Deadly Class V Kayaking: Greater Wesser Falls ( Worser Wesser )

[Flipstick96]

Not a class V, especially at that level.

[Tuathanbashieres]

Glad it got cleaned up, hopefully some day soon it can be run by self guiders, I have stared at that fall the last couple years thinking "Is there any way I can convince the company to believe I goofed up and just ended up going over this?"

[rshull07]

@GeorgeRBM1999 No there nothing in it now, the NOC went through a cleared it all out. Its good to go, and its a much easier line than it looks.

[guaranic]

Yes, if you mess up, it would hurt, but in a boat you can just line up in the beginning,hold on, and bounce your way down

[jakematheny]

No helmets for the rafters?

[Grandbastardb1]

The video angle is deceiving.Its very steep,it aint no classIV

[GG4S3xTo]

@Grandbastardb1 It is aloooot steeper than it appears in the video!

[3jcorn]

That is supposed to be a V???

[autu10]

ya the company that ran the rapid was wildwater.. :)

[mrjohnfantastic]

Dude. Don't run Wesser...not worth it. Better to put in just below and float to Fontant Lake towing a cooler of beer on a ducky!

[terrierpike82]

at least the "guide" in the first boat was wearing a helmet... amateur.... i expect to see him on the darwin awards shortly

[Wildfan170]

with the jagged rocks you flip your basicly dead

[xXxXWonderfulXxXx]

Oh wow, I could barely handle the Nantahala Falls, I fainted out of the ducky, AFTER I was through the falls. o.O

[wrhester]

Just to clarify a couple things.

1. Its not illegal to run.

2. NOC is not trying to "destroy" it.

3. Where the rapid is located is not the original river bed. The original river bed is a horseshoe bend that you can see from the ropes course. The railroad blasted to create a straight section to lay track. The horseshoe section (the old riverbed) became basically a land locked pond. Nice run..it is boney and if someone were to flip, or fall out, it would hurt.

[jackedupdeflecta]

i got the same boat bro keep rockin it

[vladimir2277]

looks like a class IV, but if you flip, you're screwed...

[kiddbilly3030]

I remember hearing the stories about that rapid. Glad he didn't flip over.

[tuttt99]

Not in my wildest dreams.

[GG4S3xTo]

Just wanted to say congratulations to Eric Brown on his recent marriage!!! Don't worry Eric, your shoulder will heal, and you will finish all your aviation classes!!! Those are my positive thoughts I'm sending your way ;) Anyway, here's to many, many happy years to come buddy!

[GG4S3xTo]

It's just downriver from lesser wesser (Nantahala Falls). Just east of the ropes course (NOC) there's a little area with railing against the river where you can watch it.

[rawkgant]

where on the Nantahala is this?

[beardawg6161]

Nice video, the low flow really highlights how boney and dangerous the rapid is. My video was during full release and it doesn't look nearly as dangerous.

[cheroflip]

look! its another gay ass protec helmet

[GG4S3xTo]

lol

[notredamefi3]

last time i checked thats a class VI....

[thompsoneh]

it's a class IV with high consequence

[Squaw4777]

Awesome video!!!!!!!

[dhercus]

Ok, I'll admit that this video is better than ''Steve snaps at a couple of fucking idiots.''

[GG4S3xTo]

;) thanks

[echo2098]

the water was definitely low during the video, probably not full release compared to seeing it many times while water is at full bore above that. I have river maps all clasify it as V+ or VI when water is being released.

[chgar44]

I would also like to add that I am not aware of this being an "illegal" rapid. I guess it could be, but if so, it should be clearly marked as such - which it is not.

[chgar44]

Yea, apparently this rapid was formed by the railroad when they did some blasting for the tracks, which is why there are so many jagged rocks pointing upstream. Would be very painful to flip on those rocks.

I have even seen a few guide books that call it "unrunable class VI." Clearly, it has been run before, but as I said before the "consequences" of a screw up here would be considered class V+ by most, I would think.

[chgar44]

Nice run. Looked like VERY low water though. Do you know the level of this run. I have looked at this rapid MANY times when the water is running from the dam and it is NOT a Class IV. It is a solid Class V+ (given the consequences of flipping on these jagged rocks). When the water is flowing it cascades down the drop and you cannot see any of the rocks in the middle of the drop like you see on this footage. About the only time this rapid is even runnable would be a low water I suspect.

[lsrfsh]

Sweet.

[ntdmn]

Stupid. We work hard to overcome liability issues and get river access, and just for kicks you risk your neck on an illegal rapid. Go somewhere else to run something more challenging and with less risk.

[GG4S3xTo]

I'm not sure how legalities play into it, or if you even know what you're talking about; you gave no reference to credentials pointing to authoritative knowledge. I do however know this, there was no sign marking the rapid as being illegal or advising of any danger whatsoever for that matter. The rapid is a class IV, and well within the skill level of many paddlers, among them a multitude of paddlers who have run it in the past and found it both enjoyable and challenging.

[GG4S3xTo]

I also know that there are videos on the American Whitewater Association's website of it being run in open boats in the same condition, without any dribble below them about all this wannh, wannh, wannh. And I also know that we video taped a commercial raft guiding a group of tourist down the rapid immediately before we attempted and successfully managed the exact same rapid, in our personal kayaks. Kayaks that we hauled all the way from Arkansas just to do this rapid.

[GG4S3xTo]

And lastly I know that kayaking (or any adventure sport for that fact) is about the management of risk with a balanced awareness of personal skill, safety, and acceptable consequences. We performed this run with multi-day scouting, on-site emergency medical supplies, and redundant rescue equipment. If you want to avoid consequences all together then you need to take up knitting, or if that's still to scary you could try watching paint dry.

[GG4S3xTo]

Otherwise why don't you play it safe and enjoy the sport, and we'll be totally cool with that because I totally respect the idea of safety, and understand not wanting a bunch of people to run out and get themselves hurt. And we'll continue to challenge ourselves as close to the edge of our skill level as we safely can. That way we can all coexist in peace....sound good?

[jefferyanderson]

ntdmn, you're an idiot.