Walt Blackadar
Walter Lloyd Blackadar Jr. , mostly just Walt Blackadar (born August 13, 1922 - May 13, 1978 ) was an American whitewater pioneer.
Life
Blackadar was a surgeon by profession . He didn't start paddling until he was 43 years old. At the age of 49, he gave up his profession as a surgeon, canceled his life insurance and wrote his will to only live for whitewater paddling from then on. He conquered the most difficult and lonely rivers in North America.
He was the role model for a whole generation of paddlers. In America in the 1970s, he changed the image of paddling from pure competition to outdoor sports . His most spectacular achievements included the first descent of Turnback Canyon on the Alsek River in 1971 and the first descent of Devils Canyon on the Susitna River in Alaska in 1972 .
After a chunk of ice stuck in a large roller in the Turnback Canyon damaged his kayak and he had difficulty reaching the safe shore, he wrote in his tour book:
“One huge horrendous mile of hair (the worst foamy rapids a kayaker can imagine), 30 feet wide, 50,000 cubic feet per second and a twenty degree downgrade going like hell. Incredible! I didn't flip in that mile or I wouldn't be writing… I'll never go back, not for $ 50,000, not for all tea in China. Heed my words well and don't be a ass! It's unpaddleable! "
“A tremendously terrible stretch, the worst boiling rapids a paddler can imagine, nine meters wide, two thousand cubic meters of water per second and a gradient of twenty degrees, a ride in hell. Incredible! I didn't capsize, otherwise I wouldn't be able to write these words again ... I would never repeat that, not for $ 50,000, not for all of China's tea. Listen to my words and don't be a fool. It is impassable! "
Sports Illustrated compared its success at Turnback Canyon to the first ascent of Mount Everest . Canada honored him by naming a mountain in the Alsek Range, Mount Blackadar , after him . The Turnback Canyon is located on the western flank of Mount Blackadar.
On May 13, 1978, he had a fatal accident in the South Fork of the South Payette River , Idaho, when he got caught on driftwood below the surface of the water. His grave, marked by a bronze plaque on a rough boulder, is in the Garden Valley Cementary overlooking the river in which he died.
literature
- Ron Watters: Never Turn Back. The Life of Whitewater Pioneer Walt Blackadar. Great Rift Press, 1995, ISBN 1-877625-02-7 .
- John Long: The Liquid Locomotive. Legendary Whitewater River Stories. Globe Pequot Press, 1999, ISBN 1-56044-856-3 .).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walt Blackadar: Caught Up in a Hell of Whitewater. In: Sports Illustrated. August 14, 1972
- ↑ Blackadar's tombstone
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Blackadar, Walt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Blackadar, Walter Lloyd junior (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American whitewater pioneer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 13, 1922 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 13, 1978 |