INTRO TO WHITEWATER
The Intro to Whitewater course that Kayak Jasper offers is designed to take a brand new beginner and help them towards being able to paddle class II whitewater.
We start on the lake and begin with the basics: How to sit in a kayak and outfit it to your size. How to hold a paddle and what the parts of the boat are called. When and how to get out of your kayak as well as how to avoid having to swim. What gear is needed and why. From there we will begin to work on balance and paddling forward in a straight line. Turning strokes and edging are added in before we head to the river.
On the river we will continue to work on our forward stroke, edging and turning. Those skills will be transferred into doing ferries and eddy turns before the end of the first day.
Day 2 will start on the river and we will continue to work on ferries and eddy turns as well as some swimming positions and we'll briefly touch on some rescue techniques. The afternoon on Day 2 is designed to put all those skills together for a run down the Athabasca. Here you'll get to see what class II whitewater is all about.
What we povide:
Professional Instruction
All safety gear as well as First Aid equipment.
Kayaks, Paddles, Helmets, PFDs, Drytops, Wetsuits and Sprayskirts.
Transportation to the lake and river*.
What you need to provide:
Enthusiasm!
Warm clothes to wear on the water as well as to change into afterwards. Fleece and wool are great, please try to avoid cotton.
Footwear. Closed toe sandals or old sneakers are great. If you have booties for diving, or some other water sport, they will typically work very well for kayaking.
Lunch for each day.
We will meet at the Jasper Aquatic Centre parking area at 9:00am each morning, arrange vehicles and head to the lake or river from there.
*Transportation: We will need one volunteer to leave a vehicle at the take out for the river on the second day.
The fee for this course is $200 and can be paid cash or by cheque made out to 1531768 Alberta Limited.
To Register for an Intro to Whitewater course please click on the appropriate date below.
INTRO TO WHITEWATER 2 June 23,24
INTRO TO WHITEWATER 3 July 14,15
