Just hours before Nouria Newman planned to put in on the Klinaklini River in north-western British Columbia, she checked the water gauge at the mouth of the river. The levels had looked good. Water flows doubled overnight, turning the Class V lower gorge into a death trap.
Even in good conditions, the Klinaklini is one of the most elusive rivers in the world. Of the three groups that had attempted before her to paddle the full 125 miles to the Pacific, only one was successful. Newman, a French professional kayaker, was hoping to be the second.
After waiting for flows to recede, Newman and her paddling partner, Sandy MacEwan, launched on to the river. By the time they reached the 12-mile crux, the river had returned to its normal volume, around 10,000 cubic feet per second. Carefully scouting the six canyons that make up the lower gorge, they completed the second full descent.
A lot of people see happiness as a whole – family, job, house, money – but I see whitewater as these super, super happy moments, and then I move on to the next thing.” The 35-year-old is one of the most accomplished kayakers in the world, largely because of her ability to see a river for what it is: an ever-changing canvas that oscillates quickly between ecstasy and catastrophe. Newman’s early career was defined by competitions, both slalom and freestyle. In 2013 she won the Ottawa XL, one of the biggest freestyle events in the world, and took second at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
In 2014 she won gold at the world championships in the team category. She has been named an extreme kayaking world champion five times. Yet, despite her success paddling gates and doing tricks in controlled environments, Newman was drawn to wild rivers.
The seed was planted on an impromptu trip to the Stikine River, where she became the first woman to run Site Zed, one of the most dangerous rapids in the world. I’ve learned to trust that feeling.” Running the Stikine, which flows from northern British Columbia to southern Alaska, brought a lot of attention, something that helped Newman pivot further towards remote rivers around the world. Over the last decade she’s paddled in dozens of countries including solo expeditions in India and Madagascar and first descents in Colombia and China.
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