FullOnKayaking.com » Demshitz goes nuts(Photos/Video)

Demshitz goes nuts(Photos/Video)

Demshitz is here, weathering the weather in Pucon. Lots of rain and cold, not the most motivating paddling conditions…. But thankfully we have this amazing waterfall to keep us entertained and we only have to kayak for a few seconds a day, then off to the bar! Its been a vicious cycle of partying and running Tres Saltos…

Demshitz arrived in Chile a few days late after missing a flight out of Philadelphia and had to spend the night in the Miami airport and then one night in Bogota Colombia! We had a good time in Colombia and finally arrived in Santiago Chile greeted by our bueno amigo and fellow Demshit Nico Buenaventura. Back at his casa, he began to fill us in on water levels and we formed a plan. Instead of going straight to Pucon, where the rest of Demshitz are impatiently waiting on our arrival, we decided to go check out the Rio Claro.

This photo shows its “snail” like characteristics. Notice the pool at the bottom, the water coming off the drop pushes into a cave on river right with just a tiny exit on the left. Usually when kayakers come to run the Caracol it is in early spring and late summer and the pool is much more calm. But, Demshitz was here in the heart of the spring season with high water and what do you think they did….thats right…. we ran that shit!!!

This being my 3rd year in Chile and I have not yet run this beautiful thing and I was really fired up to give it a go. After much talk about the cave and the rest of the canyon I went first.

The river was running at what we think was the highest flow anyone has ever attempted the Caracol and the gorge following known as “el Gargante de el Diablo” which means “throat of the Devil.” I came off the Caracol and had a ballistically fast line that popped me up right in front of the cave. Amazingly I was able to paddle away from the cave and eventually into an eddy on river right where I waited as a safety precaution for my two amigos ready to drop in behind me.

The scary thing about this drop is once you drop in there is no way of getting out, except via kayak for another 5 rapids deep inside the dangerously committing gorge.

The Rio Claro at that level pushing through narrow slot canyons made for an extremely fast and pushy ride, but also a lot of fun! class 5 mas!!! At the end of the day when we were trying to estimate the flow I asked Nico, who is the only person to run the Caracol and the Gargante de el Diablo 3 times, “How much water do you think was in there today? His answer… “Too much weon!” An epic first day for Demshitz in Chile. Looking forward to more epicocity as we venture south to Pucon.

Today we got on the Desahue with an unbelievable high flow. Running unstoppable huge class V between sharp plants, we made it through the crux of the run before having a swim and loosing a kayak and paddle to the raging torrent. With bad vibes we hiked out of the river to save the rest for another day… After scouting more high water death, we finally balled up and went back to the park and huck saviour Tres Saltos….

Trying the paddle toss for the 1st time and accidentally boofing ridiculously huge.
I’ve run the waterfall 5 times now and Ive been in Pucon for 2 weeks!

A really bad-ass photo of Evan Garcia photo: Ian Garcia
The paddle toss is the way to go… our group has already tallied up 10 broken paddles! As well as two lost kayaks… Pucon eats gear! Bring a couple spares if you plan on doing some hucking!