Lower Mesa Falls
It has been a long time since I have run a waterfall. The last waterfall I ran was in Chile four years ago. A lot has happened in the past four years. My focus has moved from kayaking to skiing. Four years ago I was addicted to kayaking. I was living the endless summer kayaking year round. I don’t know exactly when my passion shifted from kayaking to skiing, but yesterday I rediscovered my passion for kayaking.
Jess McMillan - Lower Mesa Falls
Ben Stookesberry is one of the most talented kayakers in the world. He has devoted his life to kayaking and the persuit of running rivers around the world. He has produced 8 adventure kayak videos, his latest Hotel Charlie 4 - At Your Own Risk. Ben loves kayaking and his passion for the sport is addictive. Maybe that is why after four years, I decided to drop a 30 foot waterfall.
Ben Stookesberry Stomping the Right Side of Lower Mesa Falls
Ben was the first person to run the right side of Lower Mesa Falls in 2001. In the last couple of years a handful of kayakers have attempted the right side with some success. The Wall Street Journal contacted Ben for profile piece. The newspaper sent a journalist out to spend some time with Ben in hopes of understanding his passion for adventure and kayaking. Ben decided the best way to explain himself was to show the reporter what it is all about. He chose Lower Mesa Falls as his venue and asked Eric and I to go along for safety and support.
Ben Stookesberry - Lower Mesa Falls
Ben stomped the right side of the falls, a 70 foot drop. He didn’t even get his hair wet. It was incredible to see Ben clean such a difficult waterfall. He made it look effortless. Eric Seymour decided to run the left side of Lower Mesa Falls, a double drop. Eric ran the top 20 footer with perfection and then paddled off the second 30 footer with ease. Ben and Eric made it look like so much fun that I decided to go grab my boat.
Ben and Eric setting up safety at the bottom of the Falls
I was so nervous sitting in the eddy at the top of the falls. It had been a long time since I had dropped a waterfall. I focused on the spot I wanted to be when I went over the lip of the falls, took a deep breath, and peeled out of the eddy. I came to edge of the falls, took one last stroke, and started to free fall. I tucked and waited for the impact. The free fall was exhilarating and impact was soft. I rolled up feeling on top of the world. The drop was so much fun!
Check out Ben’s kayak advetures at
www.clearh2ofilms.com or www.jacksonkayak.com
One of the coolest places I have ever spent the night.
It is the worst time of year in Jackson Hole, Mud Season. I hate mud season. The resort is closed, the road to the park is closed, and most of the restaurants are closed. There is not a lot to do in Jackson during mud season. To make it worse, the weather sucks! It’s time to go Mexico or at least get out of Jackson.
First stop Seattle to visit my brother. I have to admit, the weather wasn’t much better in Seattle, but it was great to see my little bro. Dan, my little bro, was a great tour guide and showed all the cool spots in the city.
We spent the day cruising Pike’s Place Market and then he took us out for Alaskan King Crab.
Ready to dive into some King Crab Legs
The Crab Pot is a must do if you are in Seattle. As you sit down at the table you are armed with an official Crab Pot bib, hammer, and cruncher. Once armed and ready, buckets of crab are poured onto the table ready to be devoured. It’s awesome!
Diving in!
The next day we headed north to the Tulip Festival. I wasn’t overly excited to spend the day looking at flowers, but it was breath-taking!
Tulip Festival
Tulip Festival
Now I’m off to visit my grandparents!
I attribute my marriage to Jeff Ellis. I met Jeff five years ago kayaking in Oregon. As a stranger to a new world of kayaking, Jeffe greeted me with a smile and impacted my life more than many people I have known my entire life. I spent the afternoon with Jeffe and was introduced to many of his friends in the kayaking community. He was just a blip in a six week kayaking trip that started the rest of my life. A month later, Jeffe passed away kayaking. I heard the news while on the California Salmon. Everyone I had met was attending his memorial service including my road trip buddy. The next thing I knew I found myself in Sacramento surrounded by all of Jeff’s friends and family; including my soon to be husband, Eric Seymour. I will never forget Jeff and will always think of him on my wedding day. I can’t thank him enough for bringing Eric and I together. Below is a tribute to Jeff from his father.
Loss of a Son
by Jim Ellis, Sr.
