Pucon to Futa and back

Since my last post we spent a couple of days cruising Pucon and lapping the ever classic upper Palguin. Unfortunately it has largely been pissing down every day and i have been taking more footage than snaps so kayaking pics are running slim. Here is a few screen grabs from the river anyway.

The palguin is soo good! screen grab of myself chasing greg down the first rapid

Boof to swim, myself nailing the first half of  the name. Photo - Ford Smith

Stoked after one of the  many laps on the Palguin.

Our one sunny day in Pucon, the volcano is an amazing backdrop

One of the thousands of wild dogs that roam the streets of Chile

The last ten days have been spent on an epic road trip from Pucon south to Futaleufu through Argentina then back to Pucon via the small coastal town of Chaiten and three separate ferry trips. Nick, Daphnee, Greg and I set out about midday from Pucon after some serious car insurance issues which needed to be resolved before being allowed entrance into Argentina. Eventually we made it through border control into Argentina and to the supposedly very nice upmarket tourist town of Bariloche, it was 10.30 so we stopped for a dinner of cheesy, olivey pizza. Walking out of the restaurant Greg and myself noticed someone peering through the van windows, we ran towards him but were two late he had already broken two windows and was trying to get in to rob us of everything. Luckily with the use of a kayak paddle we scared him and another knife wielding accomplice away without losing anything at all. Departing Bariloche as quick as possible we eventually ended up in Futaleufu the next evening after numerous food and rest stops.

Van post being taken to with a wrecking bar. Photo - Greg Allum

Arriving in Futa we camped out and following morning finally hit the river! It was running super high after three weeks of continuous rain, this river is a beast but so much fun. We ran the whole lower section it is non stop G4-5 wavetrains with a hole thrown in for good measure every now and again. The following day the Grand Prix was running the same section for their whitewater enduro so we watched then jumped on for the same section again. 

A mess of boaters straight off to a mass start in the 15 minute event

Tangling into the first rapid

This being the last event of the Grand Prix there was a major party back at their campsite that night which we felt it would be rude not to join in on. 

Just a typical night out!

After some sketchy late nights plans we rallied with a crew of Slovenians to the put in for the inferno canyon section by 2 pm the next day. Inferno is supposed to be the most challenging section of whitewater the Futa has to offer however at our high water level it was just one huge 5 minute long wave train with the line straight down the middle the whole way. The remainder of the inferno run was flat water with two rapids zeta and throne room nicely spaced out, these are the two big ones and big they were. We all opted to walk zeta there was a line through, however consequence appeared far greater than reward. Throne room on the other hand was massive and good to go, the line was straight down, slam into a towering crashing wave and surf it to the left to avoid a terminal hole. Sounds easy, we all fired and somehow all managed smooth lines. stoked!  Continuing on our way for a full river top to bottom day next up was the terminator section. Terminator rapid its self was by far the biggest whitewater i have ever paddled, it is maybe a km long and doesn't ease the whole way. It is riddled with monster holes and the line is down the middle and try not to get surfed. We all ran with varying degrees of success but made it to the bottom very happy to make it through. From here it was just the section we already knew to go and we boosted to a 6 pm take out.

That night we left futa beginning our journey back north and made it to the little seaside town of chaiten awaiting the ferry the following day.

Devastation all around Chaiten from a volcano eruption 2 years previous. 

One of the three ferrys we journeyed on to avoid travelling  back via  Argentina

The ferry took us to another small town called hornopiren, we camped out on the side of the road here then headed for a seldom run river called the Rio Negro. This was a really fun wee creek with a couple of 20 footers and an un run 50 at the put in which we looked closely at but reluctantly decided against.

One of our few clear nights, beautiful view over the hornopiren volcano

Screen capture of Greg leaving the first eddie below the un-run 50

Screen capture of Daphnee running the perfect 20

Greg backflipping into the meat of the second waterfall

We then promptly made our way back to pucon via some back scans for nick, camping in an orsorno city carpark, stops at super flooded waterfalls and a juicy run down the rio curringue. Water levels in pucon are nice and  high so fingers crossed we tick off a few more classics over the next week. Keep posted plenty more good stories to come!!!