Brilliant Hole

Directions

Turn onto Broadwater Road off Highway 3A (River right of Kootenay River Bridge north of Castlegar Airport).  Take your first left into community of Brilliant and immediate left again and head back to the Kootenay River bridge.  Park under bridge and paddle upstream 200 meter to Brilliant Hole.

What you will find:

If the Brilliant Dam is spilling any amount of water and the Columbia River is running at 55000 cfs or lower you will find a play hole with surfing on the sides.  Due to the dynamics of the Columbia River backing up the Kootenay it is difficult to predict what you will get.  Generally speaking the lower the Columbia the deeper the hole.  The more spill from the dam, the bigger the foam pile.  When this combination is going off there is nothing better in Western Canada.  This hole intimidates beginners and intermediate paddlers and even some very experienced boaters.  In higher water there is a smashing breaking wave directley behind the play spot, known as the "Organ Grinder".  There is a fierce eddie line at this level as well.  However anyone with a bombproof roll can have lots of fun.  A huge eddie returns you back up to the hole.  At some water levels it can be difficult to paddle the last few feet back up to the access eddie.  Great conditioning.  SEE PICS

Best Time(s) of Year/Grade:

This is totally unpredictable as this dam is part of 5 dams and many factors contribute to flow on the Kootenay River and cannot always be predicted by local weather conditions.  In general Brilliant is not a storage dam so cannot hold back the Slocan River (confluence 15k upstream).  So when the Slocan is up Brilliant will spill.  Cold weather in winter usually causes spill as well as hydro production goes up in other dams causing extra water release that Brilliant cannot hold.  *Once the new turbines are in operation, sometime next year, all this will change, I am sure.  Best bets: Contact club for current conditions!