Sunday, October 10, 2010

Montana to Ontario




The journey started out with nine students and five instructors arriving in Crystal Springs Montana. The first couple days the group kicked back on lawn of our base camp looking over the familiar Alberton Gorge play run, and starting the first couple days of class.
A typical day (although there are very few typical days here at World Class) starts out at 6:30 a.m. for morning work out. After an hour of running then “blowing our guts out” students and teachers make coffee and eat a big breakfast before starting six hours of classes. As soon as classes are completed, everyone loads boats on top of our two fifteen passenger vans and piles in for an afternoon play boat run down the Alberton Gorge or drive to Brennan’s wave in downtown Missoula, Montana for a park and play session.
A few days into our stay at Crystal Springs, we got word that there were some major financial problems with the school. Although everyone was worried if the semester would go on, the group was in high spirits. Luckily we have one of the best groups of kids attending the school this year along with motivated and caring parents that stepped up to k
eep the semester going. Although things are coming together for the best, we still need all the help we can get. Check out our facebook page and see how you can help us fund raise and maybe even win some cool prizes.
After a fun couple weeks in Montana, the crew was ready to move on and we made our way to the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada. This is a popular destination for freestyle kayakers and I was stoked to finally have the opportunity to make my way down the famous Ottawa River. After our six hours of required study time, we were quick to get on the water with afternoon sessions on Garberatour or Baby Face. Complete an unforgettable ten days on the Ottawa learning to throw tricks including blunts, pan-ams, backstabs, air screws and many more, we were on to our next destination- the Gauley River.
A quick video of our stay at the Ottawa-