Kurt Rist Battles Bone-Chilling Mountains of Water in Ireland and Beyond

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$The winter of 2013-14 in Ireland was equal to this season\'s El Niño winter in the Pacific. You just don\'t hear about all the crazy shit that goes on over there! Basically, you have to put your time in, or get really lucky if you want to score this wave. Prowlers needs a big swell and light winds, and that happens once every five years in Ireland. We saw this special day on the charts and decided to take a break from Mullaghmore to go for Prowlers. The game plan was to tow and try to backdoor the peak for a massive barrel. It was light onshore with avalanche sections - I learned that the hard way. This bomb came in and my partner, Dylan Stott, whipped me in right on the peak. The bottom turn felt amazing, and was probably the biggest wave of my life. I was so fired up afterwards that I decided to paddle. I sat in the bowl no longer than 2 minutes and almost got cleaned up. Dylan spotted me from the ski and I was able to pick off a nice medium-sized wave. We had an epic crew that day! Photo: Aaron Pierce$

The winter of 2013-14 in Ireland was equal to this season's El Niño winter in the Pacific. You just don't hear about all the crazy shit that goes on over there! Basically, you have to put your time in, or get really lucky if you want to score this wave. Prowlers needs a big swell and light winds, and that happens once every five years in Ireland. We saw this special day on the charts and decided to take a break from Mullaghmore to go for Prowlers. The game plan was to tow and try to backdoor the peak for a massive barrel. It was light onshore with avalanche sections - I learned that the hard way. This bomb came in and my partner, Dylan Stott, whipped me in right on the peak. The bottom turn felt amazing, and was probably the biggest wave of my life. I was so fired up afterwards that I decided to paddle. I sat in the bowl no longer than 2 minutes and almost got cleaned up. Dylan spotted me from the ski and I was able to pick off a nice medium-sized wave. We had an epic crew that day! Photo: Aaron Pierce

$Oregon. January 2016. This was my favorite El Niño trip of the winter. It\'s rugged and uncrowded, just how I like it. Local boy Jeremy Rasmussen gave Will Skudin and I the invite to the slab. We showed up by ski and just started watching from the channel. This was easily one of the heaviest slabs I have ever been to. I decided not to watch for too long; sometimes I psych myself out that way. I grabbed the rope. Will was driving, and our approach was to backdoor the slab. This bomb came in, and Will whipped me in perfect, nice and deep. My instincts were to just keep a little weight on my back foot, hold my line, and not to do anything silly. The wave clamped at the end. It was probably the best wipeout scenario because I didn\'t hit bottom. Big thanks to the whole crew that day; I will never forget that vision! Photo: Scotty Hammonds$

Oregon. January 2016. This was my favorite El Niño trip of the winter. It's rugged and uncrowded, just how I like it. Local boy Jeremy Rasmussen gave Will Skudin and I the invite to the slab. We showed up by ski and just started watching from the channel. This was easily one of the heaviest slabs I have ever been to. I decided not to watch for too long; sometimes I psych myself out that way. I grabbed the rope. Will was driving, and our approach was to backdoor the slab. This bomb came in, and Will whipped me in perfect, nice and deep. My instincts were to just keep a little weight on my back foot, hold my line, and not to do anything silly. The wave clamped at the end. It was probably the best wipeout scenario because I didn't hit bottom. Big thanks to the whole crew that day; I will never forget that vision! Photo: Scotty Hammonds

$March 2015. I never thought I would put New York under the \"heavy missions\" category, but when your surfing 6-foot square tubes in 36-degree water a half mile out on a fickle outer bar, I think it deserves to be called heavy. NY is my home. I can\'t really talk too much about this spot. If you look hard enough on the 100 miles of coastline and do your homework, you just might come across this wave, or a better one. Photo: Mike Nelson$

March 2015. I never thought I would put New York under the "heavy missions" category, but when your surfing 6-foot square tubes in 36-degree water a half mile out on a fickle outer bar, I think it deserves to be called heavy. NY is my home. I can't really talk too much about this spot. If you look hard enough on the 100 miles of coastline and do your homework, you just might come across this wave, or a better one. Photo: Mike Nelson

$November 2013. Mullaghmore is a great tow wave, and an amazing paddle wave when conditions are right. This was my first good paddle day at Mully. If you make the drop, shoot through the slab section, and kick out in the channel, you did a great job! If it\'s a big low tide, you will be navigating through a field of boils, rolling off steps on your 8ft+ board as your about to backdoor the heaviest barrel of your life. The crew out there is super underground and devoted to Mully. After you get your first keg out there, go straight to the Pier Head Hotel and have yourself a Guinness! Photo: Camila Neves$

November 2013. Mullaghmore is a great tow wave, and an amazing paddle wave when conditions are right. This was my first good paddle day at Mully. If you make the drop, shoot through the slab section, and kick out in the channel, you did a great job! If it's a big low tide, you will be navigating through a field of boils, rolling off steps on your 8ft+ board as your about to backdoor the heaviest barrel of your life. The crew out there is super underground and devoted to Mully. After you get your first keg out there, go straight to the Pier Head Hotel and have yourself a Guinness! Photo: Camila Neves

Editor’s Note: #HeavyMissions is a brand new series featuring surfing’s big-wave elite members. These are the stories told by the watermen and women from the heaviest waves around the world. The fifth in the series is New York-born, big-wave hellman, Kurt Rist.

See more of Kurt’s big-wave missions on his Instagram.

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Kurt Rist Battles Bone-Chilling Mountains of Water in Ireland and Beyond

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