Jackie Myers wrote: > My question would be... is this really atypical of a narrow gorge in a mountainous region? Or did Squires (aka Whitewater Outlaw) run out of luck? Any ww gorge runners here? No, that's what steep canyon/gorge/creek paddling looks like at high water. We've got places like that within 2 hours of my keyboard. Yes, Squires probably ran slap out of luck. Without knowing any details, I would say that he probably got caught in a recirculating hydraulic at the bottom of the drop which pushed him and his boat into a boulder sieve and pinned him there. It can happen very quickly, and the essential feature of river running is that the current is continuous, so head down pins are often fatal. Given the flow, it's unlikely that the outcome would have been any different if there had been a group of 10 paddlers instead of just 2. I don't run many gorges like that, but have many friends who do. It's not uncommon for one of them to say "I almost died this weekend." Steve -- Steve Cramer Athens, GA http://www.savvypaddler.com *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Wed Jan 17 2007 - 10:53:58 PST
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