# Most influential Paddlers of All time?



## DanC (Nov 19, 2010)

Looking for input for an upcoming Rapid Mag article and wanted to hear who you think the most influential WW paddlers of all time are and why?

Thanks,

Dan Caldwell


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

I know this is going to be chock full of people like Ammons and Lesser.....so I will throw out two new-school picks: Ben Stookesberry and Steve Fisher. I didn't grow up in a time when Lesser and Co were the top dogs; instead I grew up getting fired up watching the No Big Names movies and Into the Tsangpo gorge. Definitely two dudes pushing it like no one else, except maybe each other.....


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## montuckyhuck (Mar 14, 2010)

If Stokesberry is in there I would put Jesse Coombs righ next to him.


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## jmacn (Nov 20, 2010)

I think that a better article would be influential paddling crews. There are a number of regions of the world that have produced incredible individuals, but in every case they had partners in crime helping to push their limits. Idaho, Cali, South East, CO,Pac NW, Europe, Africa... Give credit to the regions that gave rise to the progression...To focus on the individual only fuels the old/new school rivalry which has been written about quite a bit.


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## Anchorless (Aug 3, 2010)

Walt Blackadar
Tao Berman
Eric Jackson

and you have to give respect to some of the current paddlers...

Evan Garcia
Rush Sturgeon
Tyler Bradt
Ben Marr


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Jim Snyder
Jeff Snyder
Corran Addison
Cully Erdman
Kern Bros
Lars Holbeck
Ben Stookesberry
Steve Fisher
EJ
Tao
Lesser -Ammons
Warren -Bradt
Lindgren. & crew

Abbot -Elard
Coetzee -Meredith
Lucero

Marianne Saether
no order


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

Rocky Contos and Greg Schwendinger have pretty damn impressive resumes as explorers.


Fleming Schmidt.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Influential or simply badass?


I would think that Charlie Walbridge and William Nealy are as influential as any.


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## AndTheLab (Mar 19, 2006)

John wesley powell


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

AndTheLab said:


> John wesley powell


Amen.


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## erdvm1 (Oct 17, 2003)

Huckin Duckie

Enough said


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## jmacn (Nov 20, 2010)

The above paddlers are very worth being on the list. How can you deny the OG class V-V+ boaters? Do we give props to the guide book authors, or recognize EJ for what his obvious direct contributions to today's cutting edge all discipline approach & equipment for kids?
I still think influence is a subjective topic and is regionally specific.


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## Pizzle (Jun 26, 2007)

Walt Blackadar
Ammons
Lars Holbeck
Chuck Stanley
Royal Robbins 
Richard Montgomery
Yvon Chaunard 

Those are my old school picks


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## Schutzie (Feb 5, 2013)

Martin Litton
Georgie White (yeah I know, rapid transit and all that, but she opened it up for a lot of folks)
Dr. John Baker; first known run of Royal Gorge (on an air mattress) first known cataraft (I have pix somewhere)


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

forgot Rafa Ortiz


Grif and Chunderboy


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

Schutzie said:


> Martin Litton
> Georgie White (yeah I know, rapid transit and all that, but she opened it up for a lot of folks)
> Dr. John Baker; first known run of Royal Gorge (on an air mattress) first known cataraft (I have pix somewhere)


Schutzie are you from Thornton Co.


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## Schutzie (Feb 5, 2013)

raymo said:


> Schutzie are you from Thornton Co.


RAYMO!
What's shakin?
No longer Thornton, now Arizona


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## shappattack (Jul 17, 2008)

For rowing I have to say Prince Helfrich, the Pruitt Brothers and crew for pioneering modernday style multiday trips on all those great wilderness runs in Idaho and Oregon. I mean you are out in the upper owyhee in the middle of no where and maybe you see another group of 3 people on a week long trip and you feel like you were the first one there almost, then you see the cable rigged at cable rapid, and you remember that these guys were running wood drift boats down this over 70! years ago. These guys were putting drift boats on just about anything they could find with a multiday canyon.

For kayaking I have to go with Royal Robbins and crew because of their badassness in both the wilderness kayaking and bigwall climbing worlds.


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

Schutzie said:


> RAYMO!
> What's shakin?
> No longer Thornton, now Arizona


You old dog, once you mentioned Dr. Baker I put two and two together. I will call you.


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## tmacc (Sep 6, 2009)

Randy Carter. Old school and not a bad ass, but he sure explored a lot of eastern rivers in an aluminum canoe.


