7 days, thousands of miles driving, and more rapids than he'll be able to count - that's the plan that Michael Hirtzel has for the next week. 

He's a native of the Portland, Oregon area (ok, we'll tell on him, he's from the 'Couv) but he's been living in the South for a few years now, so rivers and mountains are not something he's been seeing a lot of lately! 

The plan is simple - to find out how quickly a novice riverboarder can become an expert riverboarder, and discover what it really takes to excel in this extreme sport.

There's not really a precedent for this sort of thing, at least not that we've seen. Usually newbies will hone their skills on one or two runs, getting the lines down and getting more and more comfortable on the board and in the water, and then garnering the courage to begin taking on bigger whitewater.

In this case, Mike's not going to have a chance to learn the lines - it's one and done. And while most of the sections of river will be roadside, even for an experienced riverboarder a roadside scout is hardly the definitive guide for what's really going on out there. 

"I actually think it's kind of fun to see newbies' reactions to the water when viewed from the road," says Ice. "Usually it's the guy that scoffs at the water while standing on the shore that ends up soiling his wetsuit halfway through the rapid! It's a completely different perspective once you're in it."

The Newbie Crash Course

Mike's in good company for his journey, as his longtime friend and now riverboarding instructor (and cinematographer) will be Face Level's resident blonde, Ice. With 13 years of face level "riverboarding" under his wetsuit - which is now a drysuit - Ice certainly knows a thing or two about the challenges that his friend will face.

"I think the biggest hurdles that newbies have to overcome are the psychological and the physical," Ice points out. "To the un-initiated, waves that are towering over your head and crashing every which way can be quite intimidating, even if it's only "rated" Class III. And because of the power of the water, it really is a hardcore full-body workout." 

So does Mike have what it takes to beat the curve and be ripping through Class V's within a week?  Ice thinks so.

"He's mentally tough enough and a good enough athlete that I'm not concerned with that too much. The other aspects are the gear - which Face Level is providing and he'll have the best gear available right now - and the instruction...and since I'm his guide, I guess the pressure's more on me than him!"

 Mike's first day out was on the White Salmon River in Washington, across the Gorge from Hood River Oregon. It's one of the best rivers in the NW, with 3 distinct runs - the upper Farmlands section (Class IV / V), the epic Green Truss section (Class V) and the very popular BZ - Husum section (Class III with a IV and depending on the level a V, Husum Falls).

This clip is primarily a quickie of Husum Falls - Mike hits the line like he's been doing it for years, not like it's his first time! (Well, actually it was his second...he was so amped up that while Ice was setting up for the shot, he took off and ran the falls! Ice hadn't gotten the camera on yet though so it went unrecorded. Suffice it to say Mike hit the line right the first time too and had so much fun he went and did it again.) 

 Totally out of sequence, but jump forward a couple days to Missoula Montana. The guys had begun the day camping on the S. Fork of the Clearwater, in central Idaho, which they ran a couple sections on (it was pretty low - video soon). They then headed east to the Lochsa, which is epic at high water but had already pretty much fizzled for the year (their trip was in late June) so it made it more of a Class III+ run, fun nonetheless, especially for Mike, who was only into his 3rd day of Riverboarding.

From there they headed to Missoula and got there by nightfall, just in time for Mike's sunset surf. As Mike says in the video, he and Ice were roommates one summer during college (Ice went to UM) where they worked their butts off training for for football...they didn't have this great surfing wave at Caras Park back in those days (but they did have plenty of all-night drum circles and a few well-aimed fireworks from the Iron Horse that hit the Wilma! The guys weren't fond of drunks shooting fireworks at 3AM, so they threw eggs. The drunks shot fireworks back - directly at their apartment! Hey, it was college, give 'em all a break.)

At any rate, it was a perfect evening for some nostalgia...and surfing! Mike makes it look too easy.