'The Calm Before The Storm - Surfing New River Waves In CO

Bradley hilton and Alex Mauer at a new river wave in Colorado

DENVER, Colorado - Boardworks team athlete Bradley Hilton recently hit the river with SUPconnect community assistant and Glide whitewater athlete Alex Mauer. It's still early in the season and the two of them wanted to check out how river waves are built and how river parks are restored. Here's what they had to say: 

Words by Bradley Hilton

Here in Colorado, spring is upon us. Although runoff has barely started, there are stand up paddlers across the Mountain State gearing up for what will be an epic season of running rapids and surfing standing waves. Many drainage basins have above average snowpack and that translates to cold, deep, and fast flowing water in our rivers.

Last September’s massive flooding in Northern Colorado left many riverbeds in shambles, and there are still crews moving rocks and re-building river banks with heavy equipment. It will be interesting to see how the flooding will affect the rivers characteristics once the water comes up again.

Alex Mauer and I took to the water to get a glimpse of some new features and take a practice run for The Golden Games; held in May on Clear Creek. We were lucky enough to gain access through the entire whitewater park, even during work hours with the crews making repairs. When quizzed about the task at hand, the foreman and equipment operator simply replied “We’re making the wave bigger.” It goes without saying that this was welcome news to a couple of eager athletes on the brink of the best season yet for SUP in Colorado.

Words by Alex (Mau Pau) Mauer

It feels like a calm before a storm. The river is low right now and really mellow. Event the rapids flow smooth and didn't put back to hard. Ideal training condition to practice river skills.

It's crazy paddling in a river where huge trackers are moving and changing the river. When Bradley Hilton and I saw a new wave being built we had to surf it. I told Bradley we needed a picture of the wave behind us because we were the first ones to ever surf the wave. It's not even complete yet and we surfed it first! I cannot wait to see how that feature is at higher flow.

Bring on the season - Bradley and I are waiting!