...But isn't afraid to throw scissors

On September 7, 2007, Tyler Bradt stuck 107-foot Alexandra Falls in British Columbia. Successfully landing this drop will make him the undisputed world-record holder for the highest waterfall descended, if he receives confirmation from Guinness. His good friend and paddling partner, Rush Sturges, attempted the drop after Bradt but got sucked back into the falls. Bradt ran it first as the result of beating Sturges in a game of rock, paper, scissors. Last year Bradt, along with Seth Warren, was a member of the two-man Oil and Water Project you read about in the July/August 2007 issue of Paddler. Bradt and Warren drove from the northernmost part of Alaska to the southern tip of Chile in a Japanese fire truck that ran entirely on biofuel. They educated people about the benefits of biofuel in big cities and small towns along the way. We spoke with Bradt in late October, just after he came back from a Red Bull event in Mexico. While there, Bradt ran a 97-foot waterfall that he had thought was going to break his own world record. He found out later that it was smaller after measuring it. You can see Tyler Bradt’s record-breaking descent along with many other insanely large drops in Young Gun Productions’s Source, which comes out this February.

paddlermagazine.com: How was Mexico?
TB: It was epic, bro. Red Bull paid for my travel and paid me to go hang out with all of the sickest athletes in outdoor sports. I also got to stomp another big one, a 97-footer. How are things at Paddler?

paddlermagazine.com: Good, but I want to talk about you. You are the man right now.
TB: (Laughs) Well for the moment, anyway. I almost guarantee that my world record won’t stand for more than a year. All the boys are super stoked on progression, and I think that more of a common theme will be kayakers stepping it up. I am not going to name names or drops, but I know people are already planning stuff.

paddlermagazine.com: You were 13 when Tao Berman set that world record that stood for eight years. Did you think you were going to be the one to break it?
TB: I was kayaking a lot by then and I was definitely awed by it. Back then it seemed like a super crazy thing. Tao really pioneered taking bigger drops, and his record has taken a long time to be broken. I have the utmost respect for him.

paddlermagazine.com: Why Alexandra Falls?
TB: I was just planning on paddling the Slave with Rush Sturges, he was the one who was more interested in running Alexandra Falls. The first time I saw it was after an all-nighter, and I had never considered running it. When you want to run a waterfall that big you really have to pick and choose which one you are going to run. We came back a week later and I immediately knew I could run it. There was a very realistic line that landed in some very aerated water that was flowing away from the waterfall. I had the confidence that I could run it, and I ran it with the intention of sticking it.

paddlermagazine.com: How did Ed Lucero’s run in 2003 play into how you planned your run on Alexandra Falls?
TB: I had done a lot of paddling with Ed and I really respected his desire to do next-level stuff, but I did question some of his ability to stick that stuff. When we decided to run Alexandra we checked his line out quite a few times on YouTube and Epicocity’s video. When we watched his line, a few things became apparent. The first is that he tucks 10 feet down off the lip. Once you’ve tucked like that you are not controlling your boat angle. He tucked right after the lip and spiraled. When we saw this, we knew we could stick it. Ed also ran it a good bit higher than we did. Of course, he also ran it in a playboat.

paddlermagazine.com: Were you and Rush okay with sharing the world record if you both stuck it?
TB: We had never even talked about it. Rush and I have been paddling together for a while, and we both have our eyes toward the future. We did this because it helped push forward what we wanted to see happen for the sport. When we decided to do it, our main focus was that it was runnable and beautiful. Of course I wanted him to stick it. He is my friend and it would have been amazing if we both stuck it. We also both understand that this record will not stand. Rush has another big one in mind, and I thought that the one I ran in Mexico was going to be bigger than it actually was. It’s not about who has the record. It is about trying to progress the sport. Of course, I still do give him sh-- about it and ask him why he didn’t stick it. He ran that waterfall perfectly, he just landed a few feet to the right of where I landed and it happened to be more violent water, which brought him back into the falls.

