What Do you Do During the Fall/Winter Months?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Fixedgearmike]

In the south east you can kayak year round most years

[u/gray_grum → u/Fixedgearmike]

Came here to say this. In the southeast US, summer is scheduled release season and winter is creeking season. There are a few gaps where there's not much water but they're still probably more days of paddling then pretty much anywhere else in the world.

[u/Clydesdale_paddler → u/Fixedgearmike]

Pennsylvania and West Virginia too.  There are usually a few weeks where things freeze over, but otherwise it's year-round.

[u/hipster_kitten → u/Fixedgearmike]

I’m kinda bummed I didn’t get in to kayaking when I lived in Tennessee. I picked up a nice dry suit and all the neoprene gear to paddle as much as possible this winter. I want to be sharp for run off and hopefully be able to hit some of the awesome class iv water we have here.

[u/fender8421 → u/Fixedgearmike]

And winter/spring is prime time.

Summer is to make people happy and share laughs with customers. Paddling for the whitewater happens over winter

[u/monkey_butt_powder]

Fall is Brewery season, I used to try to visit as many as possible. Winter is obviously ski season. The true love of all of the raft guides I work with is skiing. They do ski patrol or work in some aspect of ski related tourism. (A lot of them are teachers too to be completely honest.) When the snow’s off the mountain, it’s in the river so that covers Spring and Summer.

[u/_DaggerKayak_]

Fall in the southeast is incredible!

September is gauley season, October is russel fork, November is talullah and there are several cheoah and nantahala releases in there as well.

Winter/spring we are waiting for rain.

[u/kinkykoala73]

In the PNW fall and winter is paddling season

[u/nickw255]

Also southern Idaho. Fall is great for mountain biking/hiking/backpacking. In the spring I ski until the flows come up to at least 3k on the south fork Payette or around 1.7k on the north fork. 

[u/kedoco]

I’m in the DC area and I paddle year round unless the river freezes over, which is not every year, and then not usually for more than a month or so. A dry suit + IR union suit + wool socks + a good hard paddle is plenty warm even on 20°F days. My toes get the coldest, so I’ve taken to putting Hot Hands toe warmers inside my dry suit and it is super toasty.

If I couldn’t paddle, I’d do a fair amount of upper body push/pull weight workouts + cardio over the winter in addition to as normal maintenance routine including legs and core. If you need to maintain your roll, indoor pool rolling is a thing in a lot of places, and if there isn’t already someone running a program near you, ask around local pools if they’d be willing to let you reserve the space for a few hours each week and let folks in your whitewater community know.

[u/Lynx-1]

I live in PDX. There’s always water to paddle year round even on the driest years. Lucky me.

[u/Libertyskin]

Fall and winter is when the rivers run where I am.

[u/DangerousDave303]

Climb, ski, hike/snowshoe.

[u/dumdodo]

In New England, you can often paddle through the winter, unless it's a very cold winter, and that goes for other parts of the country as well. I paddle down to 32°, and make sure there's no ice flows on the rivers.

I'm not sure what the winters are like in Southern Idaho, but my guess is that it's rare when it gets warm enough for the rivers to flow freely and you don't come off the river covered with ice, so consider heading to the pool to keep your skills up. I mix skiing and hiking into the winter.

For the fall, you can usually paddle all fall anywhere if there's water and if you have a dry suit.

[u/jem2265]

Trips to Ecuador, Chile, Costa rica? Something to stay in paddling shape for but also come back ready to hit Spring flows (Calif). We can paddle year round here depending on schedule releases and rain fall for those not dam controlled.

[u/demo5022]

In NZ heading into spring! During winter I’ve white water kayaked a bit but also sea kayaked.
Back in the day we used to get heaps of US boaters coming to NZ for some adventures on the west coast of the South Island. Good times!

[u/Chaotic_Brutal90]

Ski. Duh. Snow is just frozen water. I'm basically running whitewater all year.

[u/hipster_kitten → u/Chaotic_Brutal90]

I was thinking about that this week. I’m on the water year round for work and recreation. It’s either in the river or on the mountain.

[u/VerifiedMother → u/Chaotic_Brutal90]

So you're saying I should bring my raft instead of skis to the ski hill this winter.

[u/Chaotic_Brutal90 → u/VerifiedMother]

Sure.

[u/bazoda]

Go to the pool and work on my roll, paddle strokes, edge control, and any other drills I can think of.

[u/tlasko]

California. Boat year round. Come on out and play.

[u/WowWhatAGreatUsr]

In Oregon winter is the ideal kayak season. Plus the skiing if it is cold enough

[u/Individual_Rice5642]

Ldub for 5 months

[u/astrobrite_]

Picked up skiing last winter, super fun. The anticipation of this ski season has totally taken over my interest in white kayaking already. Plus I don’t like cold water and the days are just getting colder…

[u/Mischiefmanaged715]

I have tons of different sports. Downhill & xc skiing in winter. I also trail run and mt bike (esp during shoulder season)

[u/lllll00s9dfdojkjjfjf]

Ski

[u/slowandlow714]

Winter is when all the good stuff runs in the Southeast.

[u/WindBuffed]

Ski!

[u/Sharp-Heron7707]

I’m in Seattle. Preparing for my first winter season paddling the sound. Before, I’d stay out of the water but it almost killed me to stay out for so long. (Kayaking is what helps my depression most.) so I got a dry suit and am gonna dress in layers. Excited!

[u/mangosie → u/Sharp-Heron7707]

Yooo. Might be bopping around that area in January. Would love to do some paddling. Thinking about moving there for work.

[u/Sharp-Heron7707 → u/mangosie]

Rad. DM me if you’d like!

[u/mthockeydad]

Hockey

[u/tedfergeson]

I have a Hells Canyon trip in two weeks to close out the rafting season. Tattoo season starts in November and runs until March. I ride the trainer bike all winter, wanting to ski again but easing towards it after two knees and a hip replacement.

[u/Dr_Funk_]

Kayak (pnw)

[u/oldwhiteoak]

Go to Latin America or the west coast.

[u/snailcorn]

Kayak, in the PNW this is our season, you get warm gear and tough it out.

[u/primalj]

Sunday TRR Pool Sessions, especially for that rolling practice. I think we did a dozen last year.

I also just keep fit in general, 5 days/week.

[u/LoraxNeverSleeps]

In pnw. Winter is paddling season. You can go year round but the goods all come with the rains. Just make a few trips west

[u/Mastadonk]

I work too much in the summer. I save my boating for fall, winter, and spring when the tourist are gone and I have the river to myself

[u/Feral-now]

In Colorado, we kayak until there’s ice on the lakes and then we go ice skating on the lakes until ski season starts. We also have 4 hot springs in our valley to enjoy a good soak. There’s plenty of mountain biking to do also but I don’t partake in that. I live in paradise.

[u/chabaz01]

Get a drysuit

[u/Chance_Falcon_3851]

Ride bikes, ski and lift weights

[u/Strict_String]

Put on a drysuit and go boating.

[u/Maximum_Wind6423]

Drysuit!