Upping the Ante (Con't)

Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie River,
Eugene, Oregon

If there was one three-second period when the ante was upped in 1998, it could well have come on July 31 when Shannon Carroll of Hico, W.V., ran 78-foot Sahalie Falls, a popular tourist attraction on Oregon's McKenzie River 40 miles outside Eugene on Hwy 126. With the waterfall's height recently confirmed by Dustin and Brandon Knapp, Carroll, a member of Team Pyranha, bested the United Kingdom's Shaun Baker and his former World Freefall Waterfall Kayak record at Greenland's 64-foot Aldeyjarfoss. "We were on our way to California and stopped in Eugene to break up the trip and surf at Red Sides," says the 20-year-old Carroll. "We read in the Waterfall Lover's Guide to the Pacific Northwest about this waterfall just up the road. The book said it was 60 to 100 feet, so we had no idea how high it really was."

Carroll was the only one who ran the section, which she estimates was flowing at approximately 400-500 cfs. "It really wasn't that big of a deal, or as crazy as that sounds," she says. "But it was phenomenal. It looked perfect with a rolling tongue at the edge of the drop." To get to the lip Carroll had to run a rapid about 50 yards long dropping 25 feet over several ledges. From there it was fast current to the rolling lip and 78 feet of air into the punchbowl below. And unlike Baker's previous record, this one was only caught by a single 35mm exposure, the rights to which were quickly purchased by Teva. "It's the sickest photo I've ever seen," says Driftwood Production's Scott Lindgren, who has filmed and run his fair share of big drops. "It's probably the biggest thing that's ever been run." --ahb