PHOTO: Courtesy of Ark Valley High Rollers

The Ark Valley High Rollers have been practicing since March of this year and are looking for a few more women to join them.  The roller derby league hopes to have new skaters attend a practice to see how it works and ask questions and then they can begin skating with them by the end of August.

“We have been working very hard over the past couple of months and we now have a number of girls who are about to take their skills test which will allow them to get their derby names,” said Lisa Malde, coach of the Ark Valley High Rollers.  “Now that we have made some serious progress we are ready to bring on some new girls and begin training them”.

The Ark Valley High Rollers practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at the Chaffee County Fairgrounds at 6pm.  Skaters are required to attend two practices a week and serve on a committee.  They are also required to provide all of their gear which includes skates, knee pads, elbow pads, wrist guards, a helmet and mouthguard.

“We hope to have enough girls to bout in late fall or early winter”, Malde said, “I know there are a lot of people waiting for us to put on an event, but it takes a lot of work to get there.”

The league is also in need of people willing to learn the rules and attend practices to begin training as referees.  “There is a lot happening on the track and we need a solid referee crew who is willing to get to know the sport”, Malde added.  “We are only as good as our ref staff and we hope there is some interest in helping us establish this roller derby league here in Chaffee County.”

All referees are required to be on skates, but if the thought of strapping on a pair of quad roller skates is intimidating, there are a number of non-skating officials that are also needed.

Anyone interested in skating or refereeing are asked to contact either Lisa or Michelle at arkvalleyhighrollers@gmail.com.

The event features three competitions: Simple Slalom, Freestyle and King and Queen of the Wave. All three contests will be held at the Buena Vista Whitewater Park boat ramp where ample spectator seating will invite cheers and jeers.

The day’s festivities begin at 10 a.m. with a simple slalom course; best time wins.

The freestyle competition begins at Noon with a Preliminary Round that will be judged in the standard fashion with points awarded for displays of skills from low-scoring front surfing and side surfing, to higher scoring spins, on up to loops. In the lighthearted spirit of the competition, points can also be accrued for “face surfing” more than five seconds and rolling up; swimmers of legal drinking age won’t score anything but will be required to drink a booty beer. The top six qualifiers from prelims will move on to the finals where the winner will be decided by a game of boater-style HORSE. This game will be called BOOF. Basically if you get all four letters you are boof’ed out of the competition.

The day’s final event begins at 2 p.m. with a King and Queen of the Wave, a test of skill, cunning and determination. The format calls for heats of three competitors to charge the feature at once. The individual who stays on the feature the longest will advance to the next round. The last male and last female competitor left surfing upright will be coronated the victors.

Registration will begin at 9 a.m. the day of the event. Each event will have a $10 fee or register for all three for just $20. The day will be on a rolling schedule, so come early to be sure to catch all the action.

For further information, call CKS at 719.395.8653.

Colorado Kayak Supply co-owner Earl Richmond who hosted and sponsored the race, said turnout for the event was better than expected, noting the field was bigger here than two major events held earlier this summer, the US National Whitewater Stand Up Paddle Championship in Glenwood Springs and  Teva Mountain Games in Vail.  “I guess people just like surfing Salida better,” Richmond surmised.

The top two finishers of today’s 2.5 mile downriver race are the silver and bronze medalists from the SUP Nationals. Silver medalist Charlie MacArthur of Aspen finished a scant two-hundreths of two seconds in front of National bronze medalist and Vail Valley TV weatherman Ken “Hobie” Hoeve. In third was Vail Valley firefighter Brent Redden. The top three times for the race that went from just above the upriver end of the whitewater park to the Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area boat ramp at Salida East were: 21:07, 21:09 and 21:15. CKS awarded prizes to first, second and last place. Finishing last with a time of 32:00 was Salida businessman Ray Kitson.

A record number of women for any of the main SUP events in Colorado this season, 11 in all, entered the SUP Sprint Race. The top two finishers are the gold and silver medalists at the SUP Nationals, and also finished one-two at Teva Mountain Games. Jenny MacArthur, joined her husband in taking top downriver honors, followed by Boulder’s Nicole Duke with times of 23:01 and 23:58 respectively. In third was CKS store manager Tiff Simpson who crossed the finish line in 24:29. And just as the MacArthur’s took top honors, Salida’s Kitsons took bottom honors as Ray’s wife, Penny, finished last with a time of 30:12. Although she was last among the women, Penny noted she was nearly two full minutes faster than her husband. It was Ray Kitson’s second humbling defeat by women in his family in as many weeks. A week earlier, Kitson was rescued by his teen daughter, Sage, after swimming from his kayak in The Numbers.

