Trip Dates: 7th-28th June 2003
Flight: Heathrow to Seattle, 4776miles x2
Drive: Seattle to Fort Smith, 4300miles

Team Members:  Clive Williamson, Will Forester, Matt Simpson, Dan Peel, Dan Hughes, Roy Dahl, Andy Laird

Photos:

Slave River
Skook

Digital Photo's WYSIWYG

Video's

Splash!  Mounty's 1
Mounty's 2  Mounty's 3
Frenchy Falls  Skook

Fort Smith is the old capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, just north of the Alberta border above the 60th Parallel. Nearby Wood Buffalo National Park a World Heritage Site and reportedly the 2nd largest Park in the world is home to the Mighty Slave River described by locals, as “Canada’s Zambezi”. The Slave River is the main reason why Fort Smith and other local villages exist in this remote corner of the Territory. The rapids of the Slave River were the only interruption for the Dene and Metis people 200 years ago as they travelled north and south with their goods and families. In winter at temperatures around -40°C it becomes a place of sparkling snow, clear skies and the Northern Lights, most of the river freezes and becomes a highway for traffic to the south. 

Naming the Rapids
The Slave River is often more than a mile wide as it angles through channels between a myriad of islands to create this awesome playground. Four named rapids, Cassette, Pelican, Mountain and Rapids of the Drowned, divide into hundreds of channels some never paddled. Cassette named after a trading company’s money cassette was lost on a misguided run through the rapids. Pelican named after the pelicans that come north each spring from Mexico to fish and nest on the Islands of the Slave. Mountain after the portage required up and over the 150-foot-high trail to the other side of the peninsula and Drowned after a group of traders signalling to each other with gunfire ran the rapids because a colleague went off to shoot his dinner while others scouted the rapids. 



The Drive
16 hours north of Edmonton, Fort Smith is at the end of Highway 5, only 60 to 70 paddlers visit the area every year. The local paddlers are very welcoming and assist in guiding you down the many channels, suitable for most whitewater paddlers the Mighty Slave River has been tamed, rapids like Pelican, Mollies Nipple and Fury can be easily portaged on your way to numerous play spots; Avalanche, Playground, Outrageous and Rollercoaster. It is possible, at a price, to fly to Fort Smith or Edmonton from London but requires you to change plane in Calgary or Vancouver. British Airways our boat friendly airline take you to Vancouver or Seattle, car hire and fights are cheaper in Seattle. So opting for the 1800mile drive through the Rocky Mountains to Fort Smith we paddled the Frazer and other BC rivers on the way. 

The Rapids
Each of the named rapids, Cassette, Pelican, Mountain and Drowned can be full days exercise in themselves. 

Cassette is the furthest rapid from Fort Smith, taking the road south into Alberta it quickly changes to a graded dirt road. Driving to the end of this road you arrive at Fort Fitzgerald where the river gauge is located and the dock where the old paddle boats used to end their journey north down the river before portaging their cargo. Cassette is a 4-7km paddle and features many surf waves Outrageous, Alarm Clock and Rollercoaster, spending all day practising new aerial moves at both would be easy. Keep a little energy for the 2km ferry glide home via The Land of a Thousand Holes. Walking back up Rollercoaster and kayaking down through The Land of a Thousand Holes makes the return home different every day. Remote channels on the far side of the river are as close as The Slave gets to creek boating, notably Split Rock being a clear smoking horizon line. The take out is at mile 285 on the dirt road, easy to find from the road not so easy from the river, marked only by a notable change in the type of jack pine trees and a small white bottle.

Pelican a formidable rapid is not for the shy, a 2km paddle upstream gets you from the put in, down the track at mile 276, to the rapid. A huge ledge where the river funnels through only 7 or 8 channels. Some channels never paddled, Pelican itself takes most of the river through the 300 metre wide channel in the middle of the river. Paddled for the first time by Shawn Grono and his friends in 1998 with differing success. A swim here can be a serious undertaking as the whirlpools and boils make it impossible to make rescue and it’s nearly a kilometre to the nearest rocks.


Mountain only gets is name from the portage the trades had todo over the peninsula. The locals spend many hours here as you can paddle from the take out to the Playground and specifically Spanky a good hole to practise your moves and sunbathe on the neighbouring rocks. The put in is a short walk from the take out so no shuttle is required. Again the river is several kilometres wide and the channels numerous. Fury and the Edge have provide trouble for some of the best kayakers. Molly’s Nipple awaits those with courage and Poly’s Nipple nearby paddled probably for the first time this year by our team requires an accurate line. Alternatively Turnpike and Avalanche are the best routes down to stay out of trouble. The track to the put in is signposted from the dirt road at mile 272.



Rapids of the Drowned is good to keep for a day off, mainly requiring a massive ferry glide across the river after a 2km paddle up the river if you don’t run a shuttle. The Drowned rapids are tight channels along the far bank of the river navigated without much difficulty in our Liquid Logic’s. Locals often BBQ on “The Rocks” as it is an easy walk from town and the pelicans provide a further attraction as they pluck fish from the churning water

Useful links:
River
www.slavekayaklodge.com 
Levels
http://scitech.pyr.ec.gc.ca/waterweb/formnav.asp?lang=0 
Town
www.town.fort-smith.nt.ca
www.virtualfortsmith.com 
www.fortsmithnwt.com