On April 2nd 2019, Myself, Knox Hammock and a crew of friends set out to Eastern Washington to run Palouse Falls. It was an absolutely surreal day that I still can't believe happened.
I remember the dread, and the "what the fuck am I doing here" feelings I had paddling up to the lip of my first 20 footer. This drop right here is over 8 times higher, and you know for a fact that even if everything goes 100% according to plan, you're still going to be sustaining various unavoidable injuries from the massive impact with the water at the bottom. The amount of courage it must have taken to paddle up to that, and not frantically abort at 3:09 when he first made it past the horizon line and saw how far the landing was below him is utterly incomprehensible to me. I cannot believe there are people out there who are capable of managing their fear and anxiety while paddling stuff of this caliber...
There are some things that are best left to guys with bigger sets of brass than the average kayaker, Palouse falls is definitely one of them. Mad respect!
wow. I've hiked there many times and cannot imagine someone kayaking over the falls. My mind is blown. Congrats you two! I'm glad you made it without injury.
There are times when I've been photographing kayakers where I want to be in the water with them, and then there are times where I am happy to be on the sidelines. I think I'd gladly photograph someone going down that waterfall
I've been waiting years for the full edit with title, ha! I remember when i heard about this happening locally and have seen snippets over the years. Thanks for sharing this, James!
I think my heart stopped I was so terrified looking at that thing. Took a few minutes off of my life. How do you fit your balls into that kayak? That was sweet, but here's my challenge to you. Go back in time about 15,000 years and run it during the Glacial Lake Missoula flood. I've heard estimates that the flow was something like 386 million CFS. Supposedly it would have taken the lake several days to drain so you could do several laps. The water would have been traveling at about 65 mph, and the water would have been choked with ice, rocks as big as a bus, and whole trees, just to add a little sportiness to the run. Also, when are you going to run Niagara? That really was impressive. All kinds of respect from here. Thanks also for videoing it. That was really something!
I know Tyler Bradt and Raffa Ortiz did it before, but I didn't realize anyone else had. Is Tyler still the only one to stay in his boat and not swim?@@jamesshimizu6522
At 3:17 you let go of your paddle and just rested your hands in front of you on the cockpit. Weren't you afraid that free paddle was going to hurt you somewhere in your descent? So you had to roll when you hit the bottom, right? and you did it without a paddle, or were you the one ejected and swimming?
Obviously it's not me in the video, and the highest waterfall I've ever run was 30 feet, but I think I can answer your question. So yeah even though it does seem like throwing the paddle right after going over the lip is dangerous, it's much more dangerous to hold onto it and risk it bouncing up and smashing into you during the landing, which would break every bone in your face if it didn't kill you. The thing you didn't take into account is how much faster a kayak falls then a whitewater paddle, which is designed to be light and have a huge surface area on the blades, so even though it seems like he was taking the chance of getting hit by the paddle he threw, he would have already landed long before the paddle caught up with him. Finally, yes there is a 99% chance you're going to flip running a waterfall like this, and yes a paddle makes rolling easier, but if you're paddling at the level required to run a drop like this, then you'll almost certainly have a hand roll that's just as effective as any other roll you would do with a paddle. You see that constantly when people run big stuff like this, because frankly you have no business running rapids that huge at all without an absolutely bombproof hand roll. Not that it makes much of a difference in this case, cause the water was so aerated that it would be hard to roll even with a paddle. Swimming out of the landing zone when running waterfalls of this caliber is pretty much expected, and therefore not seen as a sign of failure or beatering when you inevitably can't hand roll and have to go for a swim in the landing pool.
There is stupid and there are idiots. I've just seen both. Broken backs, broken bodies, broken necks, RIP! Wow, so much fun. "Look Ma at the dummest thing I ever did"!
Not sure why you feel entitled to call anyone an idiot or stupid also was there any broken backs and after 33 years kayaking I’ve never heard of a broken neck. Fair play to all involved clearly had the team, equipment and skill required to run a drop like that. Also just to note it’s usually a good idea before you call people idiots and their actions dumb to learn to spell. “Dummest” come on 😂!!
@@IrishDougal It's a take on Dummy, like a puppet. Here is a thought, just because you don't know about it, doesn't mean it did not happen and won't happen again. It only takes that one minor glitch to cause a bad landing, but by then it will be too late. Ahhh! The idiocy and arrogance of youth!
@@josiatokirina1788 sadly the context that you’re now trying to say you used dummest in doesn’t really make sense and certainly not when taken from not only the quote but the entire message. As for all this nonsense that it might happen so could being hit by a bolt of lightning but that’s not going to stop me going out. There’s no arrogance here I’m just wondering why you felt it necessary to start a message by calling people names and to call me youthful when I’ve already told you I’m middle aged is pretty idiotic but I’ll take the compliment thanks. Finally I’m really not interested in reading anymore inane nonsense from you I only came here to tell these lads they did a great job professionally done and with no major injuries I have nothing but respect for them getting out and chasing their dreams!!!
@@IrishDougalSometimes being blunt about the possible consequences of an action can be eye opening. Especially when adrenaline is addictive and reduces someone's ability to step back and think rationally. I paddled with an expert kayaker who over estimated their abilities as a vulnerable human. He broke his neck and is now paralyzed. Just hoping my blunt words will keep others from doing "dumb" stunts and getting seriously injured!
@@josiatokirina1788 I think anyone who actually rafts and acutely paddles will agree that dying or getting injured out there is way better than anywhere else. Also paralysis is rare, and everyone in this video trained there whole lives for this so at that point it becomes a less dumb idea.
