run in 2010 by Tyler Bradt<\/a>, and again in 2012 by Sam Grafton at around 6500 cfs, and also twice in one day in 2012 by Rob at around 7500 cfs.<\/p>\nRob said I should point out that he got ejected at the bottom and swam both times at 7500, and that Sam “crushed it” at 6500. Which is a typical Rob thing to say.<\/p>\n
It’s also worth noting that when Rob first ran it he was 43 years old and had only been kayaking for something like ten or eleven years – not a boater since childhood, and not sponsored by any company, unlike so many other extreme paddlers (not that there’s anything wrong with being sponsored, obviously… I’m just saying).<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was my sister Monique in Germany who emailed me the link to the video of Rob a couple of weeks ago and asked, “Is this the guy?” in relation to an at-the-time upcoming event (see below).<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nGetting married next to the beautiful Skykomish River. Photo by Garvin Carrell.<\/p>\n
OK, I haven’t asked Rob, but I’m wondering if after running Sunset Falls maybe the second-scariest thing he’s ever done was agree to perform the wedding ceremony between me and Mike Nash last Saturday. :) I only say this because he insisted many times that he would be a complete train wreck, but in true Rob style he totally crushed it, to the point that I told him maybe he had found his second calling.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nRob making sure the bride doesn’t take a header into the Skykomish River on her way to the wedding rock. Photo by Jennifer Jakub.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nRob “crushing it” as a marriage officiant. Photo by Dan Patrinellis.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nYes, the paper means it’s official. :) Photo by Philippa Swale.<\/p>\n
Could there be any nicer place to get married than on the rocks at Cable Drop put-in along the Skykomish River on a sunny day? Not to mention the paddle that followed, with at least 30 or so kayakers on the river, and a stellar outdoor reception graciously hosted by Mike and Beth Harms.<\/p>\n
Thanks to all who shared the day with us in person and in spirit, and to Rob for making me laugh enough during the ceremony that I forgot to be nervous. :)<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\nGood wishes from Berlin. Thanks Monique and Stephan!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It was October 2008 when everyone’s favorite local paddler and kayaking legend Rob McKibbin, ran the 275-foot Sunset Falls in Index, WA – on his lunch break, for heaven’s sake, after which he geared back up for his contracting job and went back to work. The falls hadn’t been run since 1926, when daredevil Al […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58,45],"tags":[289,158,285,283,284,214,274,288,286,120,169,287,282],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ireneskayakingblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}