Chaffee County locals fared better on their home wave during the surf competition. Mike Harvey, who engineered and built this and the other three features of Salida’s whitewater park, finished first with a crowd pleasing exhibition of a bass air guitar followed by a move he’s calling the 12-ounce Cutback, or possibly the Bottom’s Up Turn, as seen in this video of his ride.

Coming in a close second was Hoeve, who had already consumed three of his favorite malt river beverages before the competition started. In third was another Salida local, Zack Hughes, riding a board of his own making from his fledging stand up paddle board company, Badfish Riverboards. At press time, it was not known how many, if any, malt river beverages Hughes consumed before, during or after the competition.

For their part, the women had a much tougher time getting and staying on the wave.  Surfing to first with  side and overhead paddle twirls was sprint silver medalist Duke. US National Freestyle Kayak Team member Haley Mills of Buena Vista placed second while another BV pro kayaker, Amy Jimmerson, placed third.

The staging grounds for the event were held at the new riverside home of Gary Lacy, a longtime FIBArk downriver competitor and Harvey’s boss at one of the world’s premier whitewater park building firms, Recreation Engineering and Planning. Lacy’s home is directly adjacent to the uppermost play feature of Salida’s whitewater park which has seen nearly as many or more stand up paddlers as kayakers. Lacy was enthusiastic about the event and said he hopes it becomes an annual fixture of Salida’s annual summer event calendar. He noted that SUP comps don’t need high water, in fact lower water levels are preferable, so once peak high flows recede,  it’s a perfect way to extend the season for river sports enthusiasts. Lacy quipped, “The only downside I see to this sport is I might not ever get back in my boat.”

Ray Kitson drinks beer from a booty but does it count?

To try to get to the root of booty beer rules, the Citizen scoured reliably questionable online sources such as forums on well-trafficked kayak enthusiast web sites such as boatertalk.com, mountainbuzz.com and boof.com. The murky picture that emerged, not unlike the murky picture of Kitson seen draining his booty at right, leaves many unanswered questions.

“Guido,” identified as a senior member – whatever that means – of boof.com, shed light on the possible origins and rules of this river runners tradition. Guido reminisces: “Actually, the booty beer goes back to the southeast in the mid 80’s. I remember one day a bunch of slalom paddlers were hanging out barefoot in our spandex. Eric Jackson, Corran Addison and Tony Prijon were all there (yep, they all paddled slalom) and they were practicing a move across this hole on the Ocoee.

“Tony, being German, had a bunch of beer in his car, but forgot his cooler. The only thing he had to keep the beer cold was a pair of old neoprene booties – kind of like a modern day coozy. Well, needless to say, on one of his runs he got stuck in the hole, flipped a few times, broke his flimsy slalom paddle, hand rolled, broke his flimsy slalom boat, sank, popped his flimsy slalom skirt and had to swim out.

“Of course after the workout we all made fun of what a sissy he was for swimming (slalom paddlers never swim) and EJ suggested that he chug a beer to prove that he was still a man. Corran chimed in and suggested he chug it out of his gnarly booty to further prove the point. Tony, being German, and not one to back down from a challenge, said “I’ll drinken ein booty beer if you both start ze boat company”. And that’s how the booty beer, Jackson Kayaks and Savage Kayaks came to be. I swear. These seem obvious:
1. You swim, you drink
2. If your buddy rescues all your stuff, you drink from his/her booty, not yours (time to practice the self-rescue techniques…).
3. If you try to hit your pal with a throw rope and you miss him/her, you drink too.
4. If you don’t have a throw rope with you to throw to your buddy, you drink.
5. Consumption of one full beer is required. When doing Wild Turkey Booty shots, the pour must be equivalant to a double shot or better.”

Another “senior member” of Boof.com, “new Randolph” offers some other rules boaters may or may not play by:

“The Corey Volt Rule: If there is a girl drinking a booty beer, you too should drink one with her in hopes that it will help you score later (it never actually worked for Corey, but that could be because of his messed up teeth…)

“The Eric Giddens Rule: No sally-ass PBR or Coors Light will due for Booty Beers, you need to drink at least 7% beer to truly be proud.

“The Rookie-becomes-a-Man rule: Drink one booty beer for each swim in a day/trip (not just one at the end of the day/trip). Talk about rookie-rapid-intoxification!!

