Is anyone planning on running the lower Tilton this weekend? Last weekend myself and two others ran it in IKs. Unfortunately, one of the others fell out of his IK in Leap of Faith, which ended up stuck on some rocks on river left in the upper half of the rapid (not wrapped, just stuck). He swam to the bottom of the rapid safely, but lost his paddle on the way down. As you know if you've ever run the Tilton before, there is no way to simply walk back upstream; the canyon walls are straight up and down.

Running the river was a bad idea given that we did not have the proper gear to deal with this type of situation, nor had ever run the river before. With three of us and only two IKs and two paddles remaining, and without any idea of our exact location, we parked the other two IKs on the rocks on river right (next to the creek) and hiked out.

Needless to say, the IK that got stuck in Leap of Faith is undoubtedly somewhere in the lower half of the canyon. It's a red Tributary.      

Is anyone planning on running the Lower Tilton this Saturday, April 14? Any help in finding the lost red IK would be greatly appreciated, even just pin-pointing it's location in the canyon. We are trying to get some rafts together to go down but not sure if water levels will permit. Any ideas are appreciated. 425-343-3958. Thanks!


Edited by schierenbeck - 12 Apr 2012 at 8:07pm

Here's my idea, since you asked.
Boat recovery missions are best appreciated by BEER. Straight up. That's been the CODE OF THE RIVER since before I started boating ( 3 decades +). Just sayin.

I'm not headed down there, so you won't owe me nothing. But that's the general rule. Ask any raft guide from here to the Potomac watershed and elsewhere. And, its most polite for the owner of a lost river craft to proffer said libations without being prompted. Since boat rescuers often need to go out of their way and exert extra efforts to retrieve boats (salvage), they are mildly entitled to a modest reward.

Last summer, when a crew of river guides whom I greatly admire pulled a raft off of a bridge pillar on the Wenatchee and returned it to the Commercial Raft Company whose guide wrapped it (I believe this Company deserves to remain un named) they were rewarded by something approximating a PICKUP TRUCK FULL of beer. Now, this was a commercially wrapped raft, and this company's guides were not the ones to rappell down the bridge and vertically extract the boat. This situation required someone with more motivation, and more practice with the necessary skills involved. So a larger... retainer fee in this situation was justified. In your "case", you are probably looking at just that: maybe a twelve or an 18 pack. There is no hard and fast rule.

But after the rescuers contact you and inform you of the condition and status of your recovered craft, your next question should be:

"What kind of beer do you drink"

I should clarify that my statement is meant in a general, universal way. I just saw this topic as an opportunitty to express the basic custom. I mean, its kind of a tradition sort of thing, not unlike other salvage efforts that occur outside the whitewater micro milieu.

So, its actually not meant as a personal criticism directed at you. Sorry if it came across that way.

Anyway, gotta go boat. Trying to honor Mr. Harms' signiture there. I posted too many times in the last 24, so I gotta get out and do penence w/ that many times 1000 paddle strokes.

Later.
Good like recovering your craft. Chances are best that ethical folks will either recover it or leave it there and tell you how to find it. Enjoy the Tilton this weekend

@ Brian: tomorrow, on Saturday, we are going to head to the lake to see if the IK washed out. and if Bigwater ends up running, will check with him to see if he spotted it in the canyon.

@ Chris: thanks for the info earlier! maybe see you down there.

the Tilton's canyon nature makes it more treacherous than your typical Class III-IV run. we definitely made the wrong choice of river this time, given our lack of knowledge of the river and means to deal with this type of situation, but when sh*t hit the fan we made the right choice to stick together and hike out of there. lesson learned. it was definitely a beautiful, amazing run, though. the rapids have real character. the scenery is stunning. I will always wonder what the rest of the canyon looks like....

Edited by schierenbeck - 13 Apr 2012 at 10:54pm

well, where was it?