In memory of Paul Zerkelbach on this day, and in observance of the great water and all our fallen heros, raise your mug in solute while around the camp fires this weekend. Cheers to all, enjoy and be smart. As Paul was used to saying, ...
"Life wasn't meant to arrive at it's end in a clean, safe package, but instead to cross the finish line battered, bruised, and yelling Geronimo!"
also ...
"It is good to know that no matter how crazy you think are, you will always face stiff competition."
and ... as we prepared to do our FD of Cool World I said to Paul, "I think we can do this, Paul. Don't you?" To which he replied, "Heck yeah! You will nail it! (laughing) Then I'm going to do it, too." He was always good about inspiring those around him and bringing calm, enjoyment, and confidence to the adventure.
Cheers to Paul! Thanks for touching our lives. -- kv
Thanks for the post in the memory of Paul Zirkelbach and the many lives he touched. American Whitewater has a link to article, good thoughts for us all.
Sorry to butt in...does anyone have a link to the accident report? The link on the above AW page was broken.
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I hope in the future Americans are thought of as a warlike, vicious people, because I bet a lot of high schools would pick "Americans" as their mascot. -Jack Handy
Zirk was the man. A great friend! It's been 5 yrs and seems like it just happened. So many great folks we've lost. Sometimes it's so hard to love this sport, other times it's all I can smile about.
Props, to the group that went in on friday and got it done. I was happy to hear someone was cleaning it up in there. Well with the exception of forrest making it look ugly, lmao!
Be safe out there folks and paddle where you can breath.
Gary
Also, funny Ken brought up cool world- I took Pauls ashes around the country and put him in over 200 rivers and the last of his ashes came at cw .
"no matter how crazy you may think you are, look around the competition is staggering"
also my personal favorite-"if you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough"
Zirk was the man. A great friend! It's been 5 yrs and seems like it just happened. So many great folks we've lost. Sometimes it's so hard to love this sport, other times it's all I can smile about.
Props, to the group that went in on friday and got it done. I was happy to hear someone was cleaning it up in there. Well with the exception of forrest making it look ugly, lmao!
Be safe out there folks and paddle where you can breath.
Gary
Also, funny Ken brought up cool world- I took Pauls ashes around the country and put him in over 200 rivers and the last of his ashes came at cw .
"no matter how crazy you may think you are, look around the competition is staggering"
also my personal favorite-"if you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough"
Very awesome, Gary. Thanks for sharing that. It's good to know.
The day Paul, John Foss, John Mattson, Jason Kreger, Eric Keighan, I and some others set out to conquer all of the Big South was the best day I've ever had there. It was fairly high water and definitely balls out boating. Disappointingly for us, Will Gant had snuck in there on the Friday and bagged the FD of it all the day before our team arrived on Saturday. Fortunately, though, we enjoyed our own FDs ahead of team Wave Sport making their movie that day. However, Lucero was the only one that ran Double Trouble that day. Upon srategizing and receiving encouragement from Paul I was about to go for it when Ed quickly jumped in and, though he escaped its clutches, didn't exactly make it look as inviting then. It was an awesome day. Certainly one of the greatest runs in Colorado. A place I will forever remember Paul and John.
Gary, I'm pretty sure we have boated together on either Clear Creek, Bailey, or the Ark back in the day. I don't get as many days in anymore, but maybe give me a shout if your in the area sometime. Also, I'm curious about how many of the 200 rivers, which you've entered Paul's ashes in, did Paul boat? All of them? You certainly have carried on the spirit with all of your destinations. Keep it up and stay cool, Gar!
mackin high water on the south fork of the merced, knees were knockin and looking for toilet paper on the scouts, but Zirk kept us laughing...... thanks for the memories B
We looked briefly at the Gash on Friday. I didn't know it was 5 years ago that day. Forrest did a great job of leading us, but I must admit that I pooed in my boat a little as our guide splatted a house rock in a creek boat through a read and run class V. Where the hell did he expect me to go? Paddling class III into the lake is probably one of the best experiences on the front range. Here's to all my fallen heros.
Joe
Paddling class III into the lake is probably one of the best experiences on the front range. Here's to all my fallen heros.
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