Losing Paradise to Hydropower

"Terminator" rapid on the Futaleufu.

If you ask any whitewater paddler to name their top five boating destinations in the world, I would bet anything that the Futaleufu River in Chile would be in every last one’s top five list. I’m no different, and after spending time this past winter being tossed around in it's story-high wave trains, I can validate its reputation as the near perfect river.

In grad school I wrote a term paper on the Futaleufu. It was a pretty hot topic for any boater at the time: one of the world’s leading whitewater rivers was in danger of being dammed and backwatered all in the name of hydropower. The paper was a superficial look at the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the proposed dam by the Spanish run company, Endesa. What I was never able to capture in the paper was the magic of this pristine river valley and it's surrounding community.

Besides the grade for the class, I also gained a new found curiosity for testing the water in person...so to speak. When the opportunity finally arose almost 5 years later with our trip to Chile - I seized the opportunity.

The plan was to head down there with Allison (my girlfriend) and Ryan (our good friend from high school). I had managed to convince them that it was going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see me having a once in a lifetime experience – needless to say, they took the bait.

Before the trip down I spent several hours on my laptop at home trying to do some background research on the current situation with the Futa hydropower project. To my surprise the same articles that I had used almost five-years previously for my term paper were the only information I could find on the web. I took this as a sign that maybe the opposing movement to combat Endesa had actually succeeded and things had fizzled out. Perhaps Endesa had moved on to bigger fish to fry (or bigger rivers to destroy)? Finally...score one for the little people, right? Wrong!

Going Undercover

This is the road as you enter the village of Futaleufu. Notice the signs that advertise progress in the form of roads.

It didn’t take long to realize there was something fishy going on in this river valley. As our dust-covered van pulled into the quiet town of Futaleufu after our three and a half hour ride up the valley from the coastal town of Chaiten, it was apparent that the battle for the Futaleufu valley was still going on...just in a more undercover manner. Signs lined the streets as we entered the town claiming progress in the form of roads and infrastructure. It was clear that the government had taken an active role in developing this area, but knowing that governments rarely do anything without some sort of economic benefit, I knew that these roads were only a sign that Endesa and its hydropower project were still lurking behind the scenes.

Now, I can’t claim that I was totally in the dark about Endesa’s sneak attic tactics before arriving in Futaleufu. Just that morning I had spent several hours following around the tourist commander and chief of Chaiten, Nicolas La Penna, asking nearly every conceivable question I could come up with about Futaleufu and the surrounding areas. Nicolas was a French-Canadian who moved down to Chile, according to him, “many many years ago”. Allison described his personality after meeting him as “rather Buddhist”, I am not sure just what this means, but it seems to be a very fitting description. He was immediately a likeable guy and the type of person you enjoy hearing speak even if you don’t know what exactly is being said.

A close up of one of the signs leading into Futaleufu.

I met Nicolas outside his shop, Chaitur Excursiones, in central Chaiten. He was busy moving boxes in and out of his van and I was worried I would not get a chance to really sit down and chat. As I was beginning to conjure up ways to ask politely “what the hell is going on?” he invited me into his van for a “quick” errand. Two hours later I had visited his home, met his wife and two beautiful daughters, gone grocery shopping, and helped drop his van off with the local mechanic. In between all these destinations I was able to learn quite a bit about Chile and the recent movements of the government and Endesa to occupy land and water rights for the Futaleufu hydropower project.

Chile, like many countries, is very dependent on energy from international sources. Their energy needs have increased almost 7% annually since 1990 and a large part of this comes from the growing power demand from the mining sector, Chile’s largest industry (see The Gold Link project). Argentina provides the majority of Chile’s natural gas and in 2004 they began restricting exports up to 50% on some days. This created an increase in energy demand and lead to the country’s shift toward domestic alternative energy production – namely hydropower.

Nicolas went on to explain that while direct movements towards developing a dam on the Futaleufu have slowed, there are still many subtle developments taking place that make this scarier than ever for the environmentalists and tourism dependent community members in the area.

