I like this one the most, but Bob Gnarly hair looks like more of an entrapment hazard than thigh straps... just kidding. Very nicely produced and good instruction. It's great to see Nathan Shoutis' vids again.

Packrafting 101: Strokes and Eddy Turns from Media Feliz on Vimeo.

Media Feliz Lives!

Packrafting 101: River Navigation from Media Feliz on Vimeo.

Packrafting is real boating

Ok. if you have a packraft, then please send this video to your friends

It's Luc Mehl's take on our SE trip and while it cuts out the bloops (for those see Timmy J's take on the same trip:
)

What it shows is the beauty of packrafts on steep creeks. That the two (packrafts+steep creeks) can be one. That a hardshell is not the only way, that packrafting big gradient is not just a stunt -- like Paul Schauer points out -- but a possibility, a probability in the remote waters left un-run.

For me, I need to learn what the packrafts can do locally before taking them remotely. Like a climber or a skier at the local crags or slopes before they hit an expedition. For Luc and Tim they are adventure, discovering the unknown and pushing the improbable.

I'd be lying if I said that Tim always knows how the packraft will perform. In fact, if Tim knew, he'd not be paddling one.

So anyway, let's get Luc's video to 2500 hits by the end of the week. Tim looks so good boofing and bracing. It's art in slo-mo and quilted Alpackas.

If you have an account on Mountain Buzz or Boater Talk, then post it.

If you subscribe to Playak then send it to Playak. If you have friends who boat, send it to them.

It doesn't matter if you'll only run Class II with a bike, a dog, or a lunch bag on your bow. This legitimizes packrafting as a whitewater-worthy craft.

The vids are too beautiful, too informative not to go big.

Best Packrafting Video of the Year: Luc's edit of Paul on Bird

Luc Mehl's latest and best creation highlights his skills as cameraman/editor, Paul Schauer's as superb boatman, and the Alpacka packraft as a forgiving, fun craft:



Paul's season highlights is also so well crafted that I'd like to take up hardshelling, too:

Great Videos in no particular order

This is my favorite -- Devin Littlefield, an Alaska Pacific University (APU) student made it about the APU class "Swiftwater boating" taught by Paul Twardock with help from Timmy J, Jason Geck and me one day on Granite Creek.

I love the music and the editing.



Next up is Paul Schauer's run down the Tsaina, near Valdez. Paul's been cranking out the videos, but this one's my favorite of the last few he's done. Plus, it features Matt Peters and Jeff Shelton (among others), two super Alaska homegrown boaters who are also super people.



And then there is Luc's latest, and it's so good I am going to have to work extra hard and steal some of his musical ideas for my next one. It's a great trip report that would have been a contender in Dave Chenault's contest over at Bedrock and Paradox.

Two videos

Both of these are great Alaskan adventure videos and in some ways tell the same kind of story but in different ways.

Each highlights the wild adventures that Alaskans are doing, adventures that Alaska itself encourages: multisport, challenging, abstract, innovative, and as Peggy often notes, uncomfortable at times.

Josh Spice's advice:



And Luc Mehl's 2011 Wilderness Classic:




Oh and this needs some wider play too:

Iceland

Most of us have seen the fantastic video by Alastair Humphreys about crossing Iceland.

Several friends of mine have been to Iceland, Alaskan friends who have packrafts and know their potential, but they always came back without anything fantastic to say about it.

Alastair's 215 mile traverse of the island over ice field and down rivers puts Iceland firmly on my hit-list. The video by Alastair's trip partner, photographer Chris Herwig, is informative and beautiful.

Iceland Crossing (10 mins) from Christopher Herwig on Vimeo.

My hunch is the trip could be done a bit quicker (read lighter) if you weren't packing for what look like award winning videos. Maybe a Black Diamond Firstlight for the breezly ash-storms, and fewer 'lectrons for recording your epic.

If I read right, there're two days or so worth of boating, leaving about about 165 miles of walking. Late season, you could skip the crampons and walk on the ashy ice.

It looks like it could be done as a 10 day trip, probably it (or a variation) being the best packrafting journey in Europe, so far, (there's still some development needed in Scandinavia and elsewhere, of course). Another river or two on an trans-Iceland traverse to push the pack:raft ratio closer to 1:1 rather than 3:1 would make things easier on the ole' feet and back, but certainly don't want to miss out on that water-fall landscape on their first river, the "Pjorsa".

Anyway, it'd be neat if those two submitted one of their packrafting videos to Banff Mtn Film Festival. The Hig and Erin story will be there, no doubt, as well as other packrafting videos like a CarpeyBiggs Grand Canyon one. Luc Mehl as soon as he unclips his ski bindings and climbs back in his packraft will make something quirky and fun with his new Canon.

Maybe this could be the year of the packraft at Banff.

Inspiring Videos

These two videos have inspired me to buy a Panasonic GH1 with a 14-140 mm lens.

Luc in Glacier Bay



and

This one of Grand Canyon by CarpeyBiggs

Last of the Great Unknown - Preview from carpeybiggs on Vimeo.

Yep, I am dumping my Optios, and Go Pro-ing and SLR HD with a tripod.