Words: Bartosz Czauderna

Photos: Leif Anderson

Bartosz is the owner and coach of ‘Love It Live It’ More info at: https://loveitliveit.co.uk

Slave to the river

Back in the day, the fur trade was a huge thing. With increasing demand in fur in Europe the export demand kept growing with northern Canada being a great source of it. To pass fur from the north, people had to cross the Slave River. In winter despite its size, it all freezes, making it a solid winter road. In spring it had to be done with boats. One of those days, a crew were trying to get to Slave Lake with supplies from the south.

The river was already known for its big and dangerous rapids and in order to check the safe route – a small boat was sent ahead to find a path and make sure it would be safe for the large cargo. A gun shot was supposed to be signal if the road was safe. As the story goes – one of the pioneers forgot about that and shot a duck. To his horror he realized too late what he had done. All cargo was lost and the rapid became known as the ‘Rapids of the Drowned’.

I have been paddling in ‘big water’ places for almost 10 winters in Uganda and paddling on the Zambezi. I Love it, live and we are specialised in big water and fun coaching. I love these places and love the drag of big volume, the experience that it gives you, the size of it, the power of nature, the feeling of conquering the rapids and really trying to push yourself through those beautiful but fierce waves. First thing that Leif told me – that the Slave it is not as small as the Nile – you can get lost in there.

Imagine for those of you that have been on the Nile and heard the stories – it is not easy to believe or get a perspective on something being even bigger. The Slave River was a legendary spot that we wanted to visit for couple of y ars. After a few friends reached out to us to organize a trip there and after checking all the options we decided to make the dream happen and run the trip to the north!

Massive and huge

Rapids of the Drowned is one of four main sets of rapids. To people’s horror but to the joy of kayakers – it’s probably the smallest set of all four. Other names are Mountain, Cassette and the Pelican rapids. All of them are massive, huge and I wish I knew more words to describe my f elings when entering some of them. “Some people experience fear, solitude, loneliness,” as our great guide – Leif Anderson said before dropping down to Fury, one of the largest on the river. You simply must know the lines there.

You can either follow your guide, or explore the rapids – usually from the bottom on your own.

For the first couple of days, I had the feeling that the map was slowly growing in my head as I was discovering more and more new paths. In two weeks we managed to cover maybe a quarter of all the rapids.

Each of them are just amazing, they all have waves and holes – some small perfect for practicing the technique, learning first moves and enjoying the surf – and some powerful for big aerial tricks. There are also the others – the ones that you won’t be able to simply dodge. That’s why it is important to know where you are going – you can simply get lost in there.

The difficulty of an expedition to the Slave is that it is quite far north. You can either fly to Edmonton or Yellowknife or obviously take a ride through Canada. We flew to Edmonton where we were picked up by a monster truck, loaded it with boats and gear and then drove 13 hours north.

First visit was to Alexandra Falls as a sightseeing point and a quick break for breathtaking views, then to Hay River for dinner and the final piece to Fort Smith – going directly through Buffalo National Park. Just the drive is an adventure. On the journey of over 1,000km you take maybe five turns driving through beautiful changing landscape where at every moment you can get a wildlife experience.

During the trip we saw seven bears, including two cubs, a couple of foxes, many wild birds and finally in Buffalo Park, we drove through the middle of a Buffalo pack, having a lifetime experience getting a close sight at those marvellous, strong and proud animals.

After the drive we were greeted by our hosts – Leif and Natalie Anderson, who are living there for the summer and were kind to us for the duration of our trip. Arriving early evening, we got to see the place for the first time and my heart leaps.

Camping, outdoor shower, common area on the patio with a place for preparing the food and store gear and a house to hang out in. Everything feels very familiar… Straight away I understand why – it’s the closest to the Hairy Lemon that I had been since the Isimba flooding.

Then we play Catan for the evening, eat and laugh, getting ourselves ready to go kayaking tomorrow. It feels like home – and the adventure has only just started.

First day we get to the Mountain rapids. Everybody in the crew has paddled on big water or paddled the Nile, Zambezi or Slave before. They know what it is like to see the volume of the river. However, we couldn’t have got more amazed on the first day.

We go out to the put-in, which is a five minute drive away. The car stays at the top of the hill and we run down excited. After a short warm up we get to the first hole, after becoming rusty with the long drive, we perform some moves in the small and friendly but super fun feature. Just behind it there is a small wave, good for surfs and tricks. It feels like paradise – and we haven’t left the first eddy yet! We play there for a while for the warmup watching the scale of the river that goes around the horizon.

The Chico Wave

Time to head further in to see the Chico Wave. There is an important point made –there are nests of protected Pelicans that are very important for the environment. As kayakers we make sure we keep our distance from them not to disturb their nesting period. We start off knowing it will be a big ferry. It takes us a good 10 minutes to get to the other side of the current. It was just one channel; we have no idea yet how many more are there but after a few eddy hops we are next to our first middle size wave – Chico.

It starts with a small ferry through a friendly hole and ends up on a nice steep wave in the middle. It was just a half day of playing – we are back for quick lunch and then come back to the same put in, this time moving a little bit deeper into the archipelago. The Afternoon is blowing our minds. We put in at one narrow side of the archipelago, we spend all afternoon paddling to the other side of the river and running rapids and finally ferry back to the same take out that we used in the morning… A five-minute walk and we are at our car.

