Friday, October 26, 2007

Doi Intanon, Mae Pan Waterfall section



Josh Neilson- Mae Pan Waterfall




-Will Clark-Mae Pan Waterfall


It was about a year ago when i first heard about anyone paddling in Thailand when Ben Brown, Steve Fisher and Eric Southwick filmed a show for MSP and then didnt hear much more. There was a short clip on Ben's site but it mostly showed the drop be broke his back on and not much else. So when I was asked to go to Thailand 3 months ago to explore new rivers I was unsure what to expect. Ben sent me some photos and I did some research on google images to see what it may have to offer. I booked my flight with the hope to paddle some cool whitewater in the rainy season but was really on the edge of my seat when I saw a shot of Fisher at the lip of Mae Pan waterfall. A clean roll in 50 footer which I was determined to find.

With maps of the area and good beta from Ben, Steve, Wick and Jason Younkin we were set for a great trip to the park.



-Sam on the Second slide



We arrived at the Mae Pan waterfall early and met up with Jason who was running a canyoning trip down the lower gorge and started our mission to get our kayaks to the top of the falls. We set a rope up from the top and pulled our kayaks up and then used that same rope to abseil off the backside of the ridge into the pool below the 100m waterfall and just above the lip of the 50 footer. I set up first and was stoked to be finally above the drop that motivated me to come to Thailand. A few strokes and I was falling a few second of freefall and i hit. Low volume ment I hit hard but came out with a smile on my face! STOKED!
Will fired it up next with a sick line and we got some cool pics and footage.
-Me catching some air on the second slide




-Me on lower drops


Sam opted out of the big one because of a previous spine injury but fired up the next slide with style and precision. We paddled out to the bridge leaving the lower section till next time which has got some more cool stuff on it apparently.

With it being Will's birthday we drove to a small town called Mae Chaem and enjoyed a few cold beers and yarned on about the day and trip adventures.




-Park Ranger curious to what we were doing

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-A couple of sick montages from Will Clark


Paddle safe-


-josh-


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

NICE ONE BOYS! Congrats on a successful mission!

Rem said...

Awesome drops and photos! Looks like you hit the water well.