This custom trip originally requested by Michael Murton group of kayak friends and scheduled for OCT – NOV, 2019. Addendums to original agreement:

A. PKR agrees to honor original 10 person group discount rate and acknowledges that due to covid group dynamics may have shifted since 2019;
B. The original agreement for group discount required 10 persons, and that without required 10 persons the trip is officially open to other retreat kayaker guests;
C. The original itinerary is mimicked with same length dates, destinations, and kayaking benefits;
D. Group negotiated discount is approximately $US1,000 discount. Guest rates are based on the 2019 group negotiated base rate of $US3895 which includes dormitory (PKR) and camping (Rios Claro and Nuble). Guests may upgrade lodging choice to which PKR honors the group discount negotiated in 2019;
E. Deposit Transfers Equal $US1,200 to which may be applied to this mimicked Pucon Creek Week and Claro Plus Nuble combo trip. Trip credits are transferrable to friends;
G. Trip credits may apply to other trips at $US600 per trip matching the original intent of group two trip itinerary. Guests may not apply the full $US1200 to a single trip.

*Originally, scheduled for OCT – NOV, 2020 due to COVID Murton Group receives 100% Deposit Transfers and rescheduling of trip for matching OCT 29 – NOV 11, 2022 dates.

ORIGINAL PRIVATE GROUP DEFINITIONS. Murton & Friends Big Chile Kayak Adventure

A. Pucon Kayak Retreat (PKR) agrees to offer Murton & Friends (M&F) discounted trip per the following definitions.
B. Minimum group size is 10 participants. If numbers are lower than 10 by deposit deadline participants agree to pay the 2020-2021 trip rate, and PKR reserves the right to promote the trip in order to achieve sustainable business model.
C. Deposit Deadline is DEC 31, 2019. Participants making registrations prior to deadline shall receive published rates per this page. Participants may register after the deadline at the increased 2020-2021 season rates. Annual increases are typically published in late February.
D. M&F group size shall cap at 15 persons.
E. Pucon Creek Week and Claro +PLUS  Nuble trips are packaged together as one trip to simplify logistics and payment options.
F. Pucon Creek Week and Claro +PLUS Nuble trip descriptions are below detailed.

PUCON CREEK WEEK DESCRIPTION

Let’s face it. Experienced kayakers need features to boof. No other place provides more clean features for boofing, stomping, tucking, hucking, learning safely, charging, and spouting than Pucon. If you really want to charge the stouts at optimal levels then you must come during the peak-season NOV-DEC flows.

This kayaking is for experienced kayakers ready to improve skills and test yourself on the best runs of your life. Get remarkable creek coaching, access, transportation, Chile’s best equipment, and run Pucon’s drops safely… +PLUS we’ll feed and lodge you riverside on the Rio Trancura. Best pros in the world come right to our base to lap high water Trancura. Fun, challenging, terrifying, awesome… all words we use to describe just our backyard run. +PLUS you can match our backyard laps with any number of day trips.

Daily we will have an agenda to run waterfalls and lap challenging rivers safely. We’ll get you out on the Pucon area’s best runs whether that be laps on the Upper Nevados, a park and huck 10 meter special, high water fun laps on the Trancura, or a road trip to a specialty run like the Rio Blanco 10 meter stout.

Runs may include. Salto Blanco; Upper & Lower Trancura; Upper Nevados; Salto Coilaco; Upper, Middle, Lower Palguins; Upper or Lower Fuy; Maichin Canyon; Upper or Lower Puesco; and more options than you can run in one week.

What’s Included

• Breakfast, Lunch, Appetizers & Dinner
• Kayak Rental
• Airport Transfer *per scheduled times
• Riverside Base & Lodging
• World’s Best Kayak Instruction
• Daily River Transports

Not Included

• 1 to 2 meals out at group chosen cultural, favorite cafe, or travel meal
• Alcohol

Trip Itinerary

Day 1 (OCT 29)
Arrival to Temuco (ZCO) before 11 AM to 5 PM.
Boat outfitting and welcome.
Afternoon warmup lap & skills assessment. Welcome to Chile!
Day 2-7  (OC 30 – NOV 3)
River options depend on various water levels. topping our priority list is, “Nevados while it’s in…” Our classic gem is so good we tend to drop everything to go play on the Nevados many fun features. Based on the group paddling goals and levels we’ll have morning meetings discussing the day’s options. Often, guides will go out for early AM coffee and check local levels to give a first hand account of river options.
Day 8 (NOV 4)
Your final day of kayaking one of the world’s greatest destinations the group will often choose to return to a favorite run or run something they have yet to experience. This is as good as kayaking gets. Celebration asado for Pucon Creek Week.
Pack gear and have trailers ready for northern leg.  