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## joey11 (Jun 12, 2008)

Eric boomer! And Nikki Kelly she has awesome style and runs everything so clean.


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## Kyle K (Dec 17, 2008)

*Vladimir Kovalik (rafting)*

Yeah, he's my dad and I'm proud of him, so take this with a grain of salt but... He rowed the GC a few years back at 80 and, unlike his dear friend Martin Litton (HUGE respect to Martin for all he's done!) he rowed every inch of it himself, and in a boat of his own design. We made him scout Lava and Crystal even though he didn't want to. Totally clean runs the whole trip. 

And speaking of designing things, he virtually created the modern whitewater raft. Here are the things he came up with in the '70's that are still the norm for today (all "standard" style rafts, versus cataraft style):
1972: Continuous curved ends (versus "stove pipe" construction)
1972: Laced in thwarts (cross tubes: prior to this they were glued or buttoned in)
1973: Standard raft frame utilizing a cooler for the seat, along with suspended floors for heavy boxes. 
1974: Laced in self bailing floors (HUGE leap in design!)
1974: Type V Commercial PFD (the coast guard actually created the Type V category based on his designs). 

I'm sure there are more but that's the quick list.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

The LVM crew as a whole was inspirational! Lots good stuff was first seen in that series! John Grace, Daniel D

Doug ammons, rob lesser are also in there


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## TenMileCreekKayaks (May 11, 2008)

*So many really!!!!*

No particular order, these are just a few and all the unknowns and not mentioned!!!! 

Woody Callaway
Cully Erdman
Grant Amaral
Jim Michaud
Shane Benedict
Jon Lugbill
Rob Lesser
Chan Zwanzig
Jess Whittemore
Clay Wright 
Andrew Holcombe
Ken Whiting
Jhon Regan
Kern Brothers
Boyce Greer
Anna Levesque
Ruch Sturges
Kent Ford
Brad Ludden
Lars Holbek
Jim Snyder
Steve Fisher
Ben Marr
Even Garcia
Jhon Wasson
Dan Gavere
Charlie Munsey
Isaac Levinson
Dave Fusilli
Nick Troutman
Tyler Bradt
Toa Berman
All the Jackson Family
Mike Dawson
Dejan Kralj
David Hearn
Pat Keller
Christie Eastman
Doug Ammons
Ken Hoeve
Jim Michaud
Scott Shiply
Knapp Brothers
Eric Southwick
Bo Shelby
Jennie Goldberg
Jeff Snyder
Tanya Shuman
Cully Erdman
Knapp Brothers
Phil & Mary Deriemer
Lars Holbek
Scott Lidgren
Doug Ammos
BJ Johnson
Dana Chladek
Rafael Ortiz
Bryan Kirk
Tanya Faux
Risa Shimoda
Dave Eckardt
Walt Whitesell
Corran Addison
Jennie Goldberg
Chris Spelius
Charlie Walbridge
Jhon Sweet
Risa Shimoda
Gordon Banks
Roger Paris
Cathy Hearn
Jhon Wasson
Doug Ammos


Keep The Hairy Side up,

TMCK


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## barry (May 6, 2004)

great comprehensive list TMCK

Ammons & Spelius = true ambassadors to the sport.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

shappattack said:


> For kayaking I have to go with Royal Robbins and crew because of their badassness in both the wilderness kayaking and bigwall climbing worlds.


Heck yes!

Reg Lake is now in his 70's and designing high performance sea kayaks. Not sure what Doug Tompkins is doing.


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## ukonom (Nov 21, 2008)

Andrew Embick - bad ass pioneering alaska boater
Buzz Holmstorm - built his own boat and ran the Grand Canyon solo in 1937


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## jmacn (Nov 20, 2010)

TMTK- That's a long list. Of all time? I know a lot of the top young paddlers refer to themselves as legendary. Hmm, maybe they're right. That brown claw really left its mark I guess...


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## Preston H. (Jun 25, 2008)

TenMileCreekKayaks said:


> No particular order, these are just a few and all the unknowns and not mentioned!!!!
> 
> Walt Whitesell


Do you mean Nolan? If so I agree. He invented the float bag and rolling an open boat, and he radically altered the design of the whitewater canoe. Plus he had plenty of first descents, not to mention a lot of canoe first descents. Oh and he ran Niagara Gorge in a freaking open boat.

Perhaps his greatest accomplishment is going through only one bottle of UV-protectant for the boats at his rafting company in 20 years by using the same paper towels over and over again.


