All who choose to paddle whitewater need to be always aware of what is at stake, and maybe the best we can hope for in a friends death is that we will always take that to heart when choosing whether or not to paddle over a horizon line.

So much can go wrong. You mention progression, but even the most experienced die. It just happened again in Idaho this last weekend.

I just got off the phone with my buddy who paddled with Conrad on the NF Payette on Saturday, the day before he died there. I guess I don't have a point, other than losing a friend to the river sucks.

But we still paddle. And it is still so rewarding.