The government has recently purchased land to build a 165 km road from Puerto Montt (the nearest major city) to Chaiten. While few would argue that this road is necessary for transportation infrastructure in the country, the motivations are less clear. Nicolas believes it is the beginning of the progress towards accessing the Futaleufu and developing the area for hydropower.

Less inconspicuous is Endesa’s purchase of a strip of land that runs adjacent to the planned road that would be used to carry power lines out of southern Chile. The road and swathe of land would go directly through the national reserve Parque Pumalin and therefore is being met by opposition by founder of the park (and past CEO of The North Face clothing brand), Douglas Thompkins.After leaving Nicolas behind in Chaiten for the bumpy ride up to Futaleufu I realized there was more of a story here than I had originally expected. I was eager to find out first hand from the locals and other community members their thoughts on the current situation and where this was all heading. Not to mention, I was itching to paddle some of this big whitewater I kept hearing so much about.

Getting in My Boat

The first stop for any tourist coming into Futaleufu should probably be the kayak-rafting-adventure outfitter Expediciones Chile. Chris Spelius, the founder, and his staff have been leading rafting and kayaking trips down the Futa for over 15 years and have a very good sense as to what is going on in the valley from both an environmental and recreational perspective.

I found out very quickly, however, that while they were extremely friendly to talk to and a wealth of knowledge, they were clearly not into lending a slacker kayaker, like myself, gear and guide for the minimalist budget that I was on. Thankfully, they did point me in the direction of one of their past kayak guides, and now owner of Zona Sur Expediciones, Adrei Gallardo.

Adrei scouting "Terminator" on the Futaleufu.

Adrei’s company does not have a website, but I highly recommend his services as an outfitter and guide. He was born and raised in Futaleufu and trained by Chris Spelius and Expediciones Chile as a guide and instructor. He has the rare combination of both cultural and recreational connection to the valley and is an overall great guy to boat with. Within only a few minutes of chatting with him, I had booked a raft trip for Allison and Ryan down the Rio Azul (a smaller tributary to the Futa) and a kayak trip for him and me to continue down through the Terminator section of the Futa.

We met at his shop the next morning and hopped in the back of a pick-up for the scenic one-hour drive to the put-in of the Rio Azul. His raft guide, Bob McDonough, or as he has appropriately named himself, Gringo Bob, kept us entertained with stories for most of the ride (just as a veteran raft guide should). With 80 degree weather and blue skies overhead, I knew this was going to be a great day.

Typical scenery from our trip down to the Rio Azul.

The Rio Azul is a lower water technical class IV run. It is the color of its namesake and rapids are often located within beautiful mini-canyons telescoping large snowcapped peaks in the backdrop. The rapids are all read-and-run (meaning no scouting) with the exception of “Cheese Grater”, the most technical rapid on the river. I got to paddle this drop twice, once in my kayak and once in the raft with Allison, Ryan, and Gringo Bob. It is never really a rafting trip unless you get carnage, so fortunately Ryan was able to make this river trip complete by showing us where “Cheese Grater” gets its name. Warning: if the site of blood is an issue for you, you may want to skip this next photo.

Ryan's fingernail after losing it on the "Cheese Grater", I won't show the other picture I have of him crying, it is a bit embarassing.

One fingernail later and we were at the raft take-out where Adrei and I left the group and continued down to the confluence with the Futa. As we paddled the last mile of slack water on the Rio Azul I began to get pretty excited about finally getting a chance to see and feel the power of the Futaleufu. We found an eddy behind a point bar at the confluence and regrouped before entering the 30,000 cfs flows of the Futa.

"Gringo Bob"

The river was running high, at least in commercial rafting terms, so I knew things were going to be big. We peeled our boats out into the current and immediately got swallowed up by the ripplely blue tongue of the river. With the exception of the “Terminator” rapid this section of river is not technical, and the lines are pretty wide open. The waves are big and the holes are even bigger, but there is generally a good bit of room to work your way through. Deep turquoise colored waves that felt at least 15 feet high towered above us as we worked our way down – all I could do was smile. This was the experience I had waited years for.

