Post by lqdKaos on Jan 2, 2008 11:55:20 GMT -5
Please add with your stories of what you did New years day or eve
After a night partying with a few close friends, I woke up at 0500 on new years day to meet up with some fellow whitewater guides to raft the Royal Gorge in Colorado.
We met up at the boathouse at 0700, air temperature....+2 degrees F. We spent the next hour deciding the number of rafts we would need and packing our gear. At 0800 we left the boathouse and began the drive to the river. Upon arrival at the put-in, we began changing into our gear, putting on as much as we could...Air temp - +15 degrees F. It should be noted that mobility becomes difficult after 3 base layers of various neoprene articles are worn. Then add a spray jacket and PFD.
By the time we were changed and had the rafts inflated, the air temperature was a balmy 20 degrees F. So one of the guys and I decided that it would be fun to take the shredder. For those of you that dont know, a shredder is a fun little thing that is basically two 8 foot pontoons connected by a small piece of material, and some tubes for shape. So its about 5 foot wide and 8 feet long. In warm water, it is great fun because the possibility of flipping is very high.
I should mention at this point that the water was so cold that in many areas bridges of ice had formed over the river. Much of the river was slush. It was like paddling thru a giant slurpee.
So we set out, 5 people in a 14 foot raft, 4 people in a 13 foot raft, and 2 of us on the shredder....For the rest of the day, the air temp never rose above 20 degrees.
Any time water splashed on us, it froze to whatever it touched. Many times throughout the day, we had to bank our rafts on the ice and cross an ice bridge to get past a section. One tip I learned. NEVER let go of the boat while dragging it across the ice, just in case you fall thru.
This class IV/V section of river usually takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to complete on a good day...It took us nearly 5 hours to finish. I am still cold from it. By the time we were done, our clothes were so frozen, my pants stood up by themselves after I took them off. My gloves were a giant ice cube that had frozen in the shape of a fist and I had icicles hanging from my helmet and PFD.
All in all, the trip was SO much fun, and we can officially say that we were the first people to raft the Royal Gorge in 2008. We went by a section of the river that visitors of the Royal Gorge Bridge can see, and I am sure they got more of a show than they planned. We heard a number of them saying they could not believe anyone was crazy enough to raft in that weather. But we did it. Everyone survived and there were no serious injuries.
Raft season usually starts up in May, but I can say that our season started yesterday....It will be a couple months before I get back in the river...Hopefully I will be warmed up by then. What a way to start the new year. I love it. All in all, I would not have chosen to spend it any differently.
Happy new year!!!!
After a night partying with a few close friends, I woke up at 0500 on new years day to meet up with some fellow whitewater guides to raft the Royal Gorge in Colorado.
We met up at the boathouse at 0700, air temperature....+2 degrees F. We spent the next hour deciding the number of rafts we would need and packing our gear. At 0800 we left the boathouse and began the drive to the river. Upon arrival at the put-in, we began changing into our gear, putting on as much as we could...Air temp - +15 degrees F. It should be noted that mobility becomes difficult after 3 base layers of various neoprene articles are worn. Then add a spray jacket and PFD.
By the time we were changed and had the rafts inflated, the air temperature was a balmy 20 degrees F. So one of the guys and I decided that it would be fun to take the shredder. For those of you that dont know, a shredder is a fun little thing that is basically two 8 foot pontoons connected by a small piece of material, and some tubes for shape. So its about 5 foot wide and 8 feet long. In warm water, it is great fun because the possibility of flipping is very high.
I should mention at this point that the water was so cold that in many areas bridges of ice had formed over the river. Much of the river was slush. It was like paddling thru a giant slurpee.
So we set out, 5 people in a 14 foot raft, 4 people in a 13 foot raft, and 2 of us on the shredder....For the rest of the day, the air temp never rose above 20 degrees.
Any time water splashed on us, it froze to whatever it touched. Many times throughout the day, we had to bank our rafts on the ice and cross an ice bridge to get past a section. One tip I learned. NEVER let go of the boat while dragging it across the ice, just in case you fall thru.
This class IV/V section of river usually takes about 2 - 2.5 hours to complete on a good day...It took us nearly 5 hours to finish. I am still cold from it. By the time we were done, our clothes were so frozen, my pants stood up by themselves after I took them off. My gloves were a giant ice cube that had frozen in the shape of a fist and I had icicles hanging from my helmet and PFD.
All in all, the trip was SO much fun, and we can officially say that we were the first people to raft the Royal Gorge in 2008. We went by a section of the river that visitors of the Royal Gorge Bridge can see, and I am sure they got more of a show than they planned. We heard a number of them saying they could not believe anyone was crazy enough to raft in that weather. But we did it. Everyone survived and there were no serious injuries.
Raft season usually starts up in May, but I can say that our season started yesterday....It will be a couple months before I get back in the river...Hopefully I will be warmed up by then. What a way to start the new year. I love it. All in all, I would not have chosen to spend it any differently.
Happy new year!!!!
I think I convinced him I was a lesbian when trying to be nice in refusing to leave with him by trying to explain that I was going home with my friend because I was from out of town and staying with her. (And yes, declined his kind offer of a threesome, thanks anyway, buddy.) So this is a typical night out of a single person in her 30s? I would have been better off staying at the first party. Sure all the men were gay, but they had good food, drink, music and dancing.
