Denver Post Article on the Upper Animas

[mania]

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_3823353

i'll be up there for the next three days giving the sheriff a big headache (apparently).

oooh they said i was 'expert boater' does that make it so?

d

edited to correct my foot in mouth

[hobie]

"It's unrunnable. It's unsurvivable. It can't be portaged," Kopf says. "It's a body collection area."



No doubt but man that bit below it is epic! Thanks again Luke and Warren!

hobie

[mania]

she was asking about the section you mention and i just said - nope - nothin there - no access - move along - please dont print. at least she respected that.

[duckfoot]

Mania,

I read the article Monday morning and thought you came across just fine (though I don't know you). If it's any comfort, I didn't read it as you against the sheriff.

I am curious, though, how you felt like you were misquoted. You really never said, "unsurvivable" or "it's a body collection area?"

I am a journalist and have written hundreds of stories, but haven't been interviewed by a reporter since I was 15. I kind of want to know what it's like on the other side of the fence. I rarely rehash a story with a source after it runs runs unless they a) love it, or b) think I fucked up completely. Either way, the feedback is always a little biased.

I'm interested to see what you said versus what the reporter apparently thought you said. If you got a minute, educate me.

Ryan

[B.I.G.D.]

Actually, there are some great rapids in "the sieve section" of the Animas. I ran all but two drops above the seive last year. It was very similar to the Baker's Box section. Evan, Kevin, and I did have to abort and climb out at "Elk Antler" rapid--which is a nasty ninety degree turn into an undercut cliff wall where Beelzebub will eat you for dinner kind of thing. I think each of the sections--The Upper, Rockwood, The Sieve Section, and Baker's Box all offer world class whitewater and scenary. By the way, where did that reporter earn her degree? That's some shoddy journalism.

[willoughby]

My co-worker Jason Blevins and I have both been kayaking for more than a decade (including a few trips down the Upper A through Rockwood) and frequently handle these types of stories for The Denver Post. Feel free to contact either of us about paddling stories in the future.
-Scott Willoughby (swilloughby@denverpost.com)

[willoughby]

I thought the story was pretty damn good.

[Livingston]

willoughby, just don't call it the "Outdoor Extreme" section. I hate that word, extreme.

-d

[willoughby]

Sorry. I'll tell my editor.

[Don]

Like when you did that story last year featuring our Paddle w/ the Pros event, and never mentioned the shop running the event? That's right on point, with the choice to selective edit.

I'm never impressed with the way I'm quoted. I've been written up or interviewed 15-20 times. (NPR, Post, Rocky, OLN, USA, Westword, Nat Geo, Nat Geo Adv., Hooked, Paddler, it doesn't matter) They never get the real story. You give them 5-6 paragraghs of stuff, sometimes 15-20 minutes. They use one or two lines. It's a joke to see what the writers choice to use or "quote". NPR gets it right, well they just play what you say. The others you never know.

All you can hope for is that they don't trash you. Or, use your "quotes" against you.