Chase Breckenridge, is a Vernon man, who is one of the most notable modern-day explorers in Wells Gray Provincial Park. From scaling mountains, creating mountaineering routes, 5-day paddling trips, too much more, Chase has explored a large portion of the park.
I sat down with Chase to discuss his latest adventure, getting in-behind Wells Gray’s crown jewel, Helmcken Falls. He is the last person recorded to have been behind the falls, and this time had to take a less conventional route so we sat down to learn about how Chase was able to get in behind the falls and proving that the adventure possibilities are endless in the park.
Listen to the interview here:
0:00 – 2:22
Background white noise playing to smooth out audio transitions and dead spaces
0:00 – 0:08
Music: Burgers and Guitars by Steve Polori; Music begins to fade at 0:03
0:03 – 0:21
Riley: Hello, I’m Riley, and today we’re talking with Chase Breckenridge, from Vernon BC. He is an avid outdoor enthusiast, and one of Wells Gray’s most notable modern-day explorers. So Chase, when I first reached out to you to do this podcast, you told me that Wells Gray is your passion, could you expand on that?
0:21 – 0:56
Chase: Yea I moved to Clearwater in 2010, and uh, I wasn’t much of a backcountry person at all and I just started to get to know the park a little by little and check out the main sites, the waterfalls, and such, and then I got to the areas that the average person doesn’t get to, to see. So I wanted to create a different perspective on what Wells Gray has to offer and it’s just a never-ending journey of discovering Wells Gray and at the same time discovering myself and what I’m about, just feeling good about being in the middle of nowhere and being able to sustain myself.
0:56 – 1:07
Riley: That’s amazing! In January you rappelled behind the falls, and got an amazing photo of it, could you tell me a little bit about that adventure?
1:07 – 1:46
Chase: Yea, like, I mean I’ve been down there a couple of times in the winter, and there are times where I’ve hiked into the base in the winter. But this last time we had to rappel in. We had to go in, we had climbing gear, we had ice climbing gear, so we had a plan, and so it was definitely not a spur of the moment thing, there was planning involved. Ye know, we had to set up our top anchor to rappel into Helmcken Canyon, and then walk and make our approach, and there were actually two bolts we were aware of in the canyon wall, and we knew that would be a good anchor point if we needed to kinda go around the corner and then lower ourselves down to the base of the cone of Helmcken.
1:46 – 1:57
Riley: That’s such an awesome story, hearing about how you have to rappel in and have all the ice climbing gear and everything going on, and I’m sure being behind the falls is just a completely different experience than seeing it from the regular spot right off the road
1:57 – 2:15
Chase: Yea and its, like I said, so many people go to visit Helmcken and they see it from either the observation deck or the South Rim Trail. But just being able to share that perspective from behind which you can’t even get in the summertime. The wintertime does afford that opportunity once it’s set up there, you can walk right in behind.
2:15 – 2:22
Riley: That’s amazing, well thank you for taking the time to talk with me, and thanks to everyone for tuning in and listening.
End.