Hello ,

Where have your boats taken you this month? ^ this was an overnight at Upper Kananaskis Lakes.

June and the first bit of July has seen opportunities for all crafts in recreational festivals and all competitive disciplines!

Grande Cache Rendezvous was back on the calendar thanks to UAPS, and Bow Valley Kayak Club hosted the Sundre Paddlefest. Both were blessed with good water levels and fun paddling.

The river disciplines made-do with a funky water flow schedule for the Kananaskis Open, yet provided good competition in slalom, freestyle and kayak cross. It is amazing to see how this crop of 2023 Alberta Summer Games athletes has progressed and we look forward to seeing more of them at events throughout the summer. 

Polo Nationals were held in Edmonton at the new Northeast River Park. Edmonton Whitewater Paddlers hosted an excellent event and the facility proved itself to be one of the best options for polo in the province. We hope to see lots more programming and events there in the future. Maybe ASG 2026?

Shout out to Wapiti Whitewater Paddlers from Grande Prairie who have had one of the biggest groups of kids at both the river and polo events this spring!

And before we dive into the newsletter, just a huge thank you to Lori Davis (safe & welcoming), Elissa McColl (river safety), Ariane Garneau des Roches (events), and all the club coaches and volunteers for making the season thus far, an awesome one! 

In this Newsletter:

Flows & Access

See our Kananaskis Updates below

Safety

River Safety Program updates below

Recreational events

The Women's Whitewater Weekend [sold out], Slave River Paddlefest, & KanFest (did we mention Emily Jackson and Nick Troutman are coming?!!!). 

Competitions

Brierley's Fest (Freestyle), Harvie Summer Slalom, The National Whitewater Championships at the Kananaskis, with our 2024 Olympians in person!

As some of you will have seen from the social media posts, the AWA and other Lower Kananaskis River Users Association (LKRUA) members have been working hard on behalf of the river community to secure daytime water from TransAlta and the Province. We are very grateful for all the letters that members of the river community sent us, to pass along. They made a difference! We've gone from zero accommodation, to now being in weekly negotiations with TransAlta, Alberta Environment & Protected Areas, and Alberta Tourism and Sport. 

Electricity in Alberta is sold on a hourly bid system, with high prices in the mornings and evenings. Gas production is the largest base amount of power, while solar and wind are typically produced in the daytime (average $14-$30/WM/h). That leaves hydro which is quick to turn on, and easy to fill in the gap that solar & wind leave in the evenings, at high rates (average $55-$400MW/h; up to $1000/WM/h). That is why we have seen a spring of early mornings and late evening flows. Energy producers want to get top dollar for their production. On top of production, there are drought and flood mitigations that affect flows.

What we see likely to happen for 2024 (in the next week or two) is that TransAlta will offer an event sponsorship to LKRUA that will get us through KanFest, The National Whitewater Championships, and The Mountain Wave Classic. It will also provide (currently) a couple of hours, 3 days per week of guaranteed flows for recreation and commercial operations. That isn't really enough for commercial operators to succeed, so we collectively aren't super happy about that. That said, if we sign the sponsorship agreement to get us through the summer, the organizations will not be allowed to push any further for 2024. If members aren't happy with the outcome that we announce, please write your MLA and the Environment Minister.

What we can do is make sure that KanFest, Nationals, and the Mountain Wave Classic are well attended and well publicized events. AWA will be doing our utmost to do that, and we encourage everyone to get on board! 

2024 is the 40th Anniversary of Kananaskis Whitewater and it also appears to be a pivotal year in the history of the area. Let's make sure that we have this whitewater resource for decades to come!

July and August have some of our highest profile events! Start training and get out your calendar now to book off travel time to get to those exciting events. 

If you participated in the 2023 Alberta Summer Games, consider joining the August 7th race at Harvie Passage in Calgary, and the National Championships at the Kananaskis. With all sorts of racing, it will be a great opportunity to transition your skills to the river and meet some of the top paddlers in Canada. Both are open events and we welcome adults and youth alike to help Alberta win the top Province prize, the Brian Creek Cup!

July 20/21 - Brierley's Fest - Hosted by RCC and APL

July 26-29 - Women's Whitewater Weekend - Jasper

[Sold out for 2024!]

August 2-5 - Slave River Paddlefest - Fort Smith

August 7th - Harvie Passage Summer Slalom - Calgary

August 9-11 - KanFest 2024 - Kananaskis

August 12-18 - Canadian National Whitewater Championships - Kananaskis

September 7/8 - Alberta Provincial Championships - Kananaskis [water TBD]

September 21/22 - Harvie Fall Classic - Calgary

AWA and Alberta River Surfing Association are aiming for a September 16th start to the Kananaskis construction, lasting roughly two weeks. We'll be building a new eddy for the rafts above Widow Maker, and refurbishing & strengthening as much as we can of the rest of the river with the time we have. 

We're excited to work with Able Demolition to complete this year's construction. Their overall time and financial commitments to the river are so appreciated. If you see Ed give him a big high five or a hug!

Lafarge is once again donating rocks for the river work and the Province of Alberta and the Calgary Foundation, along with many of your contributions, will help make this possible!

Thank you to Lea Elkaim for the new Kananaskis Maps too!

Harvie Passage PFD Lending Station

River SUP Ankle Leash Awareness

Rylan McCarthy has made us a great leash awareness video as part of our River Safety Program. Have a first look and please share widely. We've already seen other river education partners in Calgary and Edmonton spreading this message, so hopefully we can collectively move the needle on this important topic.

We're excited to be starting programming at Nakoda Lake next week in collaboration with  Mînî Thnî recreation. This is possible because of a Canadian Tire Jumpstart grant for a Paddle Forward project endeavouring to continue the work we have started with Stoney youth and youth in Cold Lake working to fulfill our obligation to the TRC's calls to action 87-91.  

If you have any articles to publish or topics you'd like to see in the newsletter, please let us know!