Genevieve and Bernard de Colmont and Antoine de Seynes (FRA)

Genevieve and Bernard de Colmont and friend Antoine de Seynes had a bold, perhaps even foolhardy plan: be the first to take kayaks down the mighty Green and Colorado rivers.

The French Trio brought the latest technology of whitewater kayaking to America in 1938. Trip leader Bernard de Colomont believed that the new folding kayaks developed in France and Germany, based on traditional Inuit designs, would be a lighter, more maneuverable watercraft on large whitewater rivers of the American West.

They launched from Green River, Wyoming, and landed, 900 miles and two months later, in Lee’s Ferry, Arizona. They were pioneer river runners, making a first kayak descent of the whitewater rivers first made famous by John Wesley Powell. Genevieve, just 21 years old, was the first woman to successfully paddle her own craft down this section of the Colorado.

They were forerunners of modern whitewater recreational adventurers packing their folding kayaks with camping gear, food, cameras and beer.

Bernard, Genevieve and Antoine were pioneers of whitewater filmmaking, as well. They created perhaps the very first whitewater film in color shot from the point of view of a boat-mounted camera, a technique that’s popular today, bringing international attention to the emerging sport.