Busy kayak travel bee Honza just returned from Canada´s wild West Coast, here his report:

B.C. Boating

Already look forward for more paddling in B.C.

Have a good day

Hello all!

Well, here we are again. I've put myself back on injured reserve by having too much fun playing with the forces of gravity. This time, I've torn my labrum in my right shoulder and had to get surgery on it - right about seven weeks ago. The road to recovery is a bit longer with this one than with a fracture or something more minor, but it's given me plenty of time to work on thickening up my wallet, and organizing some of the footage I've compiled through this years adventures as a pro Teva athlete.

The physical therapy sessions are going well. Dr. Motley gave me the go ahead to start stretching it out to full range of motion, so I've been getting on it with the exercises. I can feel strength coming back to my muscles, but because they had to suture the labrum back onto the carilaginous part of the joint capsule, I have to be easy on it. Low blood flow tissues such as cartilage heal very slowly when compared to fleshy tissues such as muscles due to that lack of a pump system which provides high blood flow tissues with the needed nutrients.

Calm. Thats my word right now. I've been able to get out on some great hikes in the past few weeks, which has kept me in that nice calm state. This Muir esque discovery of my surrounding creeks and mountainsides has kept me stoked on adventures to come. 

Hope you enjoy the Colorado 09 update. Got a nice mix of some of my favorite gravity induced activities, and more to come.

Cheers! -Pat Keller 

Hey Guys,

Here is a video update from a little waterfall hucking project I did with www.redbullspecialops.co.nz here in NZ. Fun little road trip and a sick waterfall huck in the far north of NZ!

During my morning internet scanning, I came across the following video. Forget about the three wolf shirt, Tevas can help you walk on water.

The days are flying by and creeping along at the same time. It's amazing how much I feel like I've experienced in the last two days. The excitement hasn't stopped as we moved into day 2 of the Teva Mountain Games. My wake up call came in at 6:30am MST and Matthew on the other line informed me that there was now a 40% chance of rain. However, after getting dressed and ready for the day, I was greeted again with nothing but blue skies and perfect temperatures. Kicking things off right, we helped Bear Naked as they worked with the forrest service to repair some local trails at Spraddle Creek.

Moving along after our morning of hiking, trail clean-ups and awesome parfaits; we headed over to Antlers for a kayking roll cllinc from Alpine Quest Sports.  It's one thing to watch these guys compete but to get into a kayak and try to pull off a roll...well, let's just say it's harder than it looks.

After being humbled by the task of rolling a kayak, we heading back to Vail Village to catch the rest of the Teva Mountain Games in action.  From the World Cup of Climbing Qualifiers to Freestyle kayaking Qualifiers to Dock Dogs...it was an eventful day.  And...apparently, the weather here in Vail is just as reliable as the forcast. We're still dry as a bone despite all the talk of showers....knock on wood!!  Still two more days to go with a VERY FULL day tomorrow.  The Ultimate Mountain Challenge begins, World Cup of Climbing wraps up,  Teva 5K Mud Run gives everyone a chance to get involved and Aceyalone and The Lonely Ones rock the house.

Life is good!

The morning was filled with excitement as the 8th annual Teva Mountain Games kicked off at 10AM MST.  Competitors and spectators gathered along the bank of Homestake creek to watch the best of the best challenge themselves at the Bud Light Lime Steep Creek Race.  Rain showers were in the forecast for today’s events but the weather has held out and Vail is enjoying blue skies and mild temperatures.

As the race came to a close around 1pm MST the crowd headed to Mangos in Red Cliff for their notorious fish tacos and the awards ceremony.  Coming out on top for the men’s category; Teva Tribe athlete Mike Dawson from NZ secured the lead followed closely by Tao Berman and Teva Tribe athlete Pat Keller in third.  For the women’s category; Teva Tribe athlete Nikki Kelly from NZ secured the lead followed VERY closely by Teva Tribe athlete Tanya Faux from Australia and Adriene Levknecht in third.   In all, a great day for the Kiws but congrats to all the competitors from this AM…the course was demanding and the competition tough but the afternoon concluded with celebration and good times for all!

Back in the village, set-up for tonight’s festivities are well on their way.  The kayaking hole is open for freestyle practice, the crowds are starting to gather and…most importantly, the weather is AWESOME.  All is looking great for the first Mountains of Music performance kicking off day 1 with DJ Goldy and Tamarama.  If you aren’t in Vail just yet, what are you waiting for??  If you’re in town and enjoying the adventure with us, we’ll raise a toast this evening and continue the celebration under the stars!

NAWFest was bigger and badder than ever this year; opening by being the first competition on the year, as well as being the only competition on the year with a Freestyle Off the Lip Competition. This is the only competition were you huck yourself off the lip of a waterfall trying all sorts of crazy moves.

We were mainly dialing in the Mcnasty off the lip. This is a move I have been working on for a while, with last year being the first time I had stuck it. It was a little lower water levels this year which was actually better for mcnasty's. There were a handfull of us trying them, though most ended with some sweet face plants.

I was excited with a second place, mainly because I had really started to get a feel for the Mcnasty, even though I did break a paddle in the procress. In the end, Dane ended on top with a couple great Mcnasty's, Back Panam's, and a Rockspin to Freewheel.

As for the Rodeo I am proud to say the Canada took the top two places, even though Billy Harris beat me in the Finals I'm still excited that we represented Canada well. Finals for the Rodeo were really cool, this was the first rodeo I have ever competed in that had a tournament style finals, were you went head to head to see who went on. In the end it was Billy Harris, myself (Nick Troutman), EJ for the top three.

At the end of the night I was also stoked to be prized with the overall win of the weekend, with the 2nd place in the Rodeo and Freestyle off the Lip and winning the unofficial Boater-Cross. 

Here is a little video with some sweet crashes and a couple good moves too.

Nick Troutman