“A-Team rule: If your buddy has to drink a booty beer, you MUST put the sick footy of it on your sick blog for all your sponsors to see (extra bonus points if you get it with your helmet cam bro). You should probably have more stickers on your car too…

“The Jackson Kayak Park Rule: If you swim at the Jackson Kayak Park in Reno, you are suspended from Kayaking for 50 days. You must also drink a booty beer each one of those days to make you feel shame.

“The Blonde-Roots Rule: If a friend is actively drinking a booty beer, and you ask that person “why do you only have one shoe on?” you must also drink a booty beer.

“BFF Rule: If you pal pulls your sprayskirt in a wave-battle and you swim, you still drink. If while he/she is pulling your skirt, you successfully pull THEIR skirt and they swim too, your buddy has to drink the booty beer and you don’t have to. While they are drinking their booty beer, don’t put yourself in jeopordy of having to follow the Blonde-Roots Rule (see above).”

Tragically, there seems to be no consensus on either the history of the booty beer tradition or any evidence of hard, fast rules, let alone any rules governing the questionable circumstances under which Kitson claims to  have fulfilled his booty beer obligation. To whit, has Kitson, by waiting five days and drinking from a sanitized booty, truly fulfilled his booty beer obligation? If not, would drinking another booty beer from an authentically unsanitized booty settle the score? If not, then what?

Recreation enthusiasts gather in front of the new bouldering wall to celebrate improvements to Riverside Park that also include two new in-stream waves in the whitewater park.

improvements, five years in the making, that include a new bouldering wall near the bandshell and two new in-stream river features bookending the whitewater park in historic downtown Salida.

A flotilla of kayaks, rafts and stand up paddlers paraded from the new wave at the top of the whitewater park to the second new wave behind the Scout Hut to celebrate the acheivement. In the lead raft and armed with an oversized pair of scissors, Salida City Councilman Scott Damman cut the ceremonial ribbon that spanned the Arkansas River just above the F Street Bridge.

Another raft was piloted by Salida Recreation Advisory Board co-chairman Bill Smith who asked rhetorically, “how much does this rock?” Smith said that ever since the park improvements were installed earlier this summer, Riverside Park has been busier than ever. “I’ve never been past here when someone hasn’t been on the bouldering wall and the new waves have worked out really well, especially for the new sport of stand up paddling.”

Honored guest and famed climber Bill Forrest, praised the new bouldering wall. “Any rock climber will think it’s top-notch,” huge praise from a giant in the climbing community. A legendary climber and outdoor gear inventor, Forrest developed new inventions for some 40 years. Founder of renowned Forrest Mountaineering, his climbing equipment designs won international design awards, with some of the gear now on display in the Smithsonian Institute. Forrest and his wife Rosa have lived in Salida the past dozen years. He reserved his biggest praise for local whitewater park builder Mike Harvey. “Kudos to Mike Harvey who got the funding and spearheaded this whole thing,” Forrest said.

In a speech thanking the numerous individuals and local businesses that contributed to the fundraising and construction of the park improvements, Salida City Councilman Jay Moore noted Riverside Park improvements were made possible by numerous grants including lottery funds from Great Outdoors Colorado and proceeds from Salida’s 2B ballot initiative, a voter-approved occupational lodging tax.

While clearly pleased to celebrate the achievements at Riverside Park, Smith took a moment to talk about what’s next for the city’s rec advisory board. With grant money drying up due to the weakened economy, Smith said the board will, by necessity, be focusing on smaller scale projects such as trail connectors, improvements at Marvin Park and a kind of remodel of Centennial Park.

The day’s first event is a sprint race that begins at 11 a.m. Racers will start one minute apart at the top of the Salida Whitewater Park and finish 2.5 miles downriver at Salida East. Racers are responsible for their own shuttle.

The River Paddle Board Surf Comp is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. at the best wave in the Salida whitewater park. Competitors will be judged on fluidity, style and innovation. Both events feature men’s and women’s divisions; top prizes will be awarded to first, second and last places.

Registration opens at 9 a.m. on the day of the race at the Recreation, Engineering and Planning office at the upstream end of the riverwalk in downtown Salida. Registration fees are $15 per event or $20 for both.

Prizes are being provided by Pabst Blue Ribbon, Primo Beer, Shred Ready, Jug Liquors, Boathouse Cantina, NRS, BadFish River Boards and other local merchants.  The awards ceremony will be held at Ray’s Boathouse Cantina on the river in historic downtown Salida at the F Street Bridge.