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## Anchorless (Aug 3, 2010)

jmacn said:


> TMTK- That's a long list. Of all time? I know a lot of the top young paddlers refer to themselves as legendary. Hmm, maybe they're right. That brown claw really left its mark I guess...


A lot of those young guns are dramatically evolving the sport (in many different ways), running things once thought unrunnable, and notching insane amounts of first D's. 

Whatever you may think of them they've earned their place, in my (and many other boaters) mind(s).


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## flatheadrafter (Dec 21, 2010)

*Path of the Paddle*

Bill Mason


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## tango (Feb 1, 2006)

Holbek & Stanley
Walter Kirschbaum
Walt Blackadar
Charlie Beavers
the Snyder Brothers
Scott Lindgren


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## The_Jackal_Of_Gnar (Dec 14, 2010)

Austin Rathman


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## Flying_Spaghetti_Monster (Jun 3, 2010)

Why hasn't anyone mentioned Jimmy Holcombe. He is one of the original pioneers of the sport, and has been doing more to teach new people the sport than most of the names listed. He has multiple first descents, and paddled with most of the people mentioned. I took my Swift Water Rescue coarse from him, and later took my Level IV ACA cert from him. One of the best instructors around, and a super fun loving attitude. He had a story about Walt Blackadar coming to the south east. Said Walt would drink something called green dragons. (KoolAid, and vodka.) He said that he had that Walt had a lot of trouble on the Upper Chattooga, because it was more creeky, but when they got to Section IV which was about 3 feet at the time Walt excelled. All the South East guys were looking at Sock Em' Dog talking about the hole, and Walt said "What Hole?" and charged on. Jimmy has been an influential part of who I am as a paddler, and an instructor. Every story he shared with me I cherish. It would be sad not to see him on the list. 
Also Milo Dufek, because I use Dufeks all the time


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## Shitouta (Apr 17, 2008)

Jackal:

I think you meant to say that Austin Rathman is the paddler most "under the influence" of all time, not the most influential.

Shouldn't you be unravelling the mysteries of the universe or something?


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## Hydrobait (Jun 1, 2012)

What did Austin ever do besides run a dam and swim in Wassons?


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## CBow (Aug 26, 2007)

Jack and Marykay Hession: Numerous first descents in Alaska in the 60's and 70's.

Andrew Embick and Chris Roach

Cully Erdman

Walt Blackadar

Kathy Blau

and how about Bill McGinnis or Richard Bangs


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## CBow (Aug 26, 2007)

Oh and how about Eric Evans


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## Pizzle (Jun 26, 2007)

A lot of great names mentioned, you can tell where a person comes and their age by who they think is the greatest. 
At the moment, I have CO plates on the Truck with one of those sweet CO Native stickers, been here like a year and a half, "Get out of my way! Can't you see I am Native! Going to ski the super steep Gnar at Vail!" 

Now that I have established myself as a CO Native, I cross off my previous endorsements of all those CA Rock climbers who liked to climb carrying kayaks and endorse the greatest kayaker of all time, a true ambassador to the sport. A person who died far to young, who's now in heaven with Tupac and BIG.

CHUNDERBOY for President!


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## cayo 2 (Apr 20, 2007)

yeah Richard Bangs ...watch his travel show all the time......Piotor Chemlinski /CanoAndes group..


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## montuckyhuck (Mar 14, 2010)

Aaron Pruzan and Scott Doherty


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## Stiff N' Wett (Feb 18, 2010)

Buzz Holmstom was the first to solo lots of stretches by means of rowing.
John Wesley Powell although one of the greatest explorers of all time never touched an oar. He led the way but only had one arm.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Stiff N' Wett said:


> John Wesley Powell although one of the greatest explorers of all time never touched an oar. He led the way but only had one arm.


Most influential passenger of all time?


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## MT_ZOO (Mar 17, 2012)

Kern brothers, Jed Weingarten, and Land Heflin have done some pretty awesome stuff


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## RaftinRN (Jun 2, 2011)

Nanook of the north


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## Claytonious (Jan 17, 2008)

Clayton Sneider has influenced me more than any other paddler. He is a total badass. Other than that maybe Christopher Columbus, I hear he was kind of a dick though.


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## Cphilli (Jun 10, 2010)

Being from the NE, it was always about the Kern Brothers and Dennis Squires.


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## phlyingfish (Nov 15, 2006)

Quoted for truth:


The_Jackal_Of_Gnar said:


> Austin Rathman


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## cyclodd (Mar 20, 2010)

Sure sure all those and more maybe. But what about those Siberians?


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