This story first appeared in print in the Winter 2020 issue of Revelstoke Mountaineer Magazine. Read the e-edition here:
It’s January, minus 40, and the wind is howling 90 km/h. Why not go for a paddle? Not just a little dip, but a 10-day adventure down the Columbia River.
The Revelstoke boys Nick Khattar, Johan Rosen, Ben Howell, and Seb Grondin are the only ones out of their mind enough to chuck four splitboards, a tent, and a wood stove into two 20-foot Old Town canoes to see what happens.
Every summer the David Thompson Paddlesport Classic runs from Mica Creek down to Revelstoke Dam. Nick is the brains behind the project. He wanted to do something different, so why not replicate the race in winter, and shred those boat-access only pillow lines along the way while they’re at it.
Trailer: Watch the trailer for Without a Paddle here
Without a Paddle, Trailer from Johan Rosen on Vimeo.
When the river started turning into slush and ice, the paddling wasn’t as fun and easy as the boys had expected, but nothing a hip flask of whiskey can’t fix, right?
The 150-kilometre-long paddle featured endless pow, so good that one day they just couldn’t stop. The boys chucked on some headlamps and rode all night long.
‘Without a Paddle’ is not just a film about friendship, but about frostbite, skinny dipping, and the panic of losing each other in freezing fog.
Aspiring guide Seb Grondin admits that next time, “maybe we’ll check the weather forecast a bit better.”
The snowboard short, premiered at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) and will be travelling to festivals across the world to places like Sweden and Poland.
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