Main shape Two Loops Canoe lift yes Locale Charlotte | Lighting yes Phone +1 704-391-3900 | |
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Managing agent U. S. National Whitewater Center Pumped 7 pumps (usually 6 or 3) Surf wave Adjustable M-Wave plus others Address 5000 Whitewater Center Pkwy, Charlotte, NC 28214, USA Hours Closed now Monday10AM–6PMTuesday10AM–6PMWednesday10AM–6PMThursday10AM–7PMFriday10AM–6PMSaturday9AM–7PMSunday10AM–7PMSuggest an edit Similar Discovery Place, Mint Museum, Children's Theatre of Charlotte, Belmont Abbey College, Davidson College Profiles | ||
The U.S. National Whitewater Center is a non-profit outdoor recreation and athletic training facility for whitewater rafting, kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, and hiking which opened to the public on November 4, 2006. The Center is located in Charlotte on approximately 700 acres (2.8 km2) of land adjacent to the Catawba River. The USNWC is an official Olympic Training Center for whitewater slalom racing.
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The creators of the Center were inspired by the Penrith Whitewater Stadium built for the 2000 Olympics. The Center's primary feature is the world's largest and most complex recirculating artificial whitewater river. The facility cost $38 million to build, and costs $6.8 million per year to operate. The river channels were designed by three-time Olympian Scott Shipley.
In June 2016, prompted by the death of a teenage park-goer, the USNWC voluntarily closed the park's whitewater channels following the discovery of Naegleria fowleri, a brain-eating amoeba, in the park's water. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the park's system for filtering and disinfecting water was inadequate, and that the concentration of Naegleria fowleri in their samples were at the highest levels the CDC had ever seen. New methods for water quality maintenance are being explored before the whitewater reopens in 2017. In the meantime, land and Catawba river activities remain open for business, and the rapids reopened for a brief period of time at the end of the summer in 2016 after extensive cleaning and draining.
Whitewater channels
The Center's recirculating river is filled with 12 million gallons of well water, which is cleaned every 24 hours by a filtration and ultraviolet system. The whitewater portion of the river has a total of 3,750 feet (1,140 m) of channel divided between two channels: the Olympic-standard slalom competition channel and the longer wilderness channel, which splits around an island at the top. The rapids are Class II to IV and can be navigated via canoe, kayak or a guided raft. The different channels are linked by an Upper and Lower Pool which are connected via a moving-belt boat-lift conveyor.
Each channel is watered by three of the seven 680-horsepower pumps. Six pumps will water both channels simultaneously. The electricity cost of each pump is about $45 per hour. When only one channel is used, an inflated barrier rises up from the bottom to prevent water from entering the unused channel. Since both channels have the same drop, 6.4 metres (21 ft), the extra length of the long channel gives it a gentler slope.
Most of the water diverters are natural boulders cemented in place, but there is some use of moveable plastic bollards attached to the bottom. There are five barn door diverters hinged to the channel sides and positioned by hydraulic pistons, two above the M-Wave on the long channel, and three in the slalom competition channel. The M-Wave is designed to replicate the famous M-Wave in an irrigation channel near Montrose, Colorado.
The National Office of USA Canoe/Kayak, which manages the US canoe and kayak Olympic teams, used to be located in Charlotte because of its proximity to the USNWC. In April 2011, the team trials for the US national whitewater team were held at USNWC. The organization has since moved to Oklahoma City as of December 2011.
Activities
Water Sports
Land Sports
Aerial Sports