Nah, I'd say your run thru lava was fine, nobody fell out, you didn't flip, you probably had fun but had to change your underwear after. No matter what these so-called experts will write, your trip is your trip. Your mistakes are learning opportunities, and your accomplishments are yours to treasure and mull over. So don't let anyone tell you "you shoulda done this or that." My first run thru Crystal back in 1981 myself and one passenger got washed overboard and the woman passenger was left with a raft full of water and herself puzzled, but friends downstream pulled her over and rescued us. I found that in the big waves you go partially over with your life jacket, then you go horizontal thru the very tip of the big wave, so you close your mouth and wait till you get thru then breathe again. And solo I flipped in mile 24 some years later, but afterwards I rearranged my weight and did fine. In 1983 we launched the day after those guys made their dory speed run, they launched at night. And in Fedarko's book Emerald Mile my trip's permit holder is mentioned as "ratting" them out. They were gonna close the river but Dick McCallum argued against it and they let him go, and let us go since we were already there; then they closed the river for a week. That was June 26th when we launched. Almost all the rapids were washed out, covered over by high water so we didn't have to scout often, just stood up as we went into what used to be a rapid. Except the big three of course. And in Crystal I hit the lateral wave far, far, right, made it over, then got pulled back into the right side of the big waves and had a nice wild ride on thru. One of our rafters screwed up and went right down the middle of Crystal but did fine, though I believe he had to hit the groover soon after. So do your own trips and don't pay that much attention to "shoulda-woulda-coulda" munchkins. What it really comes down to is they weren't there, but you were. And you were brave enough to include a video (picture kinda wobbly though). Cheers!
I have had beatiful runs through horn in the past. This time was not as clean - but upright none the less. I did not really like this NRS raft that I was rowing on this trip. It was really long in the front (like it was built for holding a lot of gear up front - not passengers) and waves would hit it and want to spin it. It was not well "balanced". The best raft I have ever rowed through the grand was a Sotar 18.5 gear boat. Very responsive and stable and well balanced.
Overall fairly good, you knew to enter left in Hermit, but then you went too far left in Dubendorff (I've never run anything but right), and too far right at Lava (the run is essentially just right of the ledge hole). Overall decent, but some demerits on specific rapids, as we all get. Thanks for sharing! Every video I see teaches me more.
Thanks for the comments. This was my 9th trip down the Grand. I mostly kayak it and tandem canoe it. As for Dubendoff, I have rowed this rapid 4 times - and the previous 3 runs I always went right and always fought to stay out of the center hole. After that 3rd run, I had the chance to watch a commercial raft trip and they all went left - they never even tried to go right - and it was a clean line. So I went left this time and that was a good line. After the entrance, I should have moved to the right sooner, but no real issues. Our 3rd boat went right - and before we launched, I told him that if he was going right, he had to keep his angle and work hard to stay out of the hole. He still went into the center hole. I like the left line after doing it and just need to improve on it. As for Lava, Yeah, I just screwed the pooch on that one - no excuses. Thanks for the comment - see you on the river.
@@spinshaffer1058 yours was a good run--I also like your entrance in crystal. too far right in lava. in fact, squaring up to the reflex coming off the ledge and hitting it with momentum is a pretty cool move. good job.
It was 4.2 on the gage as we left. It was raining a lot the previous day and night and I expect that the water level was up a lot for the put-in due to rain on snow. It continued to rain for the next day or so, but not as much, and the day we ran double drop and Ladle was sunny. I believe the water dropped as we continued down the river.
@@spinshaffer1058 Thanks for the reply/info. These videos are all great - I am getting very stoked but also diligently watching snowpack/flows. Could be a little spicy!
