First Legal Descent of the Niagara Gorge

The historical footage gives you a view of whitewater kayaking in the early 80's. The first descent was in the 70's by Chris Spelius and Ken Lagergren. This resulted in the arrest of Ken and the escape of Chris. For a complete pod cast of the first descent see exchile.com

[@douggrosjean]

This is fantastic. I applied for a permit in the early 1990s, assuming that lobbying efforts by the AWA had been successful, and the response was ... amusing. Parks staff took my name and number, called me about 8 hours later and read 4 passages from the New York Revised Code, which described the offenses I'd be charged with if I tried such a thing. And no, they weren't handing out permits.

[@fatmanmark]

"where the flow is unpredictable, and the surge is mysterious"hahaha best narrarator.

[@xlr8r17]

Kayak design has come a long way .. wow

[@jadecatgreen]

Omg this is freaking INTENSE! My heart was in my throat just watching it. I'm my hometown's only urban kayaker and I've taken tunnels, canals, spillways, and have gone down several local waterfalls but nothing like this. I'll never be this good... You guys are my heros! :D

[@dontjinxme]

The first and only time I ever saw Kayakers was at the Natahala River. This was back in the mid-80s when the Kayaks ,as seen above, were everywhere. When I got into Kayaking around 2005, after moving to Georgia from S. Florida, those were the types I naturally looked for. The dude at the store was sorta like "Dude! What decade did you just come from."

[@Jtwizzle]

This is so amazing... Props to anyone doing this

[@jadecatgreen]

And in some old school kayaks too! Gawd those things are L O N G! The new style whitewater kayaks take out a lot of the work. I can't even imagine the control it took. It just blows my mind. :O

[@pbr2424]

I love some of the older videos of whitewater kayaking showing the Perception Dancers / Mirages. Chirs Spelius is the best because of his love for the sport. I remember doing the Kenebec in Maine @ 13000cfs. My friend peeled off down the river when we were dicussing whether we should be doing this and I had no choice but to follow. Lots of adeneline for me. It the best sport. Thanks for posting.

[@datapro007]

Hi, Chris, I love this video. I hike that section of the gorge often and am always awestruck by the thought of running it.

[@dannyb6968]

17 Years has now passed, and It is truly amazing even by today's standard,. watching these folks run that river. My greatest amusement is the way things have changed dramatically. Today when You Tubers record interviews there is a lot more dramatic effect in the way people talk and display themselves on camera. Back in this time when this was recorded, People were a lot more humble and courteous than the arrogance of our troubled society today. It is something I miss.

[@exchile]

You know I always thought the same thing from the first I saw the show before it aired. Carrie was one of the best paddlers in the country male or female at the time. chris

[@ladyjennalyn]

Yeah, the smile and laugh is typical of a person who is 'scared as fuck'. She didn't say she was happy it was over, she said she felt better now. Doesn't everyone feel better after they accomplish something awesome? If anyone was 'scared as fuck', they would never be in this sport, and would have never paddled into the Niagara Gorge. This takes guts and passion and years of dedicated training.

[@holydogshit2010]

Fucking loved the music.

[@ethanfrangenberg7733]

I am impressed. Those longboats are not easy to paddle. Big water is quite fun!

[@stickthatboof]

nice job guys! great to see some classic footage!

[@jtsmizzack]

Thanks for posting!

[@exchile]

Well someone did notice the fact that we taped and glued our spray skirts down. That was the big fear...what would happen if the skirt blew. We had three illegal runs before we did the filming run. chris

[@elonmust7470]

badass!

[@hodman1957]

Big waves but no holes!

[@seanbaskett5506]

This is some of the greatest whitewater footage ever. I wish they could get camera crews like this into the Tsangpo gorge or the Stikine. With the right kind of lenses.

[@heightsofsagarmatha]

Dean Jackson also has great footage

[@padlnjones]

wow! great stuff! and loved the LA Rams football helmet...

[@walterwhite2023]

😂😂😂

[@exchile]

I have always wanted to try a jet ski...I thought I could get it through there but going upstream. Hey Ken Lagergren did swim through there when he exited his kayak back in the 70's. He survived!!!!!!!

