Rio Manso: Cascada de los Alerces

After a hell of a time travling alone by bus with my kayak I made it to the shadey streets of Bariloche. Dave Fusilli and Migule picked me up from the bus terminal and we headed stright south to the nice hippy meca of El Bolson.

Camping there and trying to find things to do We all decided to head back to Cascada de los Alerces on the Rio Manso. Last time I was there after running Bonito the level was off the charts and a run looked like a good quick way to find China, so we were haping for lower flows.

Back on the Rio Manso. This volcano is the headwaters of the entire river.

We arrived on a sunny Saturday afternoon with a nice firm plan set into motion. Alerces as many times as we wanted, then the next day we would do the gorge run below it. So there we were scouting the stout in all it's glory...

Jared... to stout? or not to stout?

So we geared up... all 7 of us. We talked to a local kayaker who knew the falls and run well and said that it was high flow for the falls but perfect for the run below, ok... Maybe the most takers ever in one day for this drop? We made our way through the bushes and down to the eddy above the falls for a quick scout... then it was off to the races.

Me on the go ready to flow!

Meatball Jared ready to back flip the stout.

Really Jared ran a little far right and boofed his nose on to the boil, making him fly heels over head and do a full half backflip to stern pulg. Incorperating a little freestyle into the big drop scene. Pummel Demshitz!!!!

I ran first!!!! It was juicy and powerful!

Fusilli stout monster boof no doubt.

Max´s boat coming out of the room.

Straton with the perfect line??? Maybe!

Straton with the big imploution to swim.

Overall the drop was epic and all good to go. We all pretty much boofed the whole drop and landed flat, which is normally a bad idea off a 45 footer, but with this much water was soft. There was two swims from team Hurcules and Max had to climb out of the river right eddy due to a tough ferry move. The basic idea of the drop is to run it so you pop up on the left to avoid the eddy room on the right. 4 of us went left and the other 3 went right. A decent ratio. We camped out drank some big beers and cooked food right on the side of the river waiting to wake up the next day to run it again and explore the gorge that lays below.

Later E.G.