Topic: Nasty Pin in CC Stilly Posted: 08 Dec 2007 at 7:16pm
I have edited my post as it was way too long.
Here's the gist of it:
There are some really nasty pin rocks at the bottom of Headwall Rapid on Canyon Creek of the Stilly. Headwall is the third drop once you are in the gorge (below the bridge drop). These rocks are new or have shifted from their old positions. This rapid used to be pretty straight forward: Down the ramp, move left to avoid the headwall on the bottom right.
Currently there are two rocks stacked at the bottom of the ramp, pretty much where the main flow goes. At the low water we had today (5.11 on the Stilly gauge) they were very much in play. The reasonable route today was to start left, head right and eddy out above the ramp on river right. Then drop onto the ramp and get far right to avoid the rocks.
I dropped onto the ramp and thought I was plenty far right but I obviously was not. Frankly, I wasn't aware of where I was, thinking I had cleared the rocks by a few feet. I didn't and I got pinned hard against the rocks, dead sideways, with my boat leaning upsteam. Although I was fairly stable, most of my body was underwater and the water was washing/splashing up onto my face and I was quite scared that the boat was going to slide upstream and take me under. I could also feel the hull of my boat flexing under me and was afraid it was going to collapse. I felt that I was not stable enough to try and shake free as I was afraid I might slide further down the rock (upstream) and not be able to escape the boat in time in case my skirt blew and the boat collapsed.
Too make a long story short, I had to be rescued by my kayaking partners, Mike Stano, Jon Almquist, Brett Barton and Claire Hews. It was about a 5 minute process culminating with Mike zip-lining out to me and pulling me up and over the rocks. All of them played a part in the rescue and all of them were calm and proficient. I am very, very grateful for their efforts.
I have no problem admitting that I was very scared, although I didn't pull any major panic moves. In fact I looked Brett right in the eye as he was assessing the situation and said "I'm pretty stable for now but I'm really scared and you're going to have to rescue me." My biggest bonehead move was not knowing where I was while I was running the drop.
So, two things:
One, please scout this drop as the consequences of a missed line could be dire. At higher water I am sure a route would clean up to the left of the pin rocks but it was very bony over there today. For the record, Jon made a very clean run from left to right across the ramp.
Two: Please, please take a swiftwater rescue class! It's been years since I completed mine and, even though I've been rafting for 40 years and kayaking for 10, and have lots of river experience, I will be taking another one asap. We learn these skills to save our friend's lives. Today, my friends saved mine.
Thank you Mike, Jon, Brett and Claire. You are my heroes!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Register
Login
Active Topics
Memberlist
Search
