I've been living in Chile for years now, but in the summer of '23, I had some friends coming over... Sven Laemmler, Ian Salvat, and Benny Marr gathered in Futa for some big water training.
Afterwards, we headed South to fulfill a long-time dream: completing four of the best rivers in Patagonia in one season. The quad-crown, as they call it, is one of the most epic big water trips in the world, encompassing the Baker, Pascua, Mayer, and Bravo rivers. These are truly the jewels of Patagonia.
While I've done most of those runs a few times before, I was particularly excited about descending the Rio Pascua for the first time - known as the scariest, toughest, and most legendary of them all.
Flowing out of Lake O'Higgins, the Pascua ranks among the most powerful rivers in the world. With over 1200 cumecs rushing through tight canyons in the middle of nowhere, navigating its rowdy whitewater has high consequences in a very wild zone. It's a big water mission like few others left in the world.
We started the hike midday and paddled most of the lake overnight to avoid the wind. By midday the next morning, we reached the put-in. Despite the terrible weather, we pressed on, completing all the major portages that day and camping just before the start of the runnable gorges.
After a goodnight's sleep, we set off early and paddled the remaining whitewater - some massive holes and must-run gorges in the menu - in just a couple of hours we where out, having completed a run we’d been wanting for a very long time.
Over the next few days, we paddled the Mayer, Rio Bravo, and Baker. Great sections that used to be multi days at a time but now have become one day runs.
It took us six days to complete the quad-crown. Lots of kms and epic whitewater was ran. By far one of the best missions I've ever had in Patagonia with an great group of friends.
A huge thank you to Gonzalo Robert, for filming our journey and doing all our shuttles and to our good friend in the south Papo, for the amazing hospitality every time we come south.
Stoked for the next one.
Aniol
#patagonia #pascua #baker #bennymarr #svenlaemler #iansalvat #aniolserrasolses #classv #whitewater