[@ipplepen]

Really enjoyed seeing what the old boats could do

[@exchile]

I am not certain if I understand your comment but....for me warming up doing a full roll is a ritual of mine before a big rapid. Getting my body used to the water and going through the full range of motion before we head down the gorge. I think everyone in the group had extreme confidence in their own roll.... If you did not have confidence in ones woll .....this is not the river to paddle.

[@Wad9591]

This is a good place to sight see and a very good place to hold respect. I live here and this place is treacherous beyond your wildest dreams. It is a place you respect from a distance. Too many have taken it for granted and the majority have fared miserably. Most are never found.

[@Monkey-fc9nc]

Yes Wad9591 I was born and raised on the Niagara River. I was taught from the very beginning you just don't mess with these waters EVER!

[@Snomi16]

its amazing how much kayaks have advanced in design in 25 years...those look almost terrifying to use! fair play to them tho...thats some bit of whitewater!

[@ladyjennalyn]

Carrie didn't seem 'unsure of herself' - seems like the announcer was being sexist there.... Women are not timid and helpless, especially not pro kayakers going through the fucking Niagara Gorge. Carrie has more guts than any man I know.

[@mikeemmons4062]

One of my favorite modern paddlers is Nouria Newman. She's one of the most badass whitewater kayakers out there. I suppose we need to remember that this announcer is from a different time, and there was a different attitude towards women who participated in these types of sports. Props to Carrie for paving the way for the women of today.

[@dl3537]

@@mikeemmons4062 Yeah Nouria is insane!!

[@tpstrat14]

You practice holding your breath driving in your car!?!?!? Man, that's gotta be a hopeless feeling if you're under and you can't roll yourself back up. It makes me anxious just thinking about it...

[@ofidler]

incredible. interesting to note the way they talk about the kayakers relationship to the river

[@JP-to3sr]

Anyone know what the music is at the beginning? Sounds like Refused-New Noise.

[@exchile]

Our first descent was in 76. The first legal descent I think was in 81. Chris

[@RobinR-B]

Hey Chris, Do you still have access to the video's of the 1981 and 85 Stikine trips?

[@ybrevowerdna]

Wow that is awesome... You guys are insane in the best way! Is that a perception dancer I see? I just picked one up just like that last fall, had no idea it was this old!

[@luckyandapollo4210]

I saw the Himalayan waves on the jet boat and the guide said that the waves will swallow up whole trees. And then you see these people riding those waves on a kayak

[@michaelhill56]

Jet boat guides and everyone else up there overhype the rapids and call them Class 6. This is BIG Class 5 but not hardly Class 6...

[@kenmillard2593]

Jet boats 100% do not go anywhere near these rapids. The jet boat only does the glen rapids to whirlpool. Which these rapids are class 5. Class 6 is up river where the jet boats cannot access

[@Lageyy]

Just awesome, gotta love the 80's. This is reality TV, ha, They're coming out the other end one way or the other, the force of that water won't stop for a rescue team.

[@tomnshanna]

Hey Chris, I got your e-mail!!!! For everyone else: On Oct, 5 1977 Thomas Beaman and Robert Murray entered the river beneath the Whirlpool Bridge and shot the imfamous "Whirlpool Rapids" on truck inner tubes. We tied the tubes together with a length of rope about 12 feet apart. We wore only life jackets, hockey helmets, and swim fins. We were not tethered to the tubes in any way. We where we were arrested on a multitude of charges. We repeated this stunt in Aug. of 80 We eluded capture.

[@RWOATMAN]

Lovin it, I cant believe i have not seen this footage, i miss the old glass boats,Kayaking on Sun. and gettin drunk and doin patchwork on Tue. At least thats the way it was done in the southeast U.S. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@user-qc7hr4my7r]

Seen these rapids last weekend and they are insane.

[@185SnowMAN]

Sooo much energy!

[@FirstnameLastname-zm6ke]

I never knew Niagra had a deep throat. You learn something new every day!

[@peterrivney552]

What was her name again 🙄 I heard about that movie never seen it..

[@FirstnameLastname-zm6ke]

@@peterrivney552 Linda Lovelace. Terrible movie. Don't waste your time.

[@raynash4117]

Amazing kayaking!

[@mianeravi]

Chris made it seem effortless,that is how good he is.

