It’s hard to say what’s most exciting in extreme kayaking – huge vertical drops, long narrow waterfalls, runs in huge flow, or multi-tiered twisty falls – because they’ve all got varied danger factors to them, and they call for different tactics. But no matter what, watching someone willing to suit up and huck their boat into some frothy whitewater or down a monster drop is a guaranteed adrenalin rush.
So while you’re cooped up inside because of cold weather and icy rivers, go ahead and get your visual kayaking fix. Here are six extreme whitewater kayaking videos chock full of runs and drops that you won’t believe:
This humongous drop of 189 feet, by Tyler Bradt, is said to be the world record for highest waterfall descent in a kayak. Even if it wasn’t a record, it’s still an insanely long way down, on a very big river, in a very small boat.
The Demshitz crew takes on waterfalls across Argentina and Chile, making the big stuff look easy and giving us a glimpse into the kayaking lifestyle.
Some of Chile’s biggest and baddest waterfalls, as BombFlow caught them, featuring Evan Garcia.
Another video featuring some of Chile’s amazing whitewater kayaking, this time from Pilot Collective Media.
Featuring multi-tiered waterfalls in Africa and vertical flumes in South America, this feature from Epicocity Films also captures runs in Oregon, British Columbia, Argentina and Zambia.
Chronicling the first descent of Noccalula Falls, said to be “the biggest waterfall ever run in the Southeast U.S.” – with kayakers Pat Keller (First Descent), Isaac Levinson and Chris Gragtmans.
