Where do you hold the classes?

Pool lessons are located at the Clear Creek Creek Recreation Center in Idaho Springs, CO. Everything else will depend on what you are looking to work on and what water levels are doing. We love to teach in the Golden Whitewater Park in Golden, CO, Reynolds Landing Park in Littleton, CO, and the North Fork or main stem of the South Platte River about an hour outside of Denver. That said, water levels on the Front Range of Colorado are very fickle and can change drastically without warning both up and down. Your instructor will reach out to you before the lesson to confirm your meeting location.

Do I need my own equipment to take a lesson?

No, rental equipment is available for all lessons upon request. This includes kayaks and packrafts and all of the other essentials like helmets, paddles, skirts, PFDs, and insulating layers. We do not rent water shoes and all on-river participants are expected to wear water-appropriate shoes while in the boats. Please give us at least 3 days notice if you’re going to need something so we have time to reserve it and pick it up from our central storage facility.

What is your cancellation policy?

We can give a 100% refund up to 2 weeks out, a 50% refund from 2 days to 2 weeks before the lesson, and then cannot give a refund with less than 48 hours notice as our guides may already be travelling for the lesson or have picked up the rental equipment.

On our end, we don't usually cancel lessons for weather (rain, thunderstorms, cold) however it is possible that water levels at all of the rivers we work on can be either too high or too low for a particular level of lesson. In that case we'll work to notify you as early as possible of our concerns and will issue a full refund if we have to cancel.

Is whitewater kayaking for me? Don’t you paddle off of waterfalls?

Whitewater kayaking has an image problem. Most people who know about the sport just see crazy GoPro videos of professionals dropping off of insane waterfalls. In actuality, most whitewater boaters stick to class II and below. These are places where you’d feel comfortable taking an inner tube. Most people aren’t looking for an adrenaline rush. Maybe they are looking to travel places you can’t get to any other way. Maybe they are looking for a fun way to relax on the water with their family. Maybe they are looking for a nice workout. Or maybe they just saw someone looking really cool in a boat and want to look cool too haha.

Shoot us an email and lets start a conversation about what your goals are. We can individualize a lesson for exactly what would be most helpful for you.

That said, here’s an old video of our owner Nik White kayaking off of Big Splat on the Lower Big Sandy River in West Virginia. https://vimeo.com/20197845. You can take this sport there, but most people don’t choose to.

Do I need to take a swiftwater rescue course?

Would you go into avalanche terrain without taking an avalanche safety and rescue course? Hopefully not. Same thing applies to whitewater. We recommend that people take a rescue course if they are thinking about getting into class III whitewater, or they are going on easier trips but find that they are the most experienced person.

A related question is how often should you take a course to refresh your skills? The honest answer is that it depends on how often you use the skills. If you boat 100 days a year, throw your rope a couple times a week, and volunteer to help in rescues or gear recoveries a few times a year, you probably could get away with every 5 years or so. Some of the best practices do change periodically. If you haven’t thrown your rope since your last class, did one trip last year, and don’t remember knots well, then you might need a refresher every year. The ACA no longer puts an “Expiration Date” on cards we give out with classes. You just “Participated in a class” on a certain date. If you don’t practice, then the skills will expire much quicker than a card from another provider.

Are there any access or conservation issues I should know about in Colorado?

Absolutely! The Two Forks Dam, coal trains through Browns Canyon, the Gross Reservoir Expansion, trail construction in Clear Creek Canyon. These issues change fast and having people on your side to fight for you is important. To that end, I’d strongly recommend anyone in this sport join American Whitewater who lobbies for paddler issues at the state and national level. If you’d like more information about