First Legal Descent of the Niagara Gorge

[ennot]

that must have been scary back then. Hey, it'd be pretty scary even today

[TheNintendogameguy]

2:26 holy crap theres a rainbow above us!

[ladyjennalyn]

Carrie didn't seem 'unsure of herself' - seems like the announcer was being sexist there....

Women are not timid and helpless, especially not pro kayakers going through the fucking Niagara Gorge. Carrie has more guts than any man I know.

[RWOATMAN]

Well let me rephrase that it looks like Chris and Carrie are paddling Dancers or some perception boats. Thanks for posting this Chris What were the other 2 boats??

[RWOATMAN]

Lovin it, I cant believe i have not seen this footage, i miss the old glass boats,Kayaking on Sun. and gettin drunk and doin patchwork on Tue. At least thats the way it was done in the southeast U.S. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[mkatlynwilliams]

@ChapSinclair I'm glad I'm not the only one to notice that. gotta love the 80s. What the hell did he know about kayaking and what lines to take? he didn't.. she was one of two not to flip, but did he mention it? "one of the best female kayakers" more like one of the best, period.

[Kaapo73]

@mkatlynwilliams She is brave!

About that not-to-flip, check 11:37. It doesn't make a paddler worse if there is a need for the roll. Just do that!

[guaranic]

Imagine taking an 18 footer down that

[stillrob420]

When someone Surfs it, then ill be impressed.

[MichaelH38DaS]

@Karrowt haha that sounds perverted lol

[CalTek]

Something is wrong. I don't see any Cormorants in any of the footage.

[muskieandsalmon1]

@CalTek cormorant largely disappeared thanks to the chemical DDT..the same one that devastated the Bald Eagle... After many years since DDT was banned, the cormorants are finally making a comeback..and then some...for some silly reason, everybody hates them...but i would argue that not having them around did more damage...every ecosystem needs predators to keep disease down..

[CalTek]

@muskieandsalmon1 interesting to note. They negatively impact the fish stocks and vegetation (acidic feces) in the area. As an angler and an outdoorsman I do not welcome them at all.

[danusmcgator]

5:24 lolololololol

[erictoddbrown1]

i don¨t think a paddle board could stand the thrashing waves it would tear it to shreads

[jtsmizzack]

Thanks for posting!

[NumeroUnoUberMoose]

Ken: "yeah, I did it backwards. How d'ya like THEM apples?!"

[rhinohippo]

very brave and skilled riders, I am going to attempt to do it on my standup paddleboard

[speusa]

that is the entire video.

[TheKayakerFSM]

Where can I find the rest of the video?

[speusa]

You know I always thought the same thing from the first I saw the show before it aired. Carrie was one of the best paddlers in the country male or female at the time.

chris

[ChapSinclair]

Man the announcer seems to beat up on Carrie the whole time, overemphasizing the fact she's a woman, her line was tight and at no time did she seem unsure of herself.

[AlSwearengen15]

haha! That's great! I love old school kayaking videos.

[tpstrat14]

You practice holding your breath driving in your car!?!?!? Man, that's gotta be a hopeless feeling if you're under and you can't roll yourself back up. It makes me anxious just thinking about it...

[FreeWillFreeRide]

@tpstrat14 there way to get out. you should take class.

[datapro007]

Hi, Chris, I love this video. I hike that section of the gorge often and am always awestruck by the thought of running it.

[chunkEcheez]

UNREAL!

[ipplepen]

Really enjoyed seeing what the old boats could do

[mdice42]

Deep throat...lol. This river is massive and beautiful.

[amigulka]

That was masive air at 0:35 :D

[ottovonbismark1890]

il segreto....l'estrema TRANQUILLITA'...& L'ABITUDINE.

[3jcorn]

They're all paddling PIGS!!!

[jmr1068204]

How was it a "legal descent" if it resulted in the arrest of Ken and the escape of Chris? LOL

[speusa]

Thanks for the comments. For more historical videos check out exchile.com

[gowithmetro]

@speusa: Just sick ultra gnar Chris. See why you hung w the Futa after finding it.....

[bjeweled5]

Wow! You all were amazing. That would be an amazing accomplishment! Congratulations to you all. I realize this was a while ago, but it was awesome.

[stickthatboof]

nice job guys! great to see some classic footage!

[issacwombat]

anyone know what the song is at the beginning? the violins?

[speusa]

Hahh that was true....we hid in the woods..hid our boats in a drainage pipe, and evaded the police.

