# A legend passes



## Gary E (Oct 27, 2003)

Lars Holbeck passed last night. He died of cancer. I will always smile knowing what he gave us all. 

California is the greatest kayaking on earth and he explored and wrote it down for us.

RIP Lars, you opened a lot of eyes in your life for the better.


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## yetigonecrazy (May 23, 2005)

oh man......what a terrible loss, not only for the kayaking community but the world on a whole. they dont make em as nice as lars anymore, he certainly was a master of the game!

rest in peace buddy, and my best wishes to his family, friends, and those that he influenced over the course of his life!


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## TonyM (Apr 17, 2006)

All my love to family and friends.
Lars, you will be greatly missed.
It was an honor to know you and spend time with you.


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## WyoPadlr1 (May 5, 2005)

Hard to accept. Lars was unstoppable. I remember meeting him and paddling with him in Mexico in 1985, and he was already larger than life to those of us who had the first copy of his CA guidebook. It's been my Bible for California trips for over 20 years. Every time we ran into him, he was planning something big or had just done something big. Larger than life. 
Safe journey, Lars. May there be endless whitewater where you're headed.


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## hullflyer (Aug 22, 2004)

My condolences to Lars' family and Nancy. I am so sorry to hear this news. Lars had been sick for a long while and it's still a blow to the community and myself to hear the news. Lars was such a gracious individual and so amazingly humble for such a giant in our world. He shall be missed.


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## buenodude (Aug 29, 2006)

A sad day! My heart goes out to you and yours Nancy! Damon thought the world of Lars. He so admired both Lars and you. I'm sure if there is such a thing as "crossing over" Damon, Russell and Conrad were all there with love in there hearts and outstretched arms to pull him over.

My thoughts are with you!

pops Miller


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## Mike Harvey (Oct 10, 2003)

wow. I am super sad to hear this news. I only met Lars once or twice, but like anyone who loves whitewater paddling he was a hero. My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.


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## Mut (Dec 2, 2004)

*A true legend*

This is very sad news. Lars is a true legend. Anyone who knows him knows what a modest, genuine, down to earth super bad-ass he is. I had the privilege of hanging out with Lars in Durango. We mostly flew paragliders together. For a year or so we hung out paragliding and occasionally kayaking. He never once boasted about any of his incredible feats. It wasn't until I went on a Cali trip and bought his guide book that I realized the author was the same guy I had been flying with for a while. After our trip, I came back with a whole different perspective of him. We had our hand full on a couple of runs he pioneered 20 years ago.

To all his family and friends, my thoughts are with you. I can only imagine that Lars is in a place right now that is reflective of the wonderful life that he lead. RIP brother.


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## BrianK (Feb 3, 2005)

I have never met him, but am in awe of what those guys ran in 13' fiber glass boats 30 years ago. Reading that guidebook and seeing some of those runs is inspiring. I got my ass beat on some of those runs last summer in my modern creek boat. He was truly a pioneer of the sport.


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## doublet (May 21, 2004)

I don't have much to say other than Lars was definitely one of my heroes. Anyone doubting how much of a badass he was should drop into some of the runs from his book. I wouldn't go as far as to call him a sandbagger but when Lars said class V he meant it.

In addition to being one of the pioneers of our sport he was also an incredible climber who put up some pretty proud first ascents in CA and NV.

Here's a link to an obit: Obituaries | PressDemocrat.com | The Press Democrat | Santa Rosa, CA


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## DurangoSteve (Jun 2, 2006)

Nice tribute in today's Durango Herald.

Durango Herald News, Renowned kayaker made Durango home


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## Michael Cash (Jan 21, 2012)

*Lars*

In 1981 while driving my MGB cross country to California, I stopped to pick up a scraggly hitchiker in the South somewhere. We were about the same age. He introduced himself as "Lars Holbeck". Lars told me he had been living in Central America (Costa Rica?) kayaking the wild rivers. He said he was heading to Yosemite. He had no money. I agreed to give him a lift if he would help with the driving. So we drove pretty much nonstop. We made a detour into Juarez Mexico just to check it out. We both decided to get out of Juarez immediately. Juarez shocked us, and we both had done a lot of world travelling. We stopped overnight in a cheap motel in Las Vegas to get some sleep. That night someone broke into the room while we were sleeping. We both heard the intruder at the same time, and I noticed Lars bolt upright from his bed (he was sleeping in his sleeping bag--I guess old habits die hard). I bolted too. The intruder took off. We both fell back to sleep and vaguely recollected the event the next morning. We continued on to CA and I dropped Lars off on Highway 5 near Fresno. He told me to look him up in Yosemitie and he would show me some good kayaking and rock climbing(!). I wish I had.
Lars was a great guy, I remember having some good conversations with him during our long trip. I was sorry to hear of his passing.
Michael Cash
Las Vegas


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## gannon_w (Jun 27, 2006)

That's a cool story Cash.

RIP Lars!


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## ducksrus (Oct 4, 2010)

Having paddled with Lars and chuck Stanley in California back in the day, (80s)
I invited Lars to stay with me in Colorado and paddle some Class V here in my back
yard , on a run I told him i had completed the first descent on. "Lake Creek"...I told him of my new pet run "..
Lake Creek", ..
which nobody paddled except our "core" group..(Z.Hubbard.J.Hubbard and trip leader "RC"...namer n' tammer)........ I had the pleasure of a first D and named most of the rapids, I cut out tons of wood, and knew the run very well... after we "warmed" up on Pine Creek / Numbers sections on the Arkansas river, we had a plan for Lake Creek the following day. As it turned out.. I could not paddle with him that day, I had to work, and I warned him this is not a good run to do without going with someone who knew it well....he decided to try out Lake Creek without me and he would figure it out with his fellow paddler from Cali.. and I told them of several "not to miss eddys"...and for sure look out for the main rapid I named the "Paralylizer"..Lars returned much later that day. head hanging low, beat up and ragged. He got hammered.....I asked him what happened ... he refused to give me much information, he looked at me with deep set eyes, thanked me for the hopspitality...got in his truck and left...I never knew what happen to Lars on Lake Creek... and never will perhaps......peace out Lars...


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