Archives

Hiking with David Suzuki
Our star staff of 2009 got an amazing opportunity to hike the Valhallas with environmentalist David Suzuki. A three day adventure in the Slocan Valley was beautiful and memorable. "David caught a fish and was really interesting to talk with." Laurence Bachard guide extraordinar.

Two can tango with the Dynamic Duo
The Endless Adventure Team was stoked to paddle Jackson Kayak’s new tandem whitewater kayak, The Dynamic Duo.  While not all descents were totally successful the new kayak design put a whack of people into the river that wouldn’t normally even exersise the idea.  Young and old experienced or not, the Duo is a great way to show a friend the magic of whitewater while you control the kayak from the back seat, the only draw back is you miss out on the priceless expressions of your partner.
This summer our most experienced kayak instructor John Duncan took out his 4 year old grandson Donovan for a trip down the lower section of the Slocan River.  JD tried his hardest to burry the bow of the duo and make sure Donovan got a good taste of whitewater, literally.  The trip was a success, JD was able to share the wonder of whitewater with his grandson and Donovan caught the whitewater bug for life. 
The Dynamic Duo is the answer for the whitewater nut that is always subjecting their loved ones to unsuccessful river kayaking attempts.   For more info check out http://www.jacksonkayak.com/kayaks/product.cfm?product=dynamicduo

Aug 1 & 2 - Clearwater
After attending the first Clearwater Festival two years ago the kootenay crew has been itching to get back to the land of big volume playboating.  This year Endless Adventure decided to sign up as a gold sponsor by donating an Ecuador trip through our sister company Endless Adventure International.  The company Subaru was loaded to the max with 15 demo kayaks, gear, tents, hammocks and the favourite ENO lounger hanging chair.  We left Friday afternoon and drove through some of the hottest temps on record coping with an overheating engine and a stinky kayak instructor named Mikkel.  We pulled in just in time for a beachside demo attended largely by kids and families.  After landing over 30 participants in kayaks for the first time we headed to camp for a weekend of paddling and party.  Offering free demos all weekend long Endless Adventure showcased the latest kayak designs from Jackson Kayak and Liquid Logic.  While none of our kootenay crew placed in the finals for the exciting downriver race, we managed to sweep the freestyle rodeo with Mikkel placing in first, Chris Ryman in second and Ottawa River old schooler James Roddick in third. Sweatshop Union entertained the festies on Saturday night and really got the dance floor jumping with old and new tracks.  The band took a break so organizers could auction off our donation.  The High Roller Ecuador trip went to Dave Sitar of Edmonton who outbid numerous keen paddlers with a final bid of $975.  Congrats Dave, see you in Ecuador.  The attending crew from Endless Adventure would like to thank all the organizers and volunteers of the Clearwater kayak Festival.  Thanks again and see you next year!!

The 2010 Star Series have arrived!
The team at Endless Adventure is proud to announce the arrival of the new 2010 Superstar, Allstar, and Star.  The new design is based on a commitment from Jackson Kayaks to deliver exciting new kayaks every three years for the Fun, Star, Hero, and Rocker series.  The new version is similar in volume to the 2007 series but shorter with more concentrated volume in the bow for huge Arial hole moves like the loop and space Godzilla.  The new kayaks carve incredibly well and surfs almost any size hole with ease.  A perfect kayak for summer levels on the Slocan River and for Trail and Hero hole.   Jackson has also started to experiment with new colour blends like the kayaks of old with blue and white ty-dye patterns.  Come to Endless Adventure to demo the new 2010 star in your size.  For more information check out www.jacksonkayak.com

British Columbia Magazine publishes photo of our Head kayak Instructor, Chris Ryman
Last year, Mens Journal printed a 2-page photo of Instructor/Owner, Chris Ryman plunging over Sutherland Falls in their October 2009 issue.  This summer British Columbia magazine has printed a photo from the same shoot in the “50 things to do before you die” issue.  The magazine suggests you “hear the roar of a waterfall” as the 48th thing to do before you die.  The Ryan Creary photo shows Chris Ryman about a fifth of the way down the waterfall starting to tuck as a way of prepping for the impact.  The magazine also goes on to suggest that you should hear the roar from a designated viewpoint instead of following the way of the “kamikazee kayaker” in the photo.  You can pick up an issue from almost anywhere magazines are sold.  The mag has lots of great suggestions for your own personal bucket list with all adventures based in the beautiful province of BC. For more information check out http://www.bcmag.ca/

