenalin rush in itself. On this trip I was extra lucky; I had a great bunch of paddlers to work with, and they were as excited as I was to be there, and they were very willing to co-operate with the photographer (for a change!). I knew Santiago from the summer, working on the Futaleufu river, and as we hadn’t worked together a whole lot it was nice to hang out with him on this trip to the Baker river, and get to shoot him kayaking. Santiago also bought his playboat, a Wave Sport Zero Gravity, and everyone had a great time in that boat on a surf wave at the take out. I’ll post a photo of him surfing on that wave in the next day or so.
Kayaking on whitewater in a river like the Baker is only for solid Class 5 boaters, with plenty of big water experience. The Baker is definitely some of the biggest whitewater anywhere, and not to be taken lightly. This river runs anywhere from 30 000 cfs to 50 000 cfs, and even higher at times. If you’re interested in a trip to the Baker, be careful. More whitewater kayaking photos.
Kayaker Running the first rapid on the Baker River
Simpler times indeed. Last year at this time I was in the Andes Mountains with some good friends, on a trip to the Rio Baker, or Baker River, Patagonia, Chile.
A series of insane Class 5 and 6 rapids make this one of the biggest whitewater kayaking runs in the world. This is the first of the 4 rapids, a cool drop over a waterfall. This kayaker is my friend from Futaleufu, Chilean native Memo, who’s real name is Guillermo – we just called him Memo.
It was his first time on a river this size, and he paddled it with aplomb. I’m hoping to get back down to Chile maybe next winter and revisit some old friends and places. We’ll see if that happens.
Below is the second rapid on the Baker river.
Surfing the Baker River, Patagonia, Chile
I just got an email from this fella, whom I met and hung with in Chile this last winter (their summer). We went down to the Baker River together, along with a bunch of crazy folks, and all had a good time. We were there for 4 days, but the trip took another 2 days travel time. It was quite a mission.
I hadn’t heard from Tim since he hit the road outta Futa, and I was wondering what he’d been up to. His email prompted my memory of this shot and I thought I’d post it for you.
After running the 3 main sections of the Baker, there was this massive play wave near the take-out. I was set up to shoot some action when Tim went for this cheesiest of cheesy move. I loved it! Classic! I was kinda hoping he’d lose his paddle and flip, then take a swim just for being such a cheeseball, but, alas, it wasn’t to be. His boat wasn’t the best for play moves, but some of the other guys did jump in a little ZG playboat, bought along specifically for this wave, and got to rockin’ and rollin’.
Tim’s heading over to Europe this summer for a huge sea kayaking adventure – I can’t remember where. I hope he remembers this moment, and pulls another classic rail grab, in honor of his days on the Rio Baker.
On a more serious note, the Rio Baker, or Baker River, is about to be damned by Endessa, a Spanish power company in Chile. It’s a horrible, horrible thing, to see such incredible places as the Baker River canyon destroyed like this. You can learn more about it online, or for those whose Espanol isn’t so hot, look over some of these links:
Aguas Libres
Forest Ethics
Free Flowing Rivers
Take Action
Definitely read up about it, and hopefully we can halt some, if not all, of these dams from going ahead.
And a big G’day to my mate Tim.