CLARO +PLUS Nuble DESCRIPTION

Claro +PLUS is for kayakers keen to explore Chile’s most famous waterfall anomaly. Known in Chile by its national park namesake Siete Tazas (Seven Teacups) after the photogenic and relatively easy section of seven clean cascades aka Seven Teacups section. The Rio Claro canyon drops kayakers into a 57 million year old basalt chasm that is polished, milled and carved perfectly banking “+PLUS” offers an added Maipo Valley of river sections for the start of this trip. Guests on this trip will explore the Claro by spending several days based inside Seven Teacups National Park paddling sections like the infamous Garganta del Diablo (or “Throat of the Devil”), notorious for the 180-degree two-tiered waterfall of the same name that drops you into one of the lower canyons.

Rio Claro Sections – from top to bottom

Vienty-dos aka Twenty-two Saltos Section, IV. Underrated and overshadowed by the Throat of Devil Canyon the Twenty-two Saltos section is often considered the highest and best action section of the Claro. Kayakers will hike one hour up river from camp into the desert sun. After a canyon rim scout we’ll seal launch lower ourselves into the basalt chasm for the epic waterfall experience of a lifetime. Drops range from 3 feet and swirly curves around banking walls to the biggest 30 foot drop. The second largest drop at 25 feet spouting off a perfect lip into a giant pool of celebrations. Some drops require strokes, tucks, body protection, and moves. While others offer the advancing and progressing kayakers opportunity to explore. For example, Ski Ramp’s unique banking allows kayakers to charge the highest corner and stomp their bows down.

Entres aka the Between Saltos, III to V. Our camp is based next to the Between Falls and we usually keep our beers cold there. there are a dozen or so excellent drops here ranging in skills and heights from 3 feet to 15 feet. There are two mandatory class V hikes.

Cinco aka Five Tazas, III. Like a kayaker fairy tale book lie five perfectly photogenic easy drop-pool cascades offering a playground lap just below our camp.

Garganta del Diablo aka Throat of the Devil, III to IV+. Just prior to entering the Devil canyon kayakers have a last chance to hike out on river left steep wall. We most often paddle the Entres and Cinco Tazas sections from camp into Throat of the Devil Canyon. You’ll spend some time scouting at the lip and of course beforehand from the more dangerous above cliffs. This is the last section we run and often run it multiple times. Kayakers typically self-assess and know by this time if they are ready for the whitewater celebration of a lifetime. At proper flows rescues and manageability at bottom are easy.  What can we say about whitewater’s most iconic waterfall? Keep your bow down. We’ll have a few things to cover. Notable are the 50 and 70 foot crack drops, handful of 6 to 8 foot boofs, and vistas of canyon entering waterfalls.

Seven Teacups aka Siete Tazas, III to IV. The Seven Teacups serves as our warmup and skills assessment section. This section with its trails and overlooks is the easiest to stage group photo shoots and multiple lapping. Run it. Repeat.

Other Canyons. Just last year two new sections opened up. Aniol Serrasolses notched a first descent of Leona just below the Teacups canyon filmed by PKR’s very own Tino Specht. Same time frame Tino got in with a crew to explore canyons above the 22 Saltos section adding another 20 or so drops. There is also talk of exploring easier sections below the canyons. Why don’t we explore those? Truth is that the canyons we paddle are so remarkably good and easy to access that we have not taken the harder trekking effort for the more dangerous or harder to access canyons.

Above Video: PKR coach Tino Specht produces edit of our study abroad trip to Rio Claro. Great shots of glorious drops. 

+PLUS Rio Nuble.