[hibbdogg96]

this was back when men, real men, risked their lives to conquer nature. to try such a stunt now one would have to conquer a mountain of red tape before this mountain of water.

[Ozma13]

that is pretty amazing charging those waves in those oooold boats

[fish30222]

I'd die.

[flexijerdkov]

so chris spelius is training for the 1984 olympics then they say the gorge is not a trip for amatuers

[olliemath]

Old school :) Love to do that today, but definite respect for doing it all in pointy boats (the meltdown @00:44 is sick!)

[douggrosjean]

This is fantastic. I applied for a permit in the early 1990s, assuming that lobbying efforts by the AWA had been successful, and the response was ... amusing. Parks staff took my name and number, called me about 8 hours later and read 4 passages from the New York Revised Code, which described the offenses I'd be charged with if I tried such a thing. And no, they weren't handing out permits.

[jackmehoff117]

get that bitch out of the kayak and into the kitchen!

[oshe1oooo]

wow is hard to believe they maid it through that!!!!!!!!!!!

[acrazedmaniac]

i love my old..215cm skis....

the 'hot shots' of today..can not ski em, like i do.

[PotatoGunsRule]

Oh I know man. A friend bought two pairs of 205's for $25.00. He got some laughs at line up at my resort, then shredded the mountain! He was impossible for me to catch.

[bobmurray50]

Hey folks Murph here. It was Aug 16 1980 the second time tom and i went through the whirlpool rapids. It was also at about nine oclock at night . Care to coment on that liz?

[whatnext12]

not then...

[tomnshanna]

Hey Chris, I got your e-mail!!!!

For everyone else: On Oct, 5 1977 Thomas Beaman and Robert Murray entered the river beneath the Whirlpool Bridge and shot the imfamous "Whirlpool Rapids" on truck inner tubes. We tied the tubes together with a length of rope about 12 feet apart. We wore only life jackets, hockey helmets, and swim fins. We were not tethered to the tubes in any way. We where we were arrested on a multitude of charges. We repeated this stunt in Aug. of 80 We eluded capture.

[CanadianLiz01]

Yeah ok sure.

[tomnshanna]

oooops, the post below is incorrect. the date of our original float was Oct. 5, 1977

[speusa]

oops i did not mean to remove your entry. Tell me who the guys were to run in it in a tube I would love to talk to them.

Write your post again please,

Chris

[gazingeast101]

what year was this?

[speusa]

Our first descent was in 76. The first legal descent I think was in 81.

Chris

[Dole111]

that look like a easy class 4 rapid

[canmoore]

@Dole111 Just you wait till the flood gates at the dam are opened...

[kayakerbuchar14]

In pyranha karnali :D LOL In my perception corsica,It will be easy!

[william31998]

i knpw i wouldent kayak tht in my pyhraha karnali or recoil

[Snomi16]

its amazing how much kayaks have advanced in design in 25 years...those look almost terrifying to use! fair play to them tho...thats some bit of whitewater!

[gcharocks]

those r the biggest waves I've ever seen

[alexander92648]

80's tv rules

[Tootsall]

There are those comments for which the proper response is to refuse to give them the satisfaction of any response.

[blueorangelettuce]

Jesus Christ, what intensity!

[pbr2424]

I love some of the older videos of whitewater kayaking showing the Perception Dancers / Mirages. Chirs Spelius is the best because of his love for the sport. I remember doing the Kenebec in Maine @ 13000cfs. My friend peeled off down the river when we were dicussing whether we should be doing this and I had no choice but to follow. Lots of adeneline for me. It the best sport.

Thanks for posting.

[magget16]

these look more like class 5, 6 is much harsher.

[brk5335]

Spoken like a TRUE airhead. Try a trip through Lava Falls and then take that to the power of 10 and you might concieve what the Niagara rapids resemble.  Better yet, take a trip to the Canadian side of the river and walk down the path to the rapids. Once there, your ingnorant perception might change.

[MrTimD]

I like the kit.

[racek2]

Every few years someone goes over the falls and lives. It's not unheard of, just do a quick search of Buffalo news.

[leadstring66]

LOL, i lived there thirty years, never said, those are class 5 and those are class 6.....LOL

i said, those will kill ya

you must have been goin down, and i was goin up

LOL

[speusa]

I am not certain if I understand your comment but....for me warming up doing a full roll is a ritual of mine before a big rapid. Getting my body used to the water and going through the full range of motion before we head down the gorge. I think everyone in the group had extreme confidence in their own roll.... If you did not have confidence in ones woll .....this is not the river to paddle.

