Gonna have to disagree w/ ya and stick by what I said.  The flow I was refering to the Truss being class IV (give or take 1/2 a class) at is the lower 2.75 and below as you've mentioned.  Obviously as a run get more juice in it's going to get harder.

 

No way is double drop class V at those flows, the wood in Zig Zag makes it a V but it's definetly not a class V move.  BZ is kind of like extra sauce on the cake, don't need to run it or portage it to do the Truss since it's sort of after the fact.  We can both agree Big Bro is a V.   

 

Every summer people get spanked on Brown's Canyon on the Arkansas, doesn't make that a class V run either, just means there is high traffic and people get beat.  People get creamed all the time on Pigeon Point, people have swam fishtail, doesn't make that one is class V either.

 

I hear what you're saying about under-rating runs being dangerous but if someone is a solid class IV boater (not swimming or out of control on a regular basis on class IV rapids) I would do the Truss w/ them and not feel like I'm putting their life or mine in any grave danger.  This is considering we took our time, scouted rapids they didn't feel comfortable running that day and set safety for those they did. 

 

That being said, for what it's worth the run is in a class V style setting, if you got destroyed down there it would be misserable having to deal w/ it.

 

 On a side note.  If I worked in White Salmon and someone came into a shop I was working at asking if they could run the Truss as a Class IV boater I would say no and suggest something else.

 

You going to be around for Gorge Games?  I'll give you a call when we head down.

 

From a weekend warrior/class IV type boater Big Bro and BZ are the only two rapids I don't feel comfortable running.  I suppose the wood in lower ZZ isn't to appealing either. From that perspective, I don't personally feel portaging any of those rapids takes away from the experience of being on the Truss.

 

From a race perspective I can totally see why they call it Class V and say it's for class V/V+ paddlers.  You're not scouting, portaging, etc and you're paddling balls to the wall.  The only place you'll see me at the games is cheering on people from the banks or drinking beer at the takeout!

 

From a guidebook perspective I believe the river is rated with the general concensus on this thread (IV/V).  However, I do agree that it gets downplayed by some.  When some of my good friends started paddling the Truss it was class V for them.  Now they tell me they feel it's class IV besides BB and BZ.  I suppose it's all perspective, not to mention skill development. 

 

Any run other than the most hairy class V++ can be wired by repeated runs. This is how the sandbagging gets going. People run something like the Truss or whatever 20 times (or less), and lose sight of how difficult it may have been the first time down. Even having someone give you verbal instruction, if you're willing to follow without scouting, shaves off some of the difficulty. I consider the rigors of scouting and portaging part of the rigors of completing the run. It consumes time and energy, and doesn't ensure you won't get hurt on the side of the river climbing over something, ect.

 

The rating system is designed to give people who've never been there a way (however imperfect) to asssess the difficulties their likely to encounter. Debates around this issue are natural, and eternal.I find Bennet's book to be consistantly rated, and I read it with the understanding that skills and equipement do advance, and popular contemporary assessments of the ratings with it, however slightly. We need a grounded metric that everyone agrees on, and the Bennet book is it, along with AW. Without these authorities, we're all just talking smack.

 

The bottom line is, IMHO, paddlers should not go poking their bows into canyons unless they've done the proper research (abundantly easy these days with the internet) about what lies downstream. I believe a paddler should have a BUFFER ZONE: an EXCESS of skill required to complete the run they are doing, ideally. Or at least the reasonable skill levels required to make it down in a controled and calm way. Because you never know what may go wrong.