Wave/hole on Long Tom River, Eugene
15 10 2007Commonly refered to as ‘butthole’ wave, this is a little gem that Steve located a week or two ago and shared it with Dave and I. The feature got its name as it is where located where the river comes out from the dam, hence butthole of the dam (CFS in this photo was 600). This feature should not be confused with the shallow, hole that forms immediately at the base of the dam, but is about 200 meters downstream of the dam- at the end of kirk park parking lot. Its a fun little drop that is rip-rapped either side. The drop gives rise to two little waves, both backed up by a small pile. The wave on river right (surfers left) is a pretty flushy, but its still possible to spin in there. The wave/ hole on river left (surfers right) is a bit stickier and is a great place to practice using the low brace for moving back and for in hole. The low brace is a really imortant stroke to master as a lot of playboting moves are initiated with it. Fun fun fun. I’m sure its possible, if you were talented enough, to get a back stab on the river left hole. Here are some photos of Steve and I. Wonder what it’ll be like when they start cranking the release from the dam.






what gauge do you use for the long-tom butt hole? long-tom in noti?
Pete- no,I use the alavdor guage http://www.wkcc.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=56
Alternatively, you can see the predicted flows on the USGS site.
http://ahps2.wrh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pqr&gage=frno3&view=1,1,1,1,1,1
Flows are at 800 CFS as of yesterday- i’ll be interested to see what happens to the feature
[...] and I played on the Long Tom (a.k.a., the Butt Hole wave) Yesterday for the first time. It’s not that we didn’t believe the first person [...]