July 17-19 Nakusp Music Festival
Our second year at the Nakusp Music Festival a Splashing success. Endless Adventure presented a free kayak demo for Nakusp Music Festival participants for the second year at the public beach near the main stage.   While bands like The Zombies, Blues Travelers, and Trooper rocked their hearts out on stage, Endless Adventure staff helped people discover the magic of kayaking with a backdrop of mountains and blue bird skies.  With a total of 17 kayaks ranging from kids kayaks, light touring kayaks, and inflatables we were able to outfit anybody who wanted a crack at the sport.  Moments before The Zombies hit the stage lead guitarist Keith Airey cleared his thoughts while paddling one of our kayaks.  Well over 250 people tried their hand at kayaking with us and I am sure the majority of those people will be looking for their next kayak adventure.  Our Endless Adventure staff would like to shout out big props to the organizers and volunteers of the Nakusp Music Festival for making our experience on the beach and concert a fantastic one. Be sure to check out one of North America’s top 10 music festivals and visit us at the beach next year for a free kayak demo.

June 27 & 28 - KOOTENAY Whitewater Festival
Endless Adventure and Borderline Boaters present another smashing success with our annual Kootenay Whitewater Festival. The classic Whitewater Festival took on a new face this year offering the same high-level instruction for beginners with a greater focus on developing our local intermediate paddlers.  Instructional clinics ran all weekend long ranging from the total beginner to playboating and creeking specific courses.  The weekend was chalk full of friendly competitions like the exciting Boater cross race, S-bend Freestyle, and of course the award of Mr./Miss kayakman/woman.  The boatercross race went to local speedster Geoff Gaudet, Chris Ryman nudged Mikkel St.Jean-Duncan for the freestyle title, and Jim Gilman won the Mr. Kayakman title for his enthusiasm both on and off water.  Photographer, Adam Gagnon was gracious enough to cover the event and provide high quality images.  You can look for the pics on his website www.AdamGagnon.ca the festival party was one for the record books with house DJ’s and Juno nominated rapper Josh Martinez.  Festival participants and local partiers stomped the grass under the moonlight until the wee hours of the morning.  The event wrapped up with the awards ceremony and raffle where our local youth kayakers scored new helmets. Paddles, and kayaks thanks to our many sponsors including Jackson Kayak, MEC, Aquabound, Nelson Brewing, Whitewater ski resort, and Global Underground.  Special thanks to all the volunteers and organizers.  See you next year.

June 17th - Kavu Elements Tour
Oil & Water Self-Propelled Tour ends at
Endless Adventure
The Self-propelled tour has been a huge success in promoting self propelled sports and alternative energy sources on a global scale. .  You can follow their adventures in their 2008 documentary The Oil and Water Project available at Endless Adventure.  The award winning film follows “Baby” an old Japanese fire truck that runs on recycled vegetable oil as it travels from Alaska to the southern tip of South America and beyond.  Professional kayakers Seth Warren and Tyler Bradt have spent the last few years of their life promoting their cause and paddling some of the world’s best rivers.  The global tour has come to an end in the Kootenays as the crew shows their final film presentation at Endless Adventure. Seth Warren did not quite know what he was getting into when he decided to hit up the Kooteanys as the last leg of his ambitious tour that has taken him all over the planet of the last 2 years.  Seth followed Mikkel St. Jean-Duncan and Chris Ryman as they paddled local classic Koch Creek and surfed the enormous Brilliant Wave.  Seth and crew even got a glimpse of Mikkel completing a low water decent of Big Bad Beaver Falls a 62 foot drop that was first descended by Chris and Mikkel the previous year.  “Usually I show up and the local paddlers take me to their play spot which is a 6 inch trickle of a wave, you guys are nuts! This is a serious wave.”   Says Seth after his first look at the world class Brilliant wave.  Endless Adventure would like to thank the crew from Self Propelled who were amazing ambassadors of the cause.  You are welcome anytime.