[spawnoftoaster]

I wouldn't want to run any halfway difficult/risky rapids (IV an up) if I was anyway unsure of my roll to the extent where I thought I had have to practice it in flatwater.

[speusa]

I have always wanted to try a jet ski...I thought I could get it through there but going upstream. Hey Ken Lagergren did swim through there when he exited his kayak back in the 70's. He survived!!!!!!!

[dgk990]

rip through there on a jetski.

that would be way more extreme than kayaking.

I mean if you could come out of it on a seadoo or jetski then you would be almost supernatural.

Well....chuck norris can swim through that.

[leadstring66]

man you cant rip through ther on no jetski.

LOL, i had a starcraft with a 350 and i could only get so far, then i just stood still with the motor full out.

[dgk990]

in the class 6 rapids?

I would think you were talking about the class 5 rapids.

I'm sure if you had a highly modified RXP or ultra 250 bewtween 280 - 300 HP it would make it through with out much hassle.

[badkittie98]

Cool Video!!!!!!!

We just went to CANADA! Walked this "White Water Walk" and saw this!

[speusa]

Well someone did notice the fact that we taped and glued our spray skirts down. That was the big fear...what would happen if the skirt blew. We had three illegal runs before we did the filming run.

chris

[EmbracingHaight]

Truly amazing. Soooo much power in there. Someday!

[codferenheit]

great footage

[madmax412]

what kind of idiot wouldnt think this was sick? this is great footage man!

[cheebatripn]

i thought these pussies were gunna go off the fall. how lame...

[speusa]

Lame? It was all I could do to keep Ken Lagergren from running the falls back then. That was in the 70's before you were born and when long boats were the norm. He had his line figured out and only way I stopped him was by telling him if he went for it I was not going to film it. He called me a weeenie. He said a 10 year old boy went over it in a life jacket without a scratch. Quote from Lagergren "You can not let anything: job, work girl friends get in the way of one and the river.

[pagansnorider]

awesome quote!!!

[rjmac94]

haha compare that to the colorado lol

[robert8488]

more extreme kayaking?

/watch?v=zvFs0qYQnfA

or search kayaking australia nymboida river 09

[Kelebrinlith]

Funny how they compare this to the Colorado River. There is nothing on the Colorado that even comes close. And Lava Falls is just a joke. You may swim there but the whole thing is 20 seconds unless you wind up in the "Ledge Hole." I just there and I saw people swimming it on purpose. A guy on a boogie board zipped down it in about 5 seconds. And if you really want some big stuff look at the Bio-Bio or Zambezi. Now they are big! -- ghd

[Mikebriand]

u should see in in person, my uncle kayaked the colorado. waited 12 years. and says it wasnt the hardest he;s done. its hard to judge the size from the camera, its old footage as well. so its hard to judge.

[lazlo5149]

You're clueless. Run Cataract @ 90,000 CFS and get back to me.

[kvk865]

i would never try something like that

[kvk865]

omg they took such a risk but wow lol

[jadecatgreen]

Omg this is freaking INTENSE! My heart was in my throat just watching it. I'm my hometown's only urban kayaker and I've taken tunnels, canals, spillways, and have gone down several local waterfalls but nothing like this. I'll never be this good... You guys are my heros! :D

[jadecatgreen]

And in some old school kayaks too! Gawd those things are L O N G! The new style whitewater kayaks take out a lot of the work. I can't even imagine the control it took. It just blows my mind. :O

[speusa]

Hah I agree my hero was little Roger Woodward.

[cam8x3]

haha these are the best kayakers in the world at the time, imagine seeing little roger woodward passing them on a inner tube in a speedo, not a big deal

[51erik]

at like 49 seconds omfg talk about pool drop fun

[naziim08]

Can someone tell me in which year these 4 made the attempt? Thanks.

[speusa]

well I recall it was in the early 80s perhaps 1980 at the earliest 1982 at the latest. I can check the newspaper articles and let you know exactly.

[rasberrydoodlecake]

i love niagara falls i was so much fun. but i sures the heck would never do that

[rasberrydoodlecake]

dude that would be so scary! i went there it was cool to me.

[zman293]

nice beard, & shirt lol!

[zman293]

id do it for free!!!!

[TriplemGSCC]

I'd do it for £5 :-)

[oxiano101]

that looks fun, but also scary & dangerous

[Ps1locyb1n]

holy crap that looks like fun.

