All Blog Posts Tagged 'dam' (9)

'Year of the River' film wins at National Paddling Film Festival

To a kayaker, there's just something therapeutic about watching a dam blow up. We dream about it, we joke about it, but we don't really ever expect it to happen. Fortunately, it did happen this year in the Pacific Northwest and we'll soon see miles of new whitewater and restored salmon runs because of it. The story stuck a chord this weekend at the National Paddling Film Festival, where Craziest Idea won 'Best Professional Documentary' and 'Best of Show.'

The…

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Added by Andy Maser on February 28, 2012 at 12:12pm — No Comments

Video: Huge Dam Removals and the Most Inspiring Year of My Life

On October 26, 2011, crews packed more than 700 pounds of dynamite into the base of Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in southwest Washington. Once detonated, the White Salmon River erupted through the hole, draining the reservoir behind the dam in less than an hour. One month…

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Added by Andy Maser on February 15, 2012 at 1:30pm — No Comments

125 Foot Tall Condit Dam Breached with a Bang

October 26th, 2011 is certainly a day that will go down in history. After the Blaster in Charge yelled “fire in the hole!” and ignited the charges packed into the bottom of 125' tall Condit Dam, the White Salmon River was explosively set free for the first time in 100 years. The lake took less than 2 hours to drain, carrying an…

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Added by Andy Maser on October 30, 2011 at 6:30pm — 2 Comments

VIDEO: Huge Dam Removal Means New Whitewater on the White Salmon

In 2 weeks, Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington will be packed with enough explosives to blow a huge hole in the base of the concrete wall. Moments after the climactic explosion, 10,000 CFS will gush from the tunnel and drain Northwestern Lake completely in 6 hours. That’s the moment paddlers have been…

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Added by Andy Maser on October 11, 2011 at 8:30am — 3 Comments

Romaine River, for the last time, again

Labrador Air Safari: It might not be legal to strap a boat to the pontoon and have James sit on a milkcrate in the cargo area, but it saved us 500 dollars.

Tripp, James and I are back from Quebec! Well, we’ve been back for a few weeks now, but between the Labor Day releases in New York and sneaking food from the Middlebury Dining Hall, it’s been hard to pull together a blog post. I went to the Romaine last year, full of idealism about the "Last Descent."…

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Added by Christian Woodard on September 20, 2011 at 9:00am — No Comments

World's Biggest Dam Removal Begins This Week (Updated)

The world's largest dam removal project began yesterday on Washington's Elwha River. The removal two dams--210 foot tall Glines Canyon Dam and 108 foot tall Elwha Dam--will restore whitewater and salmon spawning habitat that's been cut off for 100 years. The project will take about 3 years to complete and, once…

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Added by Andy Maser on September 12, 2011 at 9:00pm — No Comments

It’s Official: Condit Dam on the White Salmon Coming Down This Fall

This October, a crew will begin blasting an 18-foot wide hole in the base of Condit Dam. They’ll chip away at the first 80 feet gradually, then on a ceremonious day in mid October they’ll dynamite the last 10 feet and free the White Salmon River in Washington for the first time in 98 years. It’s hard to tell…

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Added by Andy Maser on June 15, 2011 at 12:44pm — No Comments

Washington State Gives Condit Dam Removal the Green Light

Last month, the Washington Department of Ecology issued the water quality permit needed to remove Condit Dam on the White Salmon River. The permit is a major milestone and is the final step before issuance of a dam removal order by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which is expected later this year. Once removed, the dam will restore several miles of whitewater and allow the White Salmon’s namesake fish to recover from the brink of… Continue

Added by Andy Maser on November 18, 2010 at 8:08pm — No Comments

First Descent: A Dam Demolished Frees A Drowned Section of River (VIDEO)

This spring, I joined two friends at the putin for Upper Trout Creek, a classic class V run that for more than 100 years has cascaded through steep boulder drops to a lake. This trip down Trout Creek would be different though--the recent removal of Hemlock Dam meant that the lake was gone, and we had several new miles of river to explore.…

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Added by Andy Maser on July 15, 2010 at 2:00pm — No Comments