paddlermagazine.com: I read that you played rock, paper, scissors to decide who was going to run it first. How much has that game influenced your career as a kayaker?
TB: (Laughs) We decide everything with that game. From who sits shotgun in the car to who is the first to run a 107-footer. We both wanted to run it first. It was really intense trying to keep my nerves calm as I waited to run it. We had to wait an hour for the safety and cameras to set up and we were both ready to run it. When it was time to rosh (ro sham bo), we went one out of one. He threw paper and I threw scissors.

paddlermagazine.com: What is best: rock, paper, or scissors?
TB: (Laughs) That day I decided to go with scissors and it was definitely best.

paddlermagazine.com: I am unstoppable at rock, paper, scissors. I think we should play over the phone.
TB: (Laughs) Alright, but we have to play for something. We can’t play without anything on the line.

paddlermagazine.com: Any suggestions?
TB: Let’s play for a beer.

paddlermagazine.com: Microbrew?
TB: Winner’s discretion.

(Jackson counted to two, and on three they said something at the same time.)
Round 1: Jackson paper, Bradt paper
Round 2: Jackson paper, Bradt paper
Round 3: Jackson rock, Bradt scissors

TB: (Laughing) That was classic, I can never win unless it counts. On this most recent trip to Mexico, I sat in the back the whole way because I lost rosh. When we were on the Cholo River we had a blind 50-footer we had to run, and sure enough I won that time and had to probe it. I was expecting to rosh for that 97-footer but no one did it with me.

paddlermagazine.com: What were you thinking when you went over the lip at Alexandra Falls?
TB: My point of commitment was before I went over the lip. I slid off of a rock into an eddy, peeled out behind a hole, and dropped off. I remember thinking, when I slid off that rock, “this is so stickable.” That is what was going through my head when I went off the lip. It actually didn’t have me as nervous as other drops. This one I just did in Mexico had me going more. I just knew Alexandra was totally runnable.

paddlermagazine.com: How did you celebrate breaking the world record?
TB: Well, it was while we were traveling so we were looking at another 30 hours on the road after we ran it. We still wanted to celebrate so we stopped in a town called Peace River, rented a hotel room, and took the town by storm. For the record, I still bought all of the drinks.

paddlermagazine.com: What was the gnarliest food you ate on during the Oil and Water project?
TB: (Laughs) That is a great question! We did eat a lot of gnarly food on the trip. I love expanding my horizons when I travel and part of that is checking out the different kinds of food people eat. I would have to say it was a tossup between a live sardine I ate in Belize and brain tacos in Mexico. We were fishing in Belize and one of my buddies offered me fifty bucks to eat one of the sardine bait-fish. It made it down the hatch on my third try. As for the brain tacos, you definitely can tell you are eating brain.

paddlermagazine.com: Why did you leave the Oil and Water Project?
TB: What we were doing was amazing, but my passions and ambitions are centered around the sport of kayaking. The Oil and Water Project didn’t allow me to be where I want to be athletically. In our nine months on the road I kayaked for 50 days. Historically, in a year I would kayak for 200 days. I am also really excited with the crew I am with and think that we can do some amazing things.

paddlermagazine.com: How about your relationship with Seth Warren?
TB: I was actually on the phone with him this morning. You can’t stay nine months in a fire truck with somebody, stick it out, and not be friends. I will remain involved in the Oil and Water project in some aspects in the future and he will be involved in an expedition I am doing in Africa this winter.

paddlermagazine.com: Tell me more about this expedition.
TB: One thing that has become apparent to us is that kayaking on an athletic level has far exceeded what equipment can handle. That is why we are doing this expedition called the Africa Revolution tour, so that we can explore more equipment to enable people to run bigger stuff.

paddlermagazine.com: Any suggestions to the 13-year-old who is sizing up you, and your world record, right now?
TB: I would say to any kid not to set limits for yourself. For years people considered Tao’s 98-footer to be the tallest thing that the sport could handle. I would tell them that anything they can dream they can do. I also wouldn’t tell them just to fall off of a 107-foot waterfall. That is something that takes a lot of practice to train for and a careful calculation of risk.