Kananaskis Rebuilt Report

This spring, and again in late August, earth movers and tonnes of rock were brought into the Kananaskis River to rework the river features. "The Kan" has a long history of man-made features. Originally, they were placed by the Alberta Whitewater Association (AWA) as a slalom training and race site. Over time, features were added for playboaters, rafters, surfers as well as teaching-appropriate facilities. This year the goal was to clean and/or fix features that have changed by flood or time, as well as add more features and better performance characteristics to the river. The whole project is valued at $200,000.

Last week, Tony, Chris and Aimee went out to the river with river surf boards to check out the changes. We started at Point Break and found it is a nice little surf wave where Tony was able to kneel for the first time. Other surfers have since discovered Point Break and it looks like a new favourite spot.

We skipped Santa Claws but that wave/hole is apparently alot smoother for kayakers and probably rideable by better surfers.

Smitty's wave, just above the race course is not good for surfing. Probably the same can be said for surfing a kayak or canoe. There is a single wave just downstream of Smitty's that looks surfable, but since it is not eddy served and has to be caught "on the fly" it is unlikely to see much use.

A new feature was added below Smitty's and above Green Tongue - right now it has several names including "Hole in the Wall" because it is next to a cliff wall. It is a friendly little surf wave for canoes, kayaks or surfers. The eddy service on river right is good. Unfortunately, the river is shallow in that area, so surfers & swimmers need to keep their feet up! Kayakers should be sure to "kiss the deck" if the flip, then roll up!

Green Tongue has received a new lease on life! It is much faster than it has been in a decade. It is also narrower. It is easy to get onto the wave a belly-surf all day. Chris got to his feet there so it bodes well for good surfers to really enjoy that feature. McRock, which was a pinning hazad downstream of GT has been removed, so the swim out is great, although a little long due to the river velocity at that point. We found that if our board's pearled on the wave, it felt remarkably similiar to having a fire hose aimed at your chest - that water is fast!

We walked all the way from Green Tongue to the take out area along the new Riverwalk path. Inspecting the features from the shore we could see new bumps and small holes, as well as cleaned-up eadies and berms. The whole area is looking great!

At the take-out there is a wave that was rebuilt and is reportedly being used by surfers, but we had no success there. We were basicly out of energy by then, anyway!

Special thanks need to go out to Chuck Lee and the AWA for spearheading the river reno! Many others helped along the way and deserve our thanks, too! A very detailed report on the river rebuilt by Chuck Lee is below, if you want ot learn more.

But, the best way is to get out on the river (by canoe, kayak, board or foot) and check it out for yourself!

kananaskis_river_work_august_2008_with_map