The Grand Canyon of the Stikine

Über den Film

What Mount Everest is to climbers, the legendary Grand Canyon of the Stikine River is to whitewater paddlers. Whitewater pioneer Doug Ammons ran the canyon alone in 1992. He describes the Stikine as “one of the greatest challenges for kayakers anywhere on this planet”.

The run through the seventy-kilometre gorge, with its roaring water and steep rock walls, takes three days. Anyone who wants through has to cross dozens of class five and six rapids. They carry names like Entry Falls, Wasson's Hole, The Wall and V-Drive.

This complex whitewater demands everything. If the kayak capsizes, survival depends on whether the paddler can roll the boat back up in the raging current. To hold your own here you have to stay completely focused and ready for the worst, right through to total exhaustion.

For the Stikine, award-winning filmmaker Olaf Obsommer brought together some of the best talent in the world: Sam Sutton from New Zealand, three-time winner of the adidas Sickline extreme kayak world championship, the extreme kayak world champions Gerd and Aniol Serrasolses from Spain, and the award-winning New Zealand filmmaker Jared Meehan.

Regie

Olaf Obsommer

Studio

OBSOMMER FILMS