[@richedwards4590]

great video

[@tpstrat14]

Visiting Niagara Falls today. The power of the Niagara river is like nothing I've ever seen. All of this water is the same exact water that flows over the Falls themselves. After the falls there's about a mile lull in the river, then it narrows and steepens rapidly and unexpectedly, creating these class 6 rapids. I can imagine explorers from hundreds of years ago climbing down the rock face near the falls to return to what they think may revert to a calm river only to find this beastly whitewater.

[@exchile]

Lame? It was all I could do to keep Ken Lagergren from running the falls back then. That was in the 70's before you were born and when long boats were the norm. He had his line figured out and only way I stopped him was by telling him if he went for it I was not going to film it. He called me a weeenie. He said a 10 year old boy went over it in a life jacket without a scratch. Quote from Lagergren "You can not let anything: job, work girl friends get in the way of one and the river.

[@exchile]

Thanks for the comments. For more historical videos check out exchile.com

[@rickrodrigues2219]

My biggest challenge is not to get a drop of water on my self....hahahaha!

[@pagansnorider]

awesome quote!!!

[@AlaskaB83]

haha! That's great! I love old school kayaking videos.

[@amazonia8393]

Putting myself in a barrel and hurtling down a huge waterfall would be my idea of hell. Who in their right mind would wana do that?

[@RadicalEarth]

Awesome! Chris you destroyed that line. SO MUCH WATER.

[@tomnshanna]

oooops, the post below is incorrect. the date of our original float was Oct. 5, 1977

[@Kittypetmeow]

I will never be this cool.

[@lemonmeringuepie3000]

excellent!

[@blueorangelettuce]

Jesus Christ, what intensity!

[@cbr125rcanada]

3:25 - "A chilly whirlpool 500 feet deep". mmmm... no.

[@mikeemmons4062]

@suny123boy1 Deep, but not 500 foot deep. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Whirlpool

[@solonutiket564]

Chris told me he glued his skirt to the kayak, then slid down thru it into the kayak. I had him for a kayak instructor. Remember "two boats in the hole" on the nolichucky River.

[@RWOATMAN]

Well let me rephrase that it looks like Chris and Carrie are paddling Dancers or some perception boats. Thanks for posting this Chris What were the other 2 boats??

[@etcrobb]

Very impressive. Crazy but impressive and congrats for surviving.

[@chunkEcheez]

UNREAL!

[@madmax412]

what kind of idiot wouldnt think this was sick? this is great footage man!

[@Chris-vw3yc]

that background music at the start sounds just like 'new noise' by refused ha ha

[@xlr8r17]

Also, Red Hill Jr. is one crazy bastard

[@bp968]

Was.

[@exchile]

well I recall it was in the early 80s perhaps 1980 at the earliest 1982 at the latest. I can check the newspaper articles and let you know exactly.

[@EmbracingHaight]

Truly amazing. Soooo much power in there. Someday!

[@exchile]

oops i did not mean to remove your entry. Tell me who the guys were to run in it in a tube I would love to talk to them. Write your post again please, Chris

[@lw216316]

fact check - I found info saying the whirlpool is 125 feet deep , not the 500 I think I heard the video say.

[@ODIN-1]

EPIC!

[@lw216316]

I've been there in person and the video does not capture the full experience. Its like looking a picture of the Grand Canyon. You have to be there in person to understand it. I was there many years ago and could not imagine anyone going down those rapids like that.

[@Monkey-fc9nc]

Nope and if you are born and raised here you stay away from these Rapids! They are nothing to fool around with.

[@bobsit1945]

Originally from Niagara Falls, but at the time that this was filmed missed it because I was on a pleasure cruise of the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean aboard the Luxury Ocean Liner USS John F. Kennedy. Would of loved to see it,

[@jordanbabcock9349]

k, no thank you.

[@NotiFawkes]

The narrator and music really did it for me on this one. Epic

[@gravity_hurts]

old school!

[@Ps1locyb1n]

holy crap that looks like fun.

[@tubeneophyte]

Looks like Perception Mirage (my first boat).

[@ziply123]

I love the narrator's Yankee accent!

[@cheskybaba4864]

Those boats! The helmets, PFD's ,paddles! How did they do it? And where those skirts duct taped down?

[@andys2856]

We kayaked in fibre glass boats in the 80s.

