Go Ahead, Test Your Limits Like Ted

Ted Brownrigg, 72, ready for his next customers. He runs whitewater tours in Oregon on expeditions with other leaders 40-45 years younger. Ted keeps up on the most challenging rapids with a mindset that will get your attention in this story.

 

By Ray Glier

On the Rogue River in southwest Oregon is a rapid called Blossom Bar because of the beauty of the wild azaleas that stretch along the banks. It is not all beauty. On the far left of the rapid is The Pickett Fence, a treacherous set of rocks that has claimed seven lives in the 2000s.

Jessica Strack, a skilled river guide, had steered her raft to the eddy away from The Pickett Fence, but almost through Blossom Bar she got snagged on a rock, along with two guests. One guest tumbled into the water.

Already through the rapid in another raft on the excursion was Ted Brownrigg, 72. He plucked Jessica’s guest out of the water and then worked three hours to get her raft off the rock. Understand, this is not an innertube. It is a raft that can be 14 to 16 feet long and it is packed with supplies for a multi-day trip (see picture).

“We were stranded in the middle of the river,” Jessica said. “Ted bushwhacked his way back up to me at the top of the rapid hauling all the rescue equipment, which is ropes and pulleys.

“Ted has been a climber so he knows all about ropes. He created a bunch of strong anchors to create a mechanical advantage called a Z drag.”

It took three hours to get the raft unstuck, but Brownrigg marshalled a rescue with Jessica’s help and the excursion continued.

“It just shows you how much of a badass he really is,” Strack said.

Brownrigg was not 72 when he pulled this off. Jessica figures he was 69 or 70, which still makes him 40-45 years older than most whitewater river guides.

You don’t get to dial 9-1-1 in the wild for these calamities. You figure it out….and hope Ted is along for the ride.

Brownrigg runs expeditions for Oregon River Experiences. He’s been on the job for 15 years after retiring from a career in finance. He is as tenacious and stubborn as the younger guides he works with, and muscled enough to hang.

Yes, Brownrigg has gotten the obligatory stares from customers that declare, “Aren’t you a little old for this?”

But what was more illuminating was this comment from Ted that had nothing to do with others questioning his fitness for the job, or him beating back ageism.

“I'm frightened to think of what my life would have been like if I hadn't done this,” Ted said of becoming a captain on fast water.

It is a soulful response. His comment will make you pause today and consider what opportunity you are missing and the regret you might have because you think you are too old.

His job is why when a friend called Ted on his 72nd birthday and asked how he was doing, Brownrigg said, “I don't feel any different. I feel I'm smarter about doing things, but physically I feel like I did 10 years ago, 20 years ago.”

It should make us all think about how we govern our lives, whether we do track & field, pickleball, biking, senior league baseball or softball, tennis, whatever.

“This was a life-changing thing for me,” Ted said.

Brownrigg was no sideliner before his leap to water. For years, he backpacked, camped, took fishing trips, and climbed rocks. When he had this eerie feeling about finance in 2008—a worldwide banking crisis was percolating—he retired. He and Carol, his wife, moved to Bend, Oregon.

Ted started this adventure by taking a Wilderness First Responder course. He was hooked on adventures on rivers. When he asked the owner of ORE for a job as a 57-year old, there was a slight pause, and then, “Let’s do this.”

The trips Ted helps lead start in early spring in the majestic Owyhee Canyonlands of Oregon. (Quick advice: Go.)

The Owyhee River is 280 miles long and is the most remote place in Oregon (it flows through Nevada and Idaho, too).

“It is stunning,” Brownrigg said.

Then, as spring turns to summer, it is on to the Rogue River, a whitewater river with challenges. Then come the trips on the Lower Salmon River, among other rivers. 

The customers can be older, part of the Road Scholar adventurists, 55 and over. Ted relates to these folks, you bet he does. Many repeat customers tell him, “I’m glad you’re coming on this one.”

Don’t we all wish in our 60s and 70s, if we are still working, our customers make similar declarations? 

And about these accidents, like getting hung up rocks. “There can be scary moments,” Ted said.

Swift currents took one of Ted’s boats and put it on the rocks. It took five hours to get it dislodged. The rafts, strapped with gear for a multi-day adventure, can literally weigh a ton.

Tied down, the gear does not spill into the water when the raft gets sideways or upside down, which would have made getting it unstuck easier. (picture below). Everything had to be removed and a system of pulleys had to be set up and it was dislodged and flipped over.

“There are skills that you've developed over the years that are passed down from person to person,” Brownrigg said. “You get it done. You're out in the wilderness. There's nobody there to drive in to rescue you. You got to figure it out, and you got to get out of it, and you’ve got to take care of your customers.”

This is what Ted is doing in retirement: turning back the clock. His friends are 25 and 30-year olds, but he knows what time it is.

“I suppose, in the future, where physically it becomes an issue I’ll have to think about stopping, but physically I still feel good out there, I keep up with the guys," Brownrigg said. "You spend all these years and have that knowledge and the experience of things that happen when you're under these kinds of conditions, and I could share that knowledge and still be a resource for them.”

That’s just like Ted. No truculence or insolence about the end of this adventure coming. Stubbornness, yes. He is as stubborn as those boulders in the river. That's the takeaway here. Don't settle. Don't back down. Be more like Ted.

That's Ted in the middle of the rapid working with his team to free a raft.

 

This is what Ted does at 72 years old. Now do you think you're too old?

 

Ted traded a career in finance for this. Sign me up!

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