“A child was born just the other day, he came to us in the usual way……”, and that was the last “usual” think about Jeffrey David, aka the Bear, jefe, big un, jd, poke, bam bam, and mostly just Jeff. I have sat down to write to thank all of you several times, but the monitor kept getting blurry. There is no way to describe the pain we feel on the loss of our son, he was many things to many people, but the most important is friend. The many testimonials from the many segments of his life all have a central theme, that is that he instantly touched your soul and cared about you deeply. Jeffy shared his favorite movies with his mother, such as the goonies, legally blond, something about Mary, and laughed out loud shamelessly. He shared music and dancing with many of you because music truly was in his soul. To those of you who did not have the pleasure of seeing him, imagine a man 6′ 4″, 270 pounds break dancing. Now picture him getting into a play boat that is maybe as long as he is. Although we were not able to share his whitewater experiences first hand, we did vica
Reality has hit and depression has set in. Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has closed its lifts for the season. It has been an amazing season and it’s hard to believe it is over; Russia, Japan, California, France, Switzerland. When I arrived back in Jackson, I only had one week to ski some of my favorite lines. So I set out with crew to ski the lines I hadn;t skied: SNS, Once is Enough, Granite, the Fingers, NWP, Horseshoe, the Womb, etc. Needless to say it was a busy week. A few photos of the week…..
Alex Weston - Horseshoe
Pat Kelly - Secret Pillow Zone
Bob Kilmaine Getting Ready for Pillow Party
Hunter Woods - Talk is Cheap
It is always an honor to compete in the Verbier Extreme. It is the biggest freeride competition in the world with some of the best skiers in the world. The streets of Verbier are filled with thousands of skiing enthusiasts who have gathered to celebrate extreme skiing. The competition takes place on the Bec De Rosses, one of the more intimidating faces I have ever skied.
Bec De Rosses from the Top
The organizers call the Extreme a “show,” highlighting the best skiers in the world on the most difficult competition face in the world. As a competitor, I see the Extreme as a competition and more. I wanted to choose a winning line, but I also wanted to make it to the bottom of the Bec de Rosses unscathed. It was difficult to make a choice between a winning line and possibly getting hurt or skiing for the rest of the season. A winning line includes: exposure, big airs, fast skiing, and pushing yourself to the edge. I spent two days and two sleepless nights trying to decide if it was worth skiing the winning line or skiing a less exposed line and giving up the win. The other thought I couldn’t get out of my mind was; if I don’t ski the winning line, will someone else ski it? The winning line was obvious. It was over heavy exposure (if you fall you will most definitely get hurt), included two 20 foot airs, and had the worst snow conditions on the face. The more appealing line began over heavy exposure into a chute that had a manditory 20 foot air in the middle. This line was more appealing because once you made it into the chute you were relatively safe. If you were to fall, you would be okay.
The More Appealing
My goal this season was to win the Freeride World Tour. My season started off great winning Russia and then I was off to Japan. After Japan, my body was beat up and my mind needed a break, but there was no time. I pushed on to Squaw and Tignes moving from 1st on the FWT to 6th. The Verbier Extreme would be my last opportunity to insure myself a spot on the FWT for the 2010 season. I needed to finish in the top four. It was hard to decide what to ski. Should I ski for the win, risking injury and not making the tour next year. Or ski a second place line which was safer and would probably put me in the top four for next year. In the end, my decision was made with my heart. I have always told myself to ski the line that looks like the most fun. The winning line didn’t look like fun at all and the other line looked like a lot of fun.
Bad Snow and a Not So Fun Line
Standing in the starting gate for my final competition run in 2010, I knew I was not going to ski a winning line. It is one of the stangest feelings I have ever had. I have never not skied to win, but I didn’t know if someone else would attempt the winning line and if it would work out well for her. As I left the starting gate, I decided to rip my chosen line as fast and flawlessly as possible. And I did. I ripped my line with no hesititation off the manditory 20 foot air and into two more airs. I was at the bottom in under 30 seconds. It was a beautiful line. I skied into second and finished third overall on the Freeride World Tour.
Awards Ceremony, Verbier Extreme
It feels really good to be Back in Jackson. My goal is still to win the Freeride World Tour and I will have the opportunity in 2010.
Awards Ceremony at the Verbier Extreme
Lucky #7
The days continue into the nights at the Verbier Extreme. I spent the day trying to find a line that: had good snow, challenging enough to be a winning line, and safe enough that if things went severely wrong I would ski another day. And then it was time to join the Verbier Show. The streets of Verbier have been closed off and the circus has been set up.
The Swatch Girls Dancing in a life Size Snow Globe
Thousands of people have come to watch the Verbier Extreme. The evening kicked off with two hours of autographs. It was amazing to see how many people wanted an autograph. I was also stoked to see how many people had been to Jackson. The support of the fans was awesome.
Working Hard
The bib draw followed the autograph section. The stage was set up with a movie screen and fake snow. Each athlete was called up to choose their bib. I drew lucky #7. The evening finally came to end with an athlete dinner at the Pub Mount Fort.
One more day to the competition. I am headed up to look at the bec De Rosses again and find a winning line.