Circa 2001 PKRAMA owner David Hughes sat down with NOC’s Jon Clarke. Jon had began teaching the San Fabian / Nuble Valley community about the treasures of the Rio Nuble. Jon along with the mayor and a group he was teaching to raft guide and kayak began the Nuble Festival. Nuble Fest was an effort to protect the slated to be dammed over 50 miles of free flowing whitewater Nuble. Today, families have already been displaced. While, the Nuble Festival continues to fight against giant hydro projects the dams are under construction. PKRAMA has taken a stance to goto the Nuble annually while it continues to flow freely.

It’s like Big Sky Montana with giant open skies, snow covered peaks, and turquoise water. It’s a granite bedrock playful in nature with excellent triangular rocks for boofing. The upper valley gets more and more remote and a bit steeper. The Nuble is a true Chilean rustic experience we cherish annually.

Nuble Bonus. Jon Clarke’s Spirit. Those youth Jon taught to kayak we now continue to coach and some day hire. Their families are contracted to host us, prepare a true Chilean asado, and Javier and Juan Pablo paddle show us the latest and greatest boofs and trout holes.

What’s Included.

• Breakfast, Lunch.
• Kayak Rental.
• Airport Transfer.
• Lodging.
• World’s Best Kayak Instruction.
• Daily River Transports.

Not Included.

• Alcohol.
• Dinners – Group will eat nightly at a select cafe for cultural experience and riverside cuisine; trip pricing has been reduced to adjust to dinners and two travel lunches.
• Two travel day lunches.
• Meals average about $9 to $12/meal and pricing has been reduced $US100 to account for meals.

Trip Itinerary.

Day 9 (NOV 5)
Breakfast. Depart. Drive to Chile’s Rio Nuble Valley. Welcome to Nuble Valley.

Day 10 (NOV 6) Rio Nuble Valley
This is an emotional part of our leg as the Rio Nuble is in its last months of free flowing sections. Turquoise blue waters with over 50 miles of whitewater the river is playful with fun waves and boofs. The Upper sections are full of granite boulders. We could spend a season exploring the Nuble Valley so we pack it in to just two days. Kayakers will get an authentic Chilean asado and presentation of how giant hydropower has impacted their community and displaced Chilean families.

Day 11 (NOV 7)
AM – Pack camp and drive to the Seven Teacups National Park aka Rio Claro.
PM – Check-in. Set camp. Lap Seven Teacups Canyon. Welcome to Claro.

Day 12 to 13 (NOV 8 to 10) Waterfall Wonder of the World

Exploration of the various canyons begins with easier canyons and progresses daily to more challenging canyons. It is a natural progression. Days consist of a minimum of two sections morning and afternoon. Some enthusiast kayakers may opt for an additional dawn or sunset patrol laps. We often combine a more challenging morning lap with a lighter afternoon lap. Things we consider are afternoon heat combined with intensity of hike; skill of group / skill of section; proper progression and confidence building; energy / body recovery levels… Natural section progressions may be: Seven Teacups (III+ to IV); 22 Saltos (III+ to IV+); Entres Saltos (Between Falls (III+ to IV+ portageables); Cinco Tazas (Five Teacups II+ to III); Garganta del Diablo (III+ to IV+). 
Mornings. Kayak Theory, Safety Protocol, Waterfall 101, Art of Flight. Morning lap.
Afternoons. Recovery Ciestas and afternoon laps. Keep in mind the days are 13 hours so we have more time than energy.

Day 14 (NOV 11)
Departure Flights Santiago.
AM –Option for dawn patrol laps. Santiago group will be transported to SCL Airport. Santiago International Airport scheduled for afternoon flights later than 7 PM.

Are You Ready For the Claro Hikes? 

The Claro Canyon is an intense place. Access requires hot hiking typically about an hour before or after your section. It’s a best idea if you come to Chile in shape with your hiking legs ready. Passing and lifting kayaks, strenuous hiking into and out of canyons, and water dehydrating hikes are a mandatory part of the trip. On the water… that is both the fun and easy part.

We recommend before your trip that you kayak often, are part of a normal hiking or workout routine, and who couldn’t lose some weight? Workouts like Crossfit… we love them. Yes, get in shape it will help your confidence as you paddle too.

KEEP KAYAKING.