Despite paddling  for half a day, covering only a few of the rapids – we haven’t moved much. We barely crossed the river there and back! Yet the highlight of the day is lapping the Molly’s. A huge ramp – wide and high. Firstly, Leif checks if anybody is nervous but everybody seems to be okay. Then we go down before watching how the ramp opens up and the big drop is revealed. It was an amazing run and everybody is super stoked so we hike back up to have a look on what we had just run.

We split into teams. Then we go in, set on the line and hold tight when you see the horizon being cut off and go on a big ramp down into a series of crushing green waves. Screams, big eyes and quick strokes at the start are followed by the feeling of conquer, happiness and a desire for more. Once we have run it – the confidence gets boosted – it’s just like a big rollercoaster with water. Everybody wants more!

After a couple of runs, we start heading back – we cross Zambuqa, Avalanche and go back through Land of Giants. On each of the rapids, there is a selection based on how you are feeling – hard, medium or easy line can be selected. Pretty much it is like that through all the rapids that we are running on the Slave. On the way you experience big waves, some green, some breaking, few whirlpools, holes and plenty of up and down while you are slowly heading towards the bank. In the evening we get groceries at the local shop and we cook together to save power. That was an insane opening!

Rollercoaster is on

With water levels we are quite lucky – they are unique for this time of the year. With the rainstorms, the water has risen. Leif wakes up excited saying that Rollercoaster will be on. We pack up and hit the road – this time driving the longest distance, around 20 minutes to Cassette Rapids.

We start off by playing at Party hole and Ultimate hole in the middle of the river, which is slow and flat, great for all kinds of moves. Given it is the middle of the river – you can only come back to it from behind the foam pile. It is possible but staying very long is exhausting. After a while, we head off to new channels going down Carb Cleaner and getting to a small wave hole. There we work on our surfing position and rotations and then we paddle to Dubya and Cheney.

These become our favourites to introduce new tips and tricks on the waves. Easy to surf, forgiving, small and slow but high enough to throw the tricks. After getting an idea on flat water and flat ground we kept coming here to try new tricks. After dialling in the idea – We were moving downstream through famous Rock’Em Sock’Em that led us to Rollercoaster.

Rollercoaster turned out to be a pretty wave with easy eddy service, something like the Nile on the low water levels with a beautiful green face. What was even better – it was getting very steep at times, making it super fun to throw big tricks! Perfect place to try the tricks after picking them up at Dubya.

We spent a couple of days running different channels to get to Rollercoaster, as it was prime levels. Each day the route was different going through TSN, Can of Beans, Poop Chute, Alarm Clock, etc, which made it so amazing and introduced us to more to the area and ending daily on Rollercoaster, which was getting better and better.

When we were ready for a change of scenery, we took a day off from freestyle and concentrated on river running through Heart Attack and Land of 1000 Holes. On our rest day, we enjoyed the walk-through town of Fort Smith, visiting the Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre. In the evening we took some time watching videos, analysing the tricks and breaking them down during our flat freestyle sessions.

After the rest day we came back for Rollercoaster to throw tricks we had been thinking about on the rest day and surfing with full energy again – one of the best surfing days! We had taken playing with freestyle on all sizes of waves, which gave us enough skill for bigger challenges. It was time to explore other rapids and run some of the legendary lines.

size and power

We came back to Mountain Rapids this time starting from the top – Running Furies, English Channel, Turnpike, Maelstrom, Forgotten, Avalanche and ending at the Chico. Some of the rapids we run following the lines only, then look back on them – otherwise, we would probably be too hesitant, given the size and power of them! Paddling at Mountain is followed by Pelican the next day. We start easy from the bottom with Pelican Bottom Ferry. The waves are huge, the Ferry itself demands plenty of power and confidence because of the size of green waves that like to crash.

You can either enter high and move through the whirlpools or simply take it a bit lower, joining the current at the easier spot. With the size of this rapid – it does not make much of the difference, despite the line you choose – you will end up at the same place!

We take more time to run rapids like Prat Fall, Staircase Bottom, Snow Catcher and return through Pelican Bottom Ferry. The group takes a while looking at the Pelican trying to grasp its size and scale while Leif, Pierce and I wander off to run it. Ferrying in through three big breaking hole waves will set you on the line and once you are there you go down.

Molly was very small comparing to that. It feels like Hair of the Dog from the Nile – just on steroids! Size wise – the biggest thing I ever run! I simply get to the top, where the first wave doesn’t break on me… it simply opens at the over vertical point, and I fall into the void of water. It feels like few metres down and then you get covered by water all around, soft and smooth, no whitewater dragging. Simply opening in the peak, easy roll and I face the next huge wave. That is how Pelican felt from my perspective.

We finish off by running a slide next to Pelican and return home moved by the sheer size and power of the river. We get one more day on the water after taking a drive by look at the Rapids of the Drowned and thinking about the history and importance of that river. We spent the last day surfing and enjoying the great Slave River.

The thing with Slave is that it delivers on so many levels and it delivers different experiences to different people. Levels are likely to rise or drop on the ever-changing playground that you already know and can shape itself into a different environment with the resulting waves and holes, which floods some treasures and reveals others.

I cannot believe why Ottawa is so popular while Slave isn’t! If you love the Nile, Zambezi or Ottawa – you will also LOVE the Slave – it’s really worth the drive! We were planning to go back next summer but who knows in the current climate. Whenever, join us on our trip to the Slave!