This past week, New River Academy took a two-day drive from Lijiang to the Salween River. This may be my favorite river ever and it had some of the best big wave surfing I have ever experienced. Growing up in West Virginia, I have seen my far share of good waves but the Salween blew away my expectations giving up huge play that rivals anything I have ever surfed.
The Salween ran deep through a lush, green mountainous area of China- very different from the high altitude Mekong. Running about 20,000 cfs, the Salween was a deep and steep run with very few rocks scattered through the riverbed that made for huge clean waves that gave up huge clean air.

New River Academy students at the Mekong Base

Our base was on the river in Gong Shan. We were able to catch the Kung Pow wave, the wave Andrew Holcomb and Steve Fisher surfed in Burning Time 2. This was an amazing wave. At first glance it looked small in comparison to the rest of the river but once we paddled out to the wave ,it was everything but. Every move was possible and to top it all off, the wave had eddy service.
We hit Blunts, Pan Ams, Helixes, and a number of other tricks. Daniel Stewart, Cael Jones, and Brain Boyle were anxious to get some great video and shot their butts off getting some great footage. Everyone was going big. Brian Boyle and Cael Jones got two of the biggest bounces I have ever seen. The 10+ foot tall wave broke and they fell like 6 feet to the trough. Sam Fulbright and Eli Spiegel were also going big, hitting their first airscrews and pan ams.
The whitewater section on the river is very long. We actually drove for 7 or more hours up the Salween to get to our base and for the entire 7 hours we passed numerous big class 5+ rapids, fun class 4 wave trains and more play than we could keep track of.
The section we ran was typical of the whole river with big waves of all kinds and big holes to maneuver away from as well as good wave surfing. The biggest rapid we ran was Glass Pack. Named for its large glassy waves leading into a steep choppy rapid ending in a giant diagonal hole. I was excited to see the whole group take on the rapid and everyone made it through safely. Michelle Yates was nervous scouting the rapid but ran it and had a great line. I was on line but tried to punch the corner of the wave and got window shaded.

The down river play was awesome and reminded me of the New River Dries. We all were hitting some good kickflips off the fast clean waves. Some kickflips that stuck out were from Brian Boyle and Matt West. Matt said he got the biggest kickflip of his life. I used a large curler to attempt an offside kickflip and ended up clearing my head as the curler picked me up, rolled me, and slammed me flat back on the water. Very cool feeling. Tino Specht got one of the biggest kickflips the group had ever seen off the top wave in Glass Pack. That was a brave move above such a demanding rapid.
The Kung Pow wave started to drop out and our muscles and backs needed a break so we packed and up and left to get ready for our trip on the Yangtze. But, we got 2 and a half hours down the road and found another giant world class wave every bit as good as Kung Pow. It was 9 in the morning and we put on our cold wet gear for one last session. The wave was perfect. All the water funneled down in a huge wave train with a huge breaking wave with a giant eddy. I got the biggest tricks ever.
The group had mixed feelings about what to name the wave but Dave Hughes and I agreed on Fortune Cookie.
We are back in Lijiang having classes and preparing for our trip on the Yangtze. Due to a dam being built we may be the last trip ever to paddle the Great Bend section of the Yangtze. It is a little high running close to 60,000 cuffs but with the raft support of Jed Weingarten and Willie Kern we feel confident that we can make it down the infamous Yangtze River. I should have another post in a week or so. Stay tuned and wish us luck!

We just got off a 5-day river trip on the Mekong River in China.  It was a spectacular run tucked away in foothills of the Himalayan Mountains.  It is a high volume run with big water play and big rapids.  With the support of four rafts, our team covered close to 50 miles of river that has only been run about 7 times as it wound through the jagged mountains of the Himalayas.

   Our first day on the water was our most epic day of kayaking this year.  This was also our first day of kayaking in China so it made for a memorable experience.  The river was running about 12,000 cfs or more.  The whole team was nervous as we dropped into the first rapid consisting of giant pourovers in the center and a giant wave train with sticky wave holes against the right hand cliff.  We made it through and continued to boogie down the fast moving river.  Most of this 12 mile section consisted of huge waves that were easily as big as the rapids on the Ottawa or Dries of the New.  

The highlight of first day was Teen Chowder.  This may be the largest rapid I have ever run.  The whole river funneled together at the top, forming large diagonal holes on both sides of the river that collided together and dropped strait into a 15 foot tall crashing wave hole.  Then, the rapid ended in a tight canyon with some funky, swirly, water. If you got trashed in the rapid, rolling up at the end was really tough.  Walking the rapid definitely crossed our mind, but the high volume water would flush us through at some point, so most of the group decided to take it on.  I got munched in the bottom hole, missed a couple of roles, and finally came up with a huge smile of relief.  Everyone got trashed except for Daniel Stewart, Brian Boyle, and Kyle Dinnel who managed to smooth the rapid.  
 
The following days consisted of some epic play.  We found one wave the second day that had a giant steep green corner.  Everyone was going for the biggest moves they could get.  Eli attempted some big air screws and Sam was working on airing out his Pan Ams.  
 
On the third day, we went through The Moon Gorge, which is the most amazing canyon I have ever been in. With 800-foot limestone cliffs on both sides, all 12,000 cfs were crammed into a 30-40 foot gap creating giant whirlpools and boils.  We got thrown all over the place as we stern squirted and mystery moved through the Gorge.  
 
Camping and having class on the river is also amazing. Jed Weingarten and Levin Brown set up a great trip.  They got a local Tibetan chef, Tashi, to cook and row for us.  He actually cooked for the Dali Lama.  The camping was awesome.  We were surrounded by giant rocks of all kinds below snow covered mountains 10,000 feet above us. It was like nothing I had ever seen.
 
We are packing up and heading to the Salween tomorrow.  This is supposed to be the best play in all of China.  Can’t wait. Wish us luck.  

Shane Groves
Coach and math teacher
New River Academy

Hello, My name is Shane Groves. I am the coach and math teacher for New River Academy. This is my first year working with NRA and there is no doubt this is a huge experience. Our days are filled to the max with fun, educational experiences as we travel to take on the worlds best whitewater. I can't wait to continue our adventures as we travel to China, Chile, and all over the East Coast.

We started off the year on the Ottawa River. Staying right next to McCoys Rapid where we woke up to the sun rising over the river. This was a dream come true. The Ottawa is the perfect place to practice big water river running and playboating.

We then headed up to Nationals at the ASCI coarse where we had some top finishes amoungst the nations best Junior paddlers.  Morgan Tidd placed 1st in the Junior womens class proving that she is the nations top junior womens paddler.   She has  been  ripping it up this year improving everyday she was on the water.  Eli Spiegel was the top finisher in our school in the junior mens category throwing loops and McNasties to place 5th.

We ended a great quarter in West Virginia paddling the Gauleyl, my home river.  

The students had a great semester and formed a great team over our first 6 weeks.  We are fired up to go to china and take on some more of the worlds best whitewater.