Scott Feindel in Point Break.

Steve McLane rippin' Santa Claus.

The Green Tongue in the winter.

The Kananaskis is the play river of choice for anyone in the Calgary area. The Lower Kananaskis River Users Association has done a phenomenal job of improving this run to the point where national events can be held with pride. There is also a killer festival here every year in May. Check out the link to the Calgary Kayak Club Site.

To Get There: Head 45 minutes West from Calgary and make the turn towards Kananaskis Country. There are huge billboards so you shouldn’t miss it. The take out is at Canoe Meadows and for us poor folk this is the hiking point as well. If you a second vehicle you can avoid the hike up the river and drive to Widow Maker and park. Widow Maker is signed and will be on the right side of the road.

Starting from Widow Maker you have a number of class 2 rapids on your way to Point Break. This is one of the newest features and is a nice wide hole that is good for all of the hole moves and really good for frozen eyeballs in the winter. Because the river is dam controlled it is good to run at any time of the year as long as the air temperature allows. Next on the list is Santa Claus, the biggest surf wave on the river. This wave is pretty good; blunts, back stabs, flip turns, the odd loop and a few cartwheels have been thrown here.

If you are looking to avoid the lines or just to have some fun on a slower wave, The Green Tongue is just down stream and is tones of fun. You can loop here and hit small blunts, flat spins and carve around until you run out of energy. The race course starts just downstream of here and is a good place to sharpen your river running skills. If you need to work on any skill, this is the place as there are all kinds of eddies to accommodate any type of attainment. I always run this section at the end of a day of play-boating. The take out eddy is on the right and only a short walk from the car.

Sean Allen