[ggudding]

word to the river's mother

[iahimatob]

cool

[Lageyy]

Just awesome, gotta love the 80's. This is reality TV, ha, They're coming out the other end one way or the other, the force of that water won't stop for a rescue team.

[jason23296]

What ticks me off is how much the Canadian government allowed all these hotels to destroy Niagara Falls natural beauty. It no longer looks natural anymore. All the trees are gone and all there is is casinos and hotels

[LordTunderin]

I absolutely agree with you, it is a crime. Victoria falls in Africa are beautiful as are Aguazu falls in South America. But Niagara is a fucking disgrace.

[tuttt99]

Not in my wildest dreams!

[AndersonMediaProd]

rep the old school!

[IR0NMAIDEN12]

EPIC!

[clemofish]

ahahahahahah

5:24

[muttonhead688]

5:24 is going to give me nightmares.

7:35 was just plain sweet.

This is some craaaaaaazy stuff.  Now how about this...who is up for a RAFT TRIP THROUGH THE GORGE!!!

[lemonmeringuepie]

excellent!

[cryptonite16]

you can't conquer a river or anything in nature. You can only survive it.

[bhaugen88b]

"carey this is your first time."

"yes it will be"

"how does it look?"

"big"

"did you have any apprehensions when you were looking at it?"

"the buildup before was so intense... but its definitely the biggest ive ever seen."

[tainterlakeisgreen]

lol

[soundninja0]

00:43 is class 10 rapids.

[white3water3kayak3]

i think ur retarted...it only goes uppp to class 6 some ppl say class 7...sooo plz get ur info strait before u comment

[soundninja0]

00:43 Is Class 10 Rapids.

[soundmankev]

well it depends on what side of the Nation ur on out west on big water it goes up to 10

[ristobeatty]

the only river that has a 1-10 scale is the colorado other than that 1-5 and 6 is supposed to be unrrunnable

[lilaineyo]

OMG that would be soooo scary.. i was freaked out to just walk near it.... it is CRAZYYY how people purposly risk their lives... just for attention... they wont get it if their dead!!!!

[m8g7]

I like the "on the edge" music.

[KayakFreak]

Wow, boats have changed.

[guaranic]

actually those waves look like fun

[guaranic]

meh... it's not that bad... there aren't reversals

[georgewagner]

guaranic, either you are the best kayaker in the world or you are an inexperienced douche. You don't need a reversal to get flush drowned.

[plombak]

woow, just look at the boats they're using!

talking of an evolution

[hyperpsyched]

First "legal" descent. That's funny.

[jimmimak]

love the 80's beards

[fatbear92]

Notice their sprayskirt loops are taped down

[rupshjfm]

Heroes? Skillfull? They did do this when kit was crap but NO!!!!!!!! My mum could do that!!!!!!!

[kayaker0678]

so what boats where they using. What brand of Helmets?

[tubeneophyte]

Looks like Perception Mirage (my first boat).

[fatbear92]

Pro-tec helmet, ace helmet, football helmet, climbing helmet.

[komeister11]

un poco locos

[chachies]

00:42-00;48 = O.O this is sooooo cool!!!!!

[mrmr20001]

This is awesome. Most people do not realize the bravery and experience these guys have doing this. Really good control. Ride on!I have seen many videos of this sort at splashvision . com.

[cheroflip]

my heroes

[ofidler]

incredible. interesting to note the way they talk about the kayakers relationship to the river

[Lineman58]

amazing. now someone needs to do it in an open boat. OC-1!!!! amazing skill though these 4 were amazing

[cj11363]

Nolan Whitesell ran it in an OC-1 in 1987 at 125,000 cfs. Supposedly, they ran 1 mile of rapids in 90 seconds. Nolan later remarked that there was no margin for error as there was no practical means of rescue.

[carlreisig]

just think of what those rapids were before the fifties when the flow of water was cut in half by the two huge power plants-- 200000cfs (then) as opposed to 100000cfs (now)

[241stskipper]

nice music.. hehe

[liquid079]

Respect to that Girl, and Guys.

..they must all have balls the size of dinner plates.

[mondosupreme]

or brains the size of walnuts...

[simpleman6]

holy crap those waves looked HUGH.

[misterthom]

retro style

[badcoconuts]

I had forgotten how big the boats used to be.

[shojyn]

Wow, fantastic. real pioneers of the sport.