For further information or to reserve loaner gear, call CKS at 719.395.8653. Rental gear must be picked up on Saturday before the event and returned Sunday after the event at the CKS retail store, 327 E. Main in historic downtown Buena Vista.

Shown above, a quartet of local SUP enthusiasts make it look easy during a SUP Expression Session on the Arkansas River in downtown Salida during the annual FIBArk Whitewater Festival last month.

Another reason to be particularly happy, is that right now it is July, the river has dropped and is running clear, and the dry fly fishing is off the charts. Gone are the cold winds of spring, the layers of goretex and fleece, nymph rigs and rock dodging at 250 cfs. Right now, and hopefully for the next several weeks, is as close to fly fishing nirvana as you could hope to see around here. Lots of fish, all hungry, sitting tight to the banks, and looking up.

And there is plenty around for the fish to be feeding on. Caddis, stoneflies, mayflies and hoppers. On a recent trips down the river, it hasn’t mattered what fly was presented, as long as it floated on the surface, close to the bank, with a natural drift and the odd twitch being thrown in for good measure.

It is amazing how quickly summer is flying by. Memo to the Creator, whoever he or she may be – why can’t summer pass by as slowly as winter seems to? These conditions, with good hatches, warm weather and stable water flows will hopefully continue for the next several weeks. If you are only going to fish a few times a year, now is the time to get out there. If you are contemplating taking up the sport of angling, now is the time to call up your local guide service and book a trip. And if your spouse or significant other is bitten with the fishing bug, now is the time to loosen the leash and let them get out there for a bit. After all, soon it will be winter again, and then you’ll be looking for any excuse to get them out of the house.

So it is fun to be able to step outside of your comfort zone every now and then, leave the crowd and the truck behind, and experience the call of a place that at least has the impression of being wild and remote. Encountering fresh bear poop on the trail serves as a reminder that we are not always top of the food chain. The sight if a fox, scampering through the sage brush, the cry of a red tail hawk as it surfs the thermals, remind an interloper such as myself that I am a guest only in someone else’s domain. This is the time of the year the wild flowers are starting to bloom, the meadows cloaked in a veritable rainbow of different hues.

Of all the different types of trout I fish for, the ones that inhabit these high alpine streams, lakes and beaver ponds are the ones I admire the most. A short growing season, limited food source and long, harsh winters are testament to their resilience. Their ability to conceal themselves from predation never ceases to amaze me, materializing from the rocky stream bed or under cut bank to quickly snatch a passing morsel and dissolving, phantom like, back into their surroundings. Their very presence is witness to the universal push of all living things to survive and procreate.

Late spring and early summer, with the larger rivers swollen and high, is the perfect time to escape to the high country for a little solitude, and with it the opportunity to gain a wider appreciation of the world we live in, and the creatures we share it with.

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

This is a one-day FUNdraising tour, not a race…

You don’t want to miss your chance to ride for a great cause on this spectacular single track starting at 11,300’ atop Monarch Pass!  The Crest Crank is one of the largest fundraisers for the Alliance Against Domestic Abuse (AADA), a non-profit organization that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in Chaffee County.  All money raised from the Crest Crank stays in Chaffee County and allows AADA to provide essential services such as emergency safe-housing, a 24-hour crisis line, financial assistance, support groups, and a youth program.

You can register online by clicking here.  AADA staff members are happy to answer any questions you may have anytime, feel free to contact us at 719-539-7347 or salidaalliance@qwestoffice.net.

The Crest Crank is not a race – it is a fun ride that is open to anyone wanting to tour the spectacular Monarch Crest section of the Continental Divide Trail (click here for a trail description).  All riders are asked to collect pledges or pay an entry fee of $75 or more before the ride; the rider who collects the most pledges over $300 will win a super-cool cruiser bike from our friends at Absolute Bikes! All participants will receive a rider goody-bag with a commemorative and stylish event t-shirt, biking goodies, pre-ride bike inspection and shuttle to the trail head.  Baked goods and beverages will be provided by Salida Café and Roastery the morning of the ride, and a post-ride celebration with fantastic BBQ fare, beer and awesome prizes will follow!

Crest Crank is on Facebook! Join the fun by uploading your photos or videos from past Crest Crank rides, share stories and advice with other riders, and let everyone know you will be attending this year’s ride!   Be sure to become a fan of the AADA Facebook Page to receive important updates!

