Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic - one nutty race

Andrew Skurka, Bobby Schnell, and Chris Robertson hike and packraft 180 miles in 3 days 18 hours across the eastern Alaska Range to place first in the 2009 race. They started with all the gear and food they needed to finish; no aid stations, support crews, or caches were allowed.

Flipped on Lochsa Falls

On Sunday we loaded up a cataraft and a 15 foot raft and headed over to the Lochsa. Leaving Missoula we knew might not have the best weather, but it was better than moping around waiting for it to get better. The catraft would be leading the way with my buddy at the oars of the raft that my buddy and I would be in. Our rower had been down the Lochsa quite a few times but never actually "in charge". So going into it we knew might be getting a little more wet than the rain.

Flows were around the 3 foot range which is a good intro level for the Lochsa. A drizzle at the put in and 45 degrees, we pushed off. All the rapids leading up Lochsa Falls were run clean. We followed the line of the cat raft, dug in hard to get over the falls wave. The next thing you know, we were going over. The raft ended up pretty much in the eddy right below the wave, so we didn't have to swim too far. I somehow ended up with both paddles luckily. We righted the raft and jumped back in.

No matter the weather, its always good times on the Lochsa. These pictures were taken by Rapid Action Photography. And as you can see by the quality, I was too cheap to pay for the prints. You get the picture of what happened to us at Lochsa Falls.

Lochsa Falls rafting carnage

This is great. I wish I could be over there running it right now, but I don't think the knee is ready for this kind of action. Some serious laughs to be had when watching Lochsa Falls from the pullout.