June 13 & 14 - WENATCHEE
River Festival
Endless Adventure made its first festival stop this year down at the Wenatchee River Festival in Cashmere Washington during the second weekend in June.  With a full fleet of Liquid Logic Demo boats, and tons of Ecuadorian shwag, the crew represented south of the border.  The river festival was scaled down this year with an ailing American economy, so what better time to give away a free 10 day kayak tour in Ecuador with Endless Adventure International!  Endless Adventure teamed up with the local Leavenworth Mountain Sports to offer free demo boats to all festival participants and great deals on new gear.  The weekend was a great success paddling new rivers, meeting new friends and spreading the word about our new tours going down in Ecuador!

May 2 & 3, 09
The best Gear swap of all we sold 75% of peoples equipment and raised $100 for the Borderline Boaters paddle club. KBS radio was on site on Saturday doing a live broadcast. This weekend was the launch of the "Family Fun Adventure Contest

February 21, 09
The Endless Adventure Pro Deal Sale begins.Save $$$ at our first annual pro deal sale. Enjoy the same savings on all gear, accessories and clothing as industry professionals and competitive athletes. Everything on the store will be discounted. Also, get a peek at our 2009 kayak line up from Jackson Kayaks, Liquid Logic and Heritage kayaks. The sale begins Saturday Feb 21 and run every Saturday and Sunday until March 29.

January 09
Astral Green Jackets have arrived!
Run the gnar and pick up the pieces with the unsurpassed fit and safety of the next generation whitewater rescue jacket. The Greenjacket represents the most innovative and comfortable rescue PFD to date featuring a freestyle tectonic front panel, added back protection, and an internal back band for mid-back comfort. This jacket also provides a perfect fit for women who are looking to step up their creek game. Available in Black/Green or Red/Black.

December 08
The film premiere of The Endangered Creeks Expedition took place at our storefront to rave reviews. We showcased three shows that also included Symbiosis, a new artistic creation from Carl Jacks and Save Our Rivers; Koch Creek from Damien Gillis. All three films focused on the threat of Independent Power Projects to our environment and recreation. Stay tuned for more Endangered Creek Expedition news and upcoming missions.

Nov-Dec 2008
Endless Adventure is proud to announce our international trip company: Endless Adventure International. Our first season in operation was a success with two 10-day client trips in beautiful Ecuador. Guests enjoyed authentic cuisine and first-rate accommodations while paddling the rivers of the Borja and Tena regions. Next year, EA Intl. will be offering various trip options from luxury to the bare essentials. We vow to become the leading source of all things Ecuador kayaking from instruction to guided trips, boat rentals to custom trip packages. Our new base of operations in Borja offer world class boating at your doorstep and riverside camping. We have trips for every level of paddlers in a range of value priced trips. If you are planning your winter kayak getaway look no further, we can get you floating in the right direction and Endless Adventure International.

Just to recap our 2008 Summer Adventures.
We kicked off the summer with our third annual Gear Swap, with huge success.
On the May long weekend the Endless Adventure crew made their presence at the Kananaskis Whitewater Festival. The Intermediate paddle fest has become a yearly ritual.
Skirt Sports workout attire was a Hit, especially with our model and marvelous manager Laura strutting her stuff.
Endless Adventure’s River trips triumphed any previous year thanks to our new Raft Guide Bradd Tuck and of course veteran guide extraordinaire Chris Ryman.
The Kootenay Whitewater Festival went off with flying colours. A rainbow of boats covered the river eddies, as paddlers of all levels worked on their skills and competed for prizes. 
For the first year ever Endless Adventure offered a free boat demo for those at the Nakusp Music Festival. To escape the heat attendees where invited to enjoy the music while paddling on the lake.

