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One of many steepest navigable sections of whitewater on the planet has simply been descended once more, this time with a number of water and a few world-class photographers and cinematographers on scene. The Santo Domingo Gorge close to Chiapas, Mexico, could be the last word playground for the easiest waterfall kayakers on the planet.
Dane Jackson and Bren Orton paddled down this insanely steep and formidable part of waterfalls on March 3. Excessive water made the descent that rather more tough, because the kayak speeds elevated and the hydraulics have been that a lot greater.
Whereas Jackson ought to want no introduction, some outdoors of kayaking might not have heard of him. He’s a four-time Freestyle World Champion, five-time Inexperienced Race Champion (and record-holder), four-time North Fork Champion, and three-time Whitewater Grand Prix Champion.
He has additionally kayaked large rapids and waterfalls (seven 100-plus-foot waterfalls to this point) around the globe — and a lot extra. Jackson makes large, high-consequence rapids appear like a stroll within the park and does so with a clean, unmatched fashion.
“I’ve been to so many unimaginable locations all around the world, however the Santo Domingo Gorge is really a one-of-a-kind sequence of waterfalls,” he stated after his profitable descent.
“It’s a type of locations you possibly can’t consider once you see it. You possibly can lookup at that majestic sequence of waterfalls and know you possibly can run the whole factor; there may be nowhere and nothing prefer it.”
Kayaking Santo Domingo Gorge
About 9 years in the past, Rafa Ortiz, Rush Sturgis, and Evan Garcia did the first descent of Santo Domingo Gorge.
“Having seen this place in pictures and video for over 14 years, it was a piece all the time behind my thoughts,” Jackson stated. “Developing on 10 years because the final crew was capable of make it occur, we knew it was lastly time.”
The gorge descends practically 800 toes in simply over 2 miles. The steepest part, featured within the video, is a 0.2-mile part of whitewater that drops over 300 toes.
There are 4 foremost drops on this part. It begins with 80-foot Angel Wing Falls, then goes into 85-foot The Dome, then 65-foot Toboggan, and eventually 35-foot Uncooked Canine. Every drop has its personal challenges, however the true problem is that they’re stacked on prime of one another, so a mistake at any stage may have a ripple impact.
The aquamarine-blue waters flowing over the travertine stone create stunning rapids and waterfalls. The gorge is in a distant a part of Chiapas, Mexico, which suggests the closest hospital was two hours away on tough backroads.
Add within the time it could take to get an injured kayaker out of the steep gorge to a car, and it was vitally essential to have security in thoughts when making an attempt this kayak descent.
The group in Mexico with Jackson consisted of Israel “River” Maderos from Mexico, Bren Orton from the U.Okay., Adrian Mattern from Germany, David Sodomka from the Czech Republic, and Issac Martinez from Mexico.
World-renowned motion photographer Lucas Gilman was additionally onsite to seize the motion.
Runtime: 1 minute
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