One weekend each fall and spring paddlers in the northeast congregate in Jamaica, Vermont, for the biannual release of the Ball Mountain Dam. The West Release, or “West Fest,” as it is called by many, is about as Vermont an experience as one could ever hope for. While other river festivals are characterized by paddlers wearing chrome helmets sitting in the eddy and bragging about their latest rodeo, the West Fest brings a markedly different flavor.
If the West Fest were embodied by a person, that person would look like this: male, between ages 40 and 60, salt-and-pepper moustache, and wearing a wetsuit and lifejacket purchased sometime during the Bush Senior administration. He would also wear a well-loved primary colored ProTec helmet with a neoprene visor solidly aquasealed to it. The helmet might have a hockey-style face mask as well. There are lots of these guys at West Fest, many with their kids, who also paddle the river, and they are pretty much the best people in town.
Part of this style difference is due to the river. Because of their difficulty, rivers like the Gauley in West Virginia and the Moose in New York are not as accommodating, but the West offers water for every ability. The Upper West is consistent class 2 and 3 rapids for 2.75 miles, with lots of surf waves and great features throughout. The Lower West is a mellow class 2 run, perfect for open two-man canoes. When you combine the fast and forgiving river with the local flavor of Southern Vermont, you get a fantastic, fun, laidback event.
The party starts before the water even begins flowing at Jamaica State Park, which serves as host for the festivities. People begin arriving on Friday night, and before long the campground is littered with vans and trucks piled high with kayaks, canoes, and rafts of every imaginable color. Among the forest of river craft, campfires blaze as people of all ages trade river stories over beers and barbeque. Eventually the fires die down and people pack it in, in anticipation of the weekend ahead.
In this writer’s mind, Saturday morning at West Fest is synonymous with one thing; the Snack Shack. The local school district takes advantage of all the hungry boaters in their town and shows up with a little trailer staffed by some of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, doling out breakfast sandwiches, burgers, dogs, chili, and all the delicious baked goods you could possibly want. After that morning pick-me-up, the business of the day begins. The campground reverberates with boats being thrown around, onto, and into vehicles as people make the trip up the river to the dam. It should be noted that in the fall, the park service runs a great shuttle that you can ride all day up to the dam for $10. In the spring, however, the track is too muddy, so boaters are left to their own devices.
Everyone ends up in the parking lot of the Ball Mountain dam, located in front of the old spillway. After suiting up, the throngs make the pilgrimage up and over the dam and down the switchback that zigs and zags across the dam to the river below. The put-in is a huge eddy which sits next to the furious torrent of frothing water pouring out of the dam. People bob around the eddy rolling and playing in the eddy line as they prepare for their runs. The river starts off with Initiation, a great quarter-mile of waves, holes, and eddys. There are a few surf waves on the lower part of the rapid that people line up to get a ride on.
The whole run is a perfect mix of beauty and thrills. The river flows through some of the most beautiful New England scenery imaginable. The banks are blanketed with dense lush forest without a hint of human incursion. As you bounce down the river you are constantly presented with house-size granite boulders sitting in the river that you can dodge, bounce off, or pull up on and soak up some sun. It is not unusual to see people having a mid-run beer on one as you float by.
The next notable feature is Boof Rock. This is a great feature that sits river left at an elbow in the river. The rock sits perfectly with just enough water pouring over it to allow a paddler to get fully airborne by “boofing” off it. This basically means paddling as hard as you can off the crest of the rock. This is always a crowd pleaser, and people hike up the banks to watch the seemingly endless stream of boaters boofing left and right.
Less than a mile later the largest rapid on the river comes into view. The Dumplings is hard to miss. As the name implies, the rapid is made up of large dumpling-shaped boulders, which choke the river, causing the water to filter through them, creating a swift s-curve for a main channel. Here people line the banks cheering and gasping as boaters paddle, bounce, and capsize their way down. The Dumplings also create strong eddy lines, which are a great spot for boaters to cartwheel, bow stall, and generally entertain the crowd with tricks and mishaps. After the Dumplings, the river continues offering fun features all the way back to the campground. As paddlers pull out of the river they are greeted by crowds of neoprene-clad people milling around talking and perusing the outdoor vendors who setup stalls in the campground.
After your run, you can hitch a ride and do it all over again, getting at least two, if not three, runs a day. When evening arrives, the campground heats up with laughter floating through the trees till late in the night, accompanied by the smell of wet neoprene and campfires, which subsides only when people realize that another day of great paddling approaches.
MORE INFO
This spring’s West River dam release is April 26-27.
For more information go to www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River_detail_id_2055.
