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BROADBACK

THE STORY

The rivers that flow into the eastern side of James and Hudson Bay have a certain allure to paddlers worldwide. They are very remote yet relatively accessible, they are wild, and their flows can be absolutely massive. Some of this changed when Hydro Quebec began diverting rivers in the area to feed their hydro projects, but much remains the same. The Broadback is one of the rivers that escaped planned diversion, and in the spring of 2014 three paddlers set out to kayak its final 120 kms, where the river is steepest as it drops into James Bay and the Arctic Ocean. This is a simple film about adventure in the Near North.

After initial festival run and release and interview by Canoe & Kayak Magazine the film has been distributed online for free. Please enjoy below.

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the film





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the images

Tupatukasi Falls. This is the most impressive waterfall I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a few. At over 100 feet the water pours from three directions into an abyss of white froth. Immediately below the falls is a violent section of class V and VI rapids. The falls look very different at low flows, and I can’t imagine what would happen at even higher flows.

The following two shots are low resolution screengrabs of one of the larger rapids on the Broadback. We certainly had some close calls along the way – notably with the gear raft – but managed to run everything successfully.