By the end of the month, we should be back into some great dry fly action, but for a poor sap like me who has been too busy to take a trip up into the mountains, a look back at a great day of spring fishing will have to suffice. Certainly, it is hard to imagine we are looking at the same river, but I guess a ten fold increase in volume will change the complexion of most rivers.

On this particular day, I had the pleasure of floating the river with a couple of gents from back east. While this is normally my cue to hide my wallet and car keys, and lock away the silverware, on this occasion I knew I would be in good, civilized company. One of the great things about guiding, in fact probably the only thing that keeps you going, is the opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. Having fished with Cliff before, I had a feeling whoever he brought along with him was going to be fun, and so it proved to be. Hopefully, this ill be the first of many trips out this way for Joe also. Any man who ties on his own flies, and brings cold Modelo, is welcome on my boat anytime.

We had a great day on the river, not the heavy dry fly action we had been hoping for, but a terrific day with the fish hitting bead heads throughout. Once the river clears up, hopefully right after FIBark, we should start to see some great stone fly action. Already I have noticed both golden and yellow sallie adults around on the bushes near the river, and with the pmd’s getting ready to hatch also, we are on the cusp of what for me is the best time of the year to be a fisherman living in the Arkansas Valley.

Stay tuned to the Citizen for all things FIBArk. This year we will be posting event results throughout the week, so you poor souls that have to work and can’t spend the all four days moving between the river, food vendors and the beer tent can at least stay abreast of who won what.

To kick things off the FIBArk Board is sharing the following look at the history of FIBArk.  Have fun, play safe and enjoy what our community has to offer. -ss

FIBArk’s 62nd year continues the rich and fascinating history of the whitewater festival.  Whether the idea started as a result of idle talk over coffee by a group of Salida businessmen, or as a dare for bragging rights by boaters over beer, word of the Arkansas River Race challenge went mouth to mouth and people became interested.  The first FIBArk, First in Boating on the Arkansas, boat races started June 19th, 1949 when six boats entered the Arkansas River in Salida, CO for their treacherous 57 mile run to Canon City through the vertical cliffs of the Royal Gorge Canyon.  Three years later, portages and single-boat teams were eliminated and the race was set at its present length of 25.7 miles from Salida to Cotopaxi.  Coined by some as “Whitewater hell”, “The meanest stretch of whitewater in the world”, or “The longest, oldest, most prestigious and perhaps the toughest race in North America,” this Classic Downriver Race is still the longest whitewater race in the United States.

The original boat races were organized by the Salida Chamber of Commerce to attract people to the area and to promote relations with foreign countries.  World-class athletes were invited to Salida and over the years, boatmen from France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Scotland, Israel, Italy, England, Switzerland, Austria, Mexico, Canada, and the USA pitted their skills against the roaring, boulder-strewn river.  Although whitewater competition was well developed in Europe, Salida became the birthplace of whitewater sports in the United States. The City of Salida embraced the event and a four day festival and elaborate parade were soon organized. The boat races were advertised around the State and dignitaries were invited for the festivities. A Boat Race Queen, her attendants, and Hostesses represented the Annual Salida-Arkansas Races and in 1951 and 1953 movie stars reigned over the boating weekend.  A special train was arranged by the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad  to carry hundreds of people as it followed the race down the river from Salida and 10,000 people or more lined the banks of the Arkansas to watch the boaters battle for survival.

Through the 62 years of the festival, whitewater paddling has evolved and additional river events such as slalom, wildwater, raft races, and freestyle competitions have been added to the festival. Undoubtedly the most popular spectator event is the costumed, dangerous, and chaotic Hooligan Race, where entrants navigate the downtown play park in anything that floats that’s not a boat.

The focus of FIBArk continues to be the mighty Arkansas River and the world-class boating events on local stretches.  Riverside Park is the center of festival activity and entertainment.  Food, arts and crafts, and industry vendors fill the park and visitors enjoy the beer tent, the carnival, and a river-side amphitheater for fun entertainment and outdoor music.  For those visitors interested in branching out from the river events, FIBArk also offers the challenging Tenderfoot Hill Climb, the local 5K, 10K, and trail runs, mountain bike races behind “S” Mountain, and the elaborate Parade down F Street!

FIBArk is organized, promoted, and presented each year by a group of dedicated volunteers.  The event would not be possible without the support of scores of people in the community who help as event sponsors and volunteers.  The 2010 New Belgium FIBArk Board of Directors thanks everyone for their contributions and pledges to continually honor the FIBArk history while looking forward to the future of boating on the Arkansas.