After deciding to portage the short crux move in “Terminator” and paddling our way through rapids named “Kyber Pass” and “Himalayas” we were at the take-out where Ryan and Allison were working on bronzing their bodies in the mid-day sun. What a day – I couldn’t wait to get back on the river.

Thoughts from the Community

Following our return to Zona Sur to clean-up and re-rack gear, Allison and Ryan headed back to the campsite to shower and get some food for dinner. I decided to hang out a bit longer with Adrei and try to get some more details on the hydropower project.

I wanted to get a better idea of how the locals felt about the proposed dam and Adrei was just the person to ask. He explained to me that the majority of the community members are against the idea of a hydropower dam. And while the dam would not drown out the town itself, it would destroy the whitewater, and thus, the tourism to the valley. For better or worse, the majority of the income into the village of Futaleufu comes from this tourism, and without it, the economy would a take a huge turn for the worst.

There are some locals who are advocates of the hydropower projects. These are generally the older community members who remember the jobs that were created by the construction of the Argentine dam, Hidroelectrica Futaleufu, in the early 1970’s. Adrei says these folks are most likely not as connected to the tourism industry as some of the younger generation.

Adrei also told me about a new road that is currently being built to the valley of Las Escalas near the famous Inferno Canyon section of the Futaleufu. This also happens to be one of the locations for Endesa’s proposed dams.

It should be noted that in the process of building this road a new rapid has formed in Inferno Canyon from a landslide of road debris. When I was there the rapid had not been commercially run and was still changing due the dynamics of the river and the road debris. It is still yet to be seen as to whether Inferno Canyon will be able to be run commercially and needless to say, due to high waters and this new rapid, I was unable to check it out first hand – that was the only let down of the entire trip.

Although running Inferno Canyon seemed to be unrealistic at that time, there was still one other major section of class IV-V whitewater I had yet to paddle, the “Bridge to Bridge” section plus the two class V drops “Mas o Menos” and “Casa de Piedra”. Adrei was busy the next day with another client so I was on my own to try and find gear and crew to check out this next section.

A "Play" Run

The author paddling one of thr drops on the Rio Azul, a tributary to the Futaleufu.

Fortunately, my friend Ryan, having lived in Santiago and Buenos Aires for several years, had made some contacts along the way that happened to run a kayaking outfit in the Futa Valley.

Bio-Bio Adventures is nestled into a high terrace of the Futa river just downstream of “Terminator” rapid. Ryan was able to put me in contact with the owner of the company, Laurence Alvarez Roos, who was kind enough to let me rent some gear and take advantage of his highly skilled guides on one of their precious days off.

The most difficult part of the day came in hitch-hiking our way out to their camp. After an hour or so of trying various strategies our persistence prevailed and we were picked up by an Argentine couple traveling their way through Chile on vacation.

When we reached Bio-Bio we were met by a group of very tired looking guides relaxing in the shade of their outdoor boat warehouse. We all introduced ourselves and I asked if anybody was up for boating the river. It seemed like most of them were still recuperating, and understandably so, after a long week of guiding and instructing clients. They did, however, point me in the direction of one their guides that might be interested in kayaking. They described him as the “skinny tall English prick up the hill”. I decided to ramble on up there to find this guy and see if I could talk him into letting me tag along for a trip down the river.

Alex Nicks is both a pro kayaker and videographer and from my encounter with him, not really a prick. Although, I could tell he was a bit skeptical when I approached him at his tent asking if he wanted to paddle the “Bridge to Bridge” section with me later that day. But, after a little encouragement and prodding I was able to convince him to let me join his afternoon “play” session.

I met up with Alex and co-instructor, Brett Venable, a few hours later at the put-in just outside of the Bio-Bio kitchen. Brett was also no slouch on the river as a two time kayak slalom Olympian and year-round raft guide in Chile and California. After an interesting seal launch into the river, we were off racing down the Futa.

