The next drop was amazing: a huge slide that started out nearly vertical for the first 20 feet, poured over a less vertical section, then over a totally vertical falls onto the slide again, and into a small pool over another slide.

All together, it was probably about 50 meters long. Only two of our group would sack it up and huck them selves over it. Nick Turner went first. Nick stomped the first part, hit the pool and gapped about a 60-foot section of dry land and landed in pool below with a broken rib. Next came Seth Warren. He went over the first part, hit a kicker going over the vert, landed sideways, did a totally aerial kick flip and landed in the pool below. He then almost flipped going off the second drop and was able to hang on until the final pool.

   The next day, we drove west towards the next creek that we would run. On the way, we found our guides pulling into the parking lot for the Money Drop. We walked out on the wooden bridge just downstream from the drop and looked at it one more time. As the group slowly started to walk back to the cars saying things like "not today" or "just too many consequences," I found that Ben Selznick and I were the only ones left standing looking at the drop. Five minutes later, Ben and I were sitting in the eddy waiting for the cinematographers and still photographer to get ready.

As it turned out, I would be the first one to go. I punched through the small V wave just as I had planned and found myself looking at the very steep entrance. From that point, pure luck would determine if I nailed my line or if something else, probably very bad, happened as I was going off of the drop. As it turned out, I would piton on a rock sticking off the wall and get shot off the falls sideways. I was able to role up in time and just miss the undercut on the right. Ben stomped the entrance and went off of the falls perfectly.

Marrian representing Norways women paddlers

    Our guides then took us to a creek that was said to be one of the hardest in Norway. After a good hot shower in a campground near the put-in we were ready for the creek the next day. We put in directly above a fun-looking slide with a huge kicker at the bottom going over a 10-foot falls. Our group, minus Nick and Ben because of injuries, all stomped it. A little further downstream after a few more drops, we came to about a 10-foot water fall. We all got out and looked at it. It was just a small 10- to 15-foot falls all going into a fairly good-sized hole. After what we had already run on the trip, it looked like nothing; all you had to do was just boof over the hole and you were home free. This hole almost took my life. Two people ran it and stomped it; I was to be next. I got as high up in the eddy as I could, so I would have enough speed to clear the hole. I was just about a foot away from the left hand bank, just as I wanted to be. Before I knew it, I had missed my boof stroke and was melting straight into the hole. The hole immediately sucked me over to the right hand side of the river against the cliff. I stayed in my boat trying to roll up for probably 35 seconds, then I pulled my skirt. The hole immediately sucked me out of my boat and was recirculating me under water, pounding me against the bottom of the river. I eventually passed out, and all I remember is hearing people yelling very faintly, and I looked up and there were ropes all around me. I was able to grab onto one and they pulled me into shore. By the time they got me into shore I was unconscious again.

9 stitches doesn't faze Tyler.

From there we went to an amazing triple drop; it was probably about a 15-footer over a 20-footer over another 15-footer all in a tight gorge with steep walls. If something went wrong, we would almost have to swim out over the remaining drops. Being still shaken up over my near-death experience the day before, I was unsure about running this, but as with the other drops on the trip, I was sitting in the eddy at the top of

the drop waiting for the light to get a little better. After the first drop, I had nailed my boof and landed perfectly. I sat in an eddy that I had found above the second drop remembering what my line was and getting ready. I went slightly over vert on the second drop and and had to roll up but all was good and I was ready for the third drop. I styled the third drop and regained my confidence.

   After that, we ran a few more drops here and there, then came to river that one of our guides had run earlier and claimed that it was one of the hardest rivers that he had done in his life. The river started out with about a 50- foot, almost vertical slide that had a lot of kickers on the way down, and if you happened to hit one, you would be one hurtinÕ unit at the bottom. After seeing many of my teammates run it with a lot of difficulties, I decided to carry around it. The next drop was about a 30-foot vertical drop that was fairly clean; we all ran it and styled it. The rest of the river consisted of some mandatory portages and a lot of big and extremely difficult drops. A few more miles down the river, we came upon a huge 60- footer that I would call unrunnable, but I would soon be proved wrong. Flemmin Shmit would sack it up and huck himself into oblivion. The drop was amazing; you had to be in the perfect spot or you landed on rocks; you had to stomp the Class V-plus entrance or you were dead. Flemming ran it perfectly and still broke his paddle and got sucked out of his boat when he hit.

   From there, we ran a few more rivers and drops and found ourselves back at Oslo airport at the end of our Norway trip.

Carnage for both Norway and Iceland:
Nick Turner: broken rib, ten stitches in elbow, broken hand,
Ben Selznick: hurt back.
Seth Warren: broken foot.
Me (Tyler Bradt): almost died, 10 stitches in chin
My dad (Bill Bradt ): cracked rib wrestling with a drunk in a parking lot.
Sondra: severely sprained foot.
Morton: sliced-up foot.
Marrian: stitches in nose.
Flemming: sliced-up hand.
Jon: two front teeth pushed in.