Colorado boaters celebrate New Year’s Day on the river

Glenwood Springs kayaker Michael Ball reached the end of his New Year’s Day paddling run on Thursday and realized he had remained completely dry.

So he rolled his kayak upside down, on purpose, through the frigid waters of the Colorado River in a baptism of sorts to ring in the new year.

Ball was one of about 100 people who took to Glenwood Canyon in an annual tradition akin to the Polar Bear Club cold plungers who celebrate New Year’s Day around the globe. The Shoshone section of the Colorado River is one of the only places in the region that has a put-in and take-out surrounding an unfrozen section of water that can be paddled throughout the winter.

That’s due to the Shoshone Power Plant, which uses the nearby Hanging Lake Dam to divert water from the river through a tunnel and into turbines that generate electricity, returning the water back to the river downstream. That water then enters a section of rapids that are turbulent enough to prevent freezing for about 4 miles from the Hanging Lake area at Interstate 70’s mile marker 125, to a take-out at Grizzly Creek near mile marker 121.

Skiing often competes for the attention of the adventure seekers who are hearty enough to float the freezing river, but as this year isn’t seeing very good snowpack, the river was packed full of paddlers. Eagle County boater Ken Hoeve has been enjoying the New Year’s Day float for decades, and said this year was the best turnout he has ever seen.

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“I was down here a week ago and it was 60 degrees,” he said. “People were probably thinking it was going to be warm and sunny this year, but then as we got going it started snowing. I found it to be kind of ironic — the day this happens is the day it finally snows.”

Kayakers have been floating the Shoshone section of Glenwood Canyon on New Year’s Day since the 1970s. Some make sure they never miss a year, others come when they can.

A group of workers from Powderhorn Mountain Resort – Calvin Rice, Annie Lampard, Nick Keene and Tanner Desrosiers — came out from Grand Junction to participate in the New Year’s Day float for their first time this year.

Another first timer, Juliana Statius Muller, came from Boulder by herself, bringing her own raft and oar frame, rowing by herself. She said she has been wanting to do the New Year’s Day float forever, but has had a hard time talking people into doing it with her.

“So finally this year I said screw it, there’s going to be a bunch of people out there, I’m sure it will be safe,” she said.

Laura Karden of Denver last took part in the event on New Year’s Day of 2000. She’s a part-time snowboard instructor who also kayaks.

“I’m always working on New Year’s Day, but not this year,” she said.

Karden was joined by first-timers Campbell O’Neal and her daughter, Amanda Berry. O’Neal has been kayaking for 40 years and said she has never done the New Year’s Day float, but she might try to make it an annual tradition now with her daughter, who has been kayaking for seven years.

Many of the boaters present on Thursday have their own personal traditions associated with the event. Hoeve said for the last 17 years, he had been doing the New Year’s Day float with his best friend Derrick Dryer, making this year especially hard for him as Dryer was killed in a car accident on July 19.

Hoeve used Dryer’s kayak and paddle in an homage to his friend.

“It was the first year in 17 years he wasn’t here,” Hoeve said.

Hoeve said he saw paddlers that he hasn’t seen in years on the river on Thursday. He said the community aspect of the event is what keeps him coming back every year.

“We’re so lucky to have this here,” he said. “There’s never been one time, in 30 years, winter or summer, that I’ve come to this section of river and haven’t been able to paddle.”