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Forum: BoaterTalk
Date: Jun 10 2002, 21:39 GMT
From: ChrisJ

	On thursday I was involved in two rescues at the same hole- the first was someone else, the second was my own. The hole was a steep pourover that was backed up by a downstream wall, all the surface water fed back into the seam.  It was a true keeper- one corner of the hole was stopped by a backcut wall some 15' high, the other side was an uphill paddle out against current. The approach to the hole was class V... 3 ledges in rapid succession, surgy stuff- and martin got caught in the hole on the second before working his way out, and dropped (with no speed) into the third. I was out of my boat, to help him at the second ledge, when he dropped into the third- it took me about 15 seconds to scramble to a spot from which to deploy a rope, in which time Martin had swam and was being recirculated.  I laid a rope across his shoulders... just as he went down again, unaware of the rope.  He recirculated several more times, with a rope within arm's reach... it was agonizing to watch.   After an endless 30 seconds of trawling the hole for him, he got the rope and I hauled him quickly to the base of the cliff I was on top of- but couldn't haul him up, he was too heavy and too tired for me to hoist.  Fortunately, Jurgen had collected the other end of the rope (it had washed out of the hole in the deep outflow) and was able to pendulum him to the far shore. Martin's boat stayed in that hole for over 15 minutes. I ended up rappelling down the wall and grabbing an end of the boat, 'binering it to a line, and climbing back out to hoist the boat up... heh.  for anyone else who tries this trick, make sure you 'biner in the bow loop, and take the time to undo the drain plug.  hauling that boat up that wall was difficult for two people. Martin called it a day. Jurgen and I decided not to continue the run, but rather to to back to the put-in, re-run this same stretch, and then call it a day ourselves- the boat extraction had been exhausting and this creek was high, very high...  better to play it safe. we went back to the top and bombed the run, and saw (happily) that Martin had opted to walk in to the same spot to set safety and take pictures... ...and sure enough, I ended up in the hole.  Damn, damn, damn- I flinched on the way in, got backendered, rolled up in the hole and there began the rodeo. I really tried to get out of that hole, came close a couple of times, came really close- but sadly, no cigar. I knew help was on the way, knew that I could hang on for at least a couple of minutes, knew for damned sure that I WOULD NOT swim here. I held things more or less together for what felt like a long time before Martin got me a rope, pulled me (boat and all) up to the base of the wall, right on top of the boil that was feeding back into the hole... where I climbed like a monkey up the wall.  (actually, I tried to attach the rope to my boat as I got out of it, so we could haul it up... but the boat had other ideas so I figured it knew what it was doing and let it go...) Sooo... exciting day. Beers never tasted so good.

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Dude... glad you're still among us. Read your email tonight. <NT> GRITS New

Did you get your boat back? Wilko New

oh, yes. ChrisJ New

Now THERE's a good reason to have a drain plug! Glad you're both OK. <NT> jsp New

Good story!  Glad you're OK. <NT> paddleman New

Monkey see, monkey do... Rattso_del_Flatulato New

the spot... ChrisJ New

"yeah, we were on it pretty high"..................... E-rock New

Glad you're  ok, Chris.... michiganrafter New

Chrisj, do I have the hat for YOU! jules New

I'm glad you're okay, too, Chris! <NT> Mustang_Sally New

Wow!  Great description, I could picture it all.  Good work. <NT> tallman New

And not a pretty picture at that,glad everyone`s OK. <NT> rbowman New

Let me guess... creekfreak New

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