[@stillrob420]

When someone Surfs it, then ill be impressed.

[@jimmimak]

love the 80's beards

[@Fuckstupidlibtards]

Didn't know the Bee Gees were big water boaters

[@exchile]

I too thought the comment was not legit....... C spelius

[@exchile]

that is the entire video.

[@gcharocks]

those r the biggest waves I've ever seen

[@datapro007]

I'll cut Bob Beattie a break, since he is a great skier and courageous. However, saying that Carrie Ashton is "unsure of herself" and "perhaps fearing the size of the water" is preposterous. Let's see Bob make the run, then he can comment on Carrie.

[@joepalm2823]

and the on-screen time of her run is far shorter than the 3 men

[@PotatoGunsRule]

Oh I know man. A friend bought two pairs of 205's for $25.00. He got some laughs at line up at my resort, then shredded the mountain! He was impossible for me to catch.

[@fnog9]

its such a waste for it to be illegal to go in those rapids.

[@207PH]

amazing. now someone needs to do it in an open boat. OC-1!!!! amazing skill though these 4 were amazing

[@joeskis]

I don't understand where this is. Is it shortly after the Niagara falls or the American falls? I know a ferry boat drives you right up to the bottom of the falls so the river can't be that wild.

[@ArthurSwails]

Did you see the video? It is wild as fuck.

[@BugattiIncorporated]

Your kidding me right? How on earth could any boat make it past those rapids. The "Maid of the Mist" is the Niagara Falls tourist boat that as you said takes you close to the falls itself. I was on it a while back, but they dock somewhere between the falls and beginning of the rapids. The boats depicted in here are fairly small compared to the new ones they have now. These are some of the worst rapids out there, so yes it is as bad as it looks.

[@jennal.3080]

So happy to see a few others comment on the sexist comments towards Carrie. I thought she had a great run, she didn't flip, and she handled it just as well as the others Though Chris was disputably the best, I think - what a fantastic run! - I have to say Carrie was better than Don and Ken. Saying that she was 'unsure of herself' and 'fearing the size of the water' is pure sexist nonsense. As the narrator himself says, only an expert can do this! If she was afraid of big water, why the fuck would she be this good at kayaking? It takes pure guts to participate in a sport like this, and women have to be absolute bulldogs to prove themselves and gain the strength necessary since our bodies have a much harder time forming muscle and upper body strength. Go Carrie!

[@TKM11370]

+Jenna L. She sure did great, but she did have to roll once. That is large water!

[@datapro007]

Let's not get off the "deep-end" on this. I didn't hear Bob say anything "sexist". One point, Carrie did in fact roll on video. Take a close look at 11:39.

[@ronunderwood5771]

This really takes me back

[@everythingviral972]

She seemed to be the only one truly nervous, and even admitted as much afterwards, that's probably why he said those things. People are so ridiculous nowadays, everyone is a victim. I bet you're one of those people who thinks it's sexual assault to compliment a woman.

[@michaelhill56]

@@everythingviral972 In case you forgot, men have to be manly and not show fear. I guarantee you that the guys were definitely scared and their butts puckered up so tight but they weren't gonna admit it.

[@emmytolkein3320]

Holy Holy shit.

[@liquid079]

Respect to that Girl, and Guys. ..they must all have balls the size of dinner plates.

[@LenaPolk1111]

They didn't have all the gates open

[@tuttt99]

Not in my wildest dreams!

[@MrDjrecon]

sweet background music almost like a 70's porn

[@Chris-vw3yc]

sounds exactly like refused 'new noise'

[@racek2]

Every few years someone goes over the falls and lives. It's not unheard of, just do a quick search of Buffalo news.

[@Matkatamiba]

Imagine taking an 18 footer down that

[@cheroflip]

my heroes

[@datapro007]

Carrie rolls at 11:36.

[@Igotbored23]

0:48 i thought he was about to die

[@exchile]

Hah I agree my hero was little Roger Woodward.

[@ismedkurniawan3198]

keren man, do you like its

[@ExploringCabinsandMines]

We floated this on our inner-tubes one year

[@Kaapo73]

@mkatlynwilliams She is brave! About that not-to-flip, check 11:37. It doesn't make a paddler worse if there is a need for the roll. Just do that!