Shortly after putting in I realized how lucky I was to have found Alex and Brett on their day off. Their knowledge and expertise on this section made a typically class IV-V run feel more like big water class III. They knew every line with detail and made sure I understood all the directions before entering each rapid. I am still truly thankful for the generous gift they gave of leading me down this section of river. It was a day in my paddling life I will never forget.

The “Bridge to Bridge” section was a bit more technical than the “Terminator” section. Although the characteristic of the river was the same, huge waves and holes, the rapids were stacked one on top of the other. It took about an hour and a half to make it all the way through and when we were done I was sorry to have to leave the river. I realized why people spend weeks here, it was addicting, and the more you paddle the Futa, the more you ease up and enjoy the power of the river.

How to Help Out...

The plan for Allison, Ryan, and I was to leave the following morning by hiking the 10 km to the border of Argentina and then getting a taxi to take us into the nearest town. Before we left this wonderland there was one more thing I had to do.

The central park in Futaleufu...did I mention how beautiful this place was?

The previous day Adrei had mentioned that there was a new group that recently formed to oppose Endesa and the hydropower project. It was called Aguas Libres and was primarily made up of locals and community members in the Futaleufu valley. Adrei pointed me in the direction of one of its members, Mitch Sasser, and co-founder of the Futaleufu outfitter H2O Patagonia.

I met Mitch early in the morning before we were to takeoff for Argentina. We sat on a comfy couch in the lounge area of his restaurant, the Martin Pescador, and chatted about the Futaleufu River. I liked Mitch right off the bat, he was direct and to the point and had great organization in his details of Aguas Libres.

He explained to me that Aguas Libres was an official non-profit and that the group was split into five sub-groups (Futaleufu River, Espolon River, Public Relations, Events, Biosphere Reserve, and Media). They encouraged people to get involved in any of the sub-groups and hoped to gain more and more strength as the word of their establishment grew.

I was curious about what specific strategies Aguas Libres was using to combat the larger more powerful group, Endesa. He told me that a main goal of the organization was to educate people in the area and around Chile about the consequences of a hydropower project in the Futaleufu Valley. He also told me about an effort currently being made to try and get the region declared a biosphere reserve. This would make the damming of the river far more difficult for Endesa and hopefully deter their efforts.

These each seemed like decent strategies to me and I was impressed by the proactive nature the group was taking. I told Mitch that I would bring the news of Aguas Libres back to the states with me and try to encourage people to help. If anybody is interested in helping Mitch and the group Aguas Libres please contact me and I will be happy to give you his information. Or you can check out the website All Southern Chile and get involved through them.

After the interview with Mitch I rushed back to the campsite to grab my backpack and meet up with Allison and Ryan for our hike to Argentina. As the three of us walked through the town one last time I tried to go over everything that happened in the past three days. I wondered if this was the last time I would ever be in this valley. I certainly hoped not, but with looming environmental dangers and a powerful group leading the charge I knew it was an uphill battle.

Hydropower on a whole is a very clean efficient way to get energy. And as the population continues to grow and energy needs increase, it is inevitable that more rivers will be dammed. I am a realist in this regard and understand that there has to be a balance of give and take. But after spending four days in the Futaleufu Valley I have realized more than ever how important it is to keep this river running freely. There is no other place on this planet like the Futaleufu Valley and everybody should be able to see it with their own eyes – it is hard to believe such a paradise exist otherwise.

So, I encourage anyone reading this to look into helping out this region, or in the least, go there and see for yourselves what an amazing area of the planet this is...it is hard not to fall in love with it!

Allison waiting patiently for the local bakery to open in the morning.

Resources

Energy Information Administration, “Chile Energy Data, Statistics, and Analysis – Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal”, http://commercecan.ic.gc.ca/scdt/bizmap/interface2.nsf/vDownload/CABS_0024/$file/Chile.pdf

Tierramerica, “Natural Gas Crisis Shifts Focus of Chile’s Energy Debate” http://www.tierramerica.net/2004/0403/iarticulo.shtml

The Portal to All Southern Chile, “Construction to Start on Road through Pumalin Park in the Chilean Patagonia”, http://www.allsouthernchile.com/content/view/285/100/