Vitals
- Locale: Whistler, British Columbia
- What It's Like: Surprisingly good whitewater on a Whistler run that sees little traffic. Often tragically infested with wood.
- Class: IV-V
- Scouting/Portaging: Easy to moderate.
- Level: Visual at put in or take out. No obvious markers.
- Time: 3-5 hours. It's hard to bomb because of the constant threat of wood.
- When To Go: Mid-season snowmelt - June through early August.
- Info From: June 2014.
- Other Beta: None.
- Map: Click here for a map of the river zone.
Description
The Green River in Whistler is best known as the river where the local raft guides spend most of their time pushing clients down a section of whitewater that's a mediocre raft run at best. What's passed over by almost everyone is the section from the raft take out through to the Soo/Green confluence. It's a lengthy section of river (unusual for the area) that has great class IV-V river running for miles, but unfortunately it is usually full of wood mandating multiple portages. The threat of wood and a longer shuttle than the other local runs conspire to keep this one out of the list of Whistler classics, but it's worth a trip if only to paddle different whitewater and to have an adventure not far from Whistler village.
There is no online gauge for the Green. It should be runnable when things in the Whistler area are running medium, in the early to mid-summer season. The Green dries up at the end of the snowmelt season, so if the rafts are no longer out on the Green it is definitely too low. It should handle a range of flows well, but high flows can be dangerous because of all the wood dodging. It is difficult to gauge what the rapids will look like - there are no obvious access points to the whitewater sections and we don't have a recommendation for a visual gauge at the put in or take out.
Even though the river is close to Whistler is has a lengthy shuttle. There are several places to put in, the obvious ones being at either the bridge over the river that accesses the Wedgemount Lake trailhead, or the bridge in the community of Wedge Woods, where the rafts take out. The river flows towards Pemberton. The take out is at another bridge over the river about 10 km downstream, which you can find by taking the forest service road that leaves highway 99 near the dirt bike track next to the Soo take out. Following to road for several km past the motor sports park and up the Green valley eventually brings you to the bridge, and ample parking.
The first rapid on the Green is right below the Wedge Woods bridge, where Wedgemount Creek comes in. After a short mellow section, the river picks up to good class IV-IV+ river running where you have to be constantly vigilant for wood. For most of this upper stretch there is emergency access on river left using the railroad. After the river opens up and runs under some large power lines, you will reach a class V rapid in a short canyon that can be scouted/portaged on the right. This is the last reasonable place to exit the river, and in the future someone might find access here (through a quarry next to the river) that would avoid the wood-filled lower half of the run. This lower half contains 2 large class V rapids that are permanently blocked with wood (parts of each rapid are still runnable), and some boogie. After the 2nd wood filled rapid, there is one more fun IV+ rapid before you reach the take out bridge.
The first twisting rapid of the Middle Green, just below the put in.
A typical rapid on the upper stretch of river.
Boogie on the lower stretch of the Middle Green.
Updated September 27, 2014
