Brilliant Wave

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 Wave.

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 decent play wave 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 pit.  The more spill from the dam, the bigger the face and foam pile.  When this combination is going off there is no better wave in Western Canada.  This spot intimidates beginners, 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 requiring a quick exit and portage.  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 and cannot hold back the incoming flow from the Slocan River into the Kootenay (confluence 15k upstream).  So when the Slocan is up (June) 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.  With the new Brilliant Expansion project in operation now we are seeing more consistent flows in early winter (Dec) and during the spring runoff (May, June) but dont put your gas money on it; Best bets: Contact Endless Adventure or one of our club execs for current conditions!