Read on for details of our 5th annual Women Kayak week, Chris Ryman’s debut is Men’s Journal Magazine Septembers Issue and our 2008 fall kayak sale.

September 27, 2008
Women from all over western Canada are keen to tackle the sport and brave the waves. The women have signed up for various reasons, to challenge themselves, to try something new and/or to meet new people and have a great time doing it. Whatever the reason, Women’s Week is a life changing experience for many of the students - a chance to face your fears in a comfortable environment and share the challenge with new friends. The 5-day course is relaxed and focused on enjoyment, safety and friendly instruction. The women will learn the basic strokes, rescue techniques, river knowledge and maneuvering to and from eddys.

During the week of July 14-18th, Endless Adventure’s Kayak Academy instructed 15 women over three different courses. Every year more and more women are accepting the challenge that is whitewater kayaking. At Endless Adventure 75% of student enrollment is female. From 1998-2004 female participation in the sport has doubled. In that same period the number of kayaking enthusiasts jumped 250% (p.35, Adventure Kayak, Spring 2008). Look out dudes; the once male dominated sport is being taken over by adventurous women. The kayaking industry has shifted focus in lieu of this fact, in the past five years women specific kayaks, paddles, and gear has hit the shelves. Even women specific life jackets have come out with built in bras and curvy designs. An exciting time in kayaking indeed, no longer are the days when the token female runs shuttle while the guys have fun on the river. Like everything else in life women have realized their potential and grabbed a paddle to show the dudes that finesse and technique rule over bruit force. To all you women out there I welcome you and look forward to seeing the rivers fill up with people of all age, race and gender. What a great time to be a paddler.

October 17, 2007 - Award winning business, Endless Adventure wins big!
The Community Futures Organization of Nelson has recognized Endless Adventure as 2007's Best Youth in Business for our community involvement, youth groups, and outstanding business practices. This award is accompanied by Kootenays Business magazines 2007 Best Rafting Award as voted by the readers of the publication.
Owners Andrea and Chris Ryman vow to strive for excellence in the upcoming 2008 season introducing new ecologically friendly tours and a vehicle and campground upgrades to take lead in the fight for reducing emissions and carbon footprints.

October 13, 2007 - The Endangered Creeks Expedition successfully paddles the
Howser Creek Canyon
A team of accomplished local and professional whitewater paddlers have begun a unique mission to document sections of our regional creeks that are currently on the slate for hydropower developments. The Endangered Creeks Expedition (ECE) aims at generating public awareness of Hydro Projects and their effect on our environment. Through the production of video documentary, photos and articles in hopes of bringing this serious topic to the general public.
On Saturday October 13, ECE paddlers Carl Jacks, Marco Colella and Chris Ryman challenged the Howser Creek Canyon, the first leg of the Purcell/Duncan Lake area mission. The crew was joined with an equal number of people responsible for on-land safety. Argenta native and owner/operator of Silver Spray Rafting, Kevin Pollard headed up the safety team insuring proper precautions were being exercised. Andrea Miller-Ryman clung to the mountainside to capture the action on film.

After scouting, setting up safety, and photo/video locations the team put on the water at noon. The ideal put-in location happened to be the now proposed site for the massive Howser Creek Hydro Project main intake tunnel. Our team paddled a total of 6 kilometers through the canyon of the creek, ending our descent just above the Duncan Forest Service road bridge at Duncan Lake. It is important to note that our team successfully paddled the entire canyon without portaging any of the rapids or obstacles. "Once we committed to the canyon it would have been very difficult to climb out, it is a good thing we had proper safety." Said paddling team member Marco Colella. The stunning beauty of the canyon was almost overwhelming, lush with wildlife and teeming with the vibrant colours of nature, we found ourselves gasping in awe while staring up from the depths of the Howser Canyon. It was and incredible honor to be the second team to ever attempt the canyon and the first to successfully navigate all of itís rapids. "That Howser Canyon] was the most beautiful canyon I have ever experienced" said Colella, a seasoned whitewater paddler of 19 years who has paddled over 100 rivers worldwide and starred in the ground breaking creek kayaking video Twitch(1999).