I just saw on the news some guy has his foot/leg trapped somehwere on the Sky.  Luckily he was rescued.  Looked like it could have been BD.  Anyone know anything about this?

Looks like he was on the left side of the entrance just above Airplane Turn at Boulder Drop. 

I love the phone call I got from my mother, 

Has anyone ever died on the Skykomish? I remember a death on the NF Sky a couple years ago, but don't recall any accidents on the main.

If I recall correctly the guy who died was a teenager who decided to run BD in a cheap raft with his brother and no pfd. 

There was a fatality associated with a commercial trip on the Sky about 10 years ago...It was a big water trip and the raft flipped somewhere in the picket fence.  the guide of that boat told me his client was pulled out of the wier....

Tragic as those deaths are, based on this informal survey I'd say driving Highway 2 over Stevens Pass is more dangerous the running the Sky.

The problem with IK's is that usually greenhorns are using them.  When I had my Stiletto out in WV people thought I was crazy for wanting to run the Cheat.   The host of our campground even called Jim Snyder and asked him what he thought.  Jim recommended against us taking a ducky down the Cheat.  He did this because he figured anyone with a duckie must not know what the heck they are doing.  We did it anyway and made some believers out of the off-duty raft guides when I surfed Big Nasty and endered out...

Most accidents like this are a result of poor boater skill, knowledge, or drunkeness.  The craft should not be blamed for somebody going into the Lemming Chute and getting pinned.  Also, I don't know about you but I would much rather be pinned in an inflatable kayak than in a hardshell.    Boat preference should have nothing to do with knowing where the heck you are going or knowing how to paddle....

the Sky is never too low ...

Horner.

I like IK's.  They make getting across those pesky holes a lot easier.  That is when they are parked in them that is.  Sorry Brian, too many times boating with you and Chatham to resist the slam.
-N

ha, I swim more than anyone I know except chronic dave!

Well ,I got a close view of everything yesterday afternoon , these guys (3) on IKs were walking their boats , literally, down the Northfork of the Sky , they had put in at Trout creek , wich is amazing they made it all the way down to the confluence due to the minimum amount of water coming down right now on the NF, we got to see them when we were driving over the bridge at Index , and they had their life jackets and helmets which seemed to be fine other than that there was not H2O , and it was kinda funny to see them walking the last rapid before the bridge... anyway it was pretty hot yesterday so Chris and I decided to go for a cooling Kayak run down the Sky from the confluence to split rock ; like one hour later after we saw these guys over here , with no idea what they were really doin'...we put in and by the time we got to the Boulder Drop there was some fisherman looking at something from the river right side , so after the first turn around the Scallop rock at the entrance (middle) we noticed there 2 IKs stuck on the far left, close to the big rock of the left side , so chris eddied out next to the IKs to try to let them go ,after a few times trying to move them she came back over to the right and said , Let;s go around to see if everybody is OK , so we did ...Big sorprise , just getting on the bubble pool we turn to see to the left and there is this guy facing upstream , he is hanging with his arms on the two rocks next to him , in this tide shoot , with water up to his chest and his pants half way down , and he has this face of Oh Shit!! and a half smile on his face,like he knew he 's screwd and can't do anything about his shorts anyway.. . , actually the Goldbar rescue team was on the river left side of the Boulder drop and they just got there like 5 minutes before while we where messing with the IKs on the entrance and they had him with a rope around his chest , pulling upstrem preventing his body from going over backwards totally under water , which could be the worst picture at that moment since his leg was totally wedged up to the knee in between rocks and with a wetsuit totally around his legs pushing down ..So Chris decides to hop out of her boat on top of a sumerged rock and then scrambled over to him since it was really close to get to him from the top of the Bubble pool(river left) . I didn't get out cuz' there was no way to get the boats out of the water so I just cliped my tow tether to her boat and hold there ..Chris gets there , talk's to him really quick ,and reached down to pull his shorts back up ... then she try's to see what's going on under water , she reached her hook knife and started to cut off the wetsuit , that reduced the pressure of the water a little bit on the legs , she called the people on the other end of the rope to pull while she tried to push him out , but is really hard to pull his leg out of there still , so she turned to me and screamed to me she needs help quick ... I pealed of to my left towing her boat behind me throught the bubble pool towards the airplane turn concerned if the other boat flips behind me it might get me in trouble, but it was pretty easy ,lucky me , I eddied out , got the boats to dry rocks and got back into the water without my skirt , it was actually really easy to get to the rock were the victim was from the down stream side . I get there he is shivering, and Chris has a plan , I got I piece of webbing out of my pfd and a carabiner , she made a harness around him and set him on a secondary line besides the one that he has around his chest which is the stabilization line , there is the whole team of firefighters holding on the ropes and Chris gave them the pulling comand , while she and I are pulling up from each side of the harness , Scott was this guys name , cryed from the bottom of his lungs , !Oucchhhh!! my leg.... while he got free .... the ropes got him quick and safe to shore with some hypothermia a

Awesome job! Its knowing there are people out there like you that gives me an extra bit of confidence on the river for me, my friends, clients, and dudes like Scott! Way to go! Luck and speeedy thoughtful rescue works nice...

There was an accident on the NF Payette this weekend that wasn't so lucky and had a very sad ending. A fella named Conrad passed on after his buddies strong swam a bunch of times to get him. This happened near Nutcracker in a gnarly piece. They heroically got him to shore but an hour of resusitation didn't save him. He was quite a boater and a beloved member of the NF community.....

in the last 20 years , there is 3 reported deads on the Sky on the comercial sections , and a few other in the waterfalls of the south fork around 8 total