One more pounding, then they were through and into quieter water.įisk-Williams had been thrown from his raft at Horn Rapid a few days earlier while standing up to perform a "high-side" maneuver in which the occupants use their weight to keep the boat from flipping. Then Edwards had both oars again, and yanked the bow back into the teeth of the final big wave. The boat listed upward and for a perilous moment seemed ready to swamp. Another wave crashed over the boat, slamming Edwards backward in his seat and inundating everyone on board. Edwards lost his grip on the right oar and gave a backward tug on the left to correct his position. The entry point is key: Choose wrong and there isn't much the oarsman can do to steer-"the river will do what it wants with you," Edwards said.Ī massive wave caught the bow, shoving it sideways. As his boat neared the rapid, he stood up to inspect it. Still guiding at age 70, he has run this rapid more than 150 times, but it still tightens his stomach. Because of the crew's inexperience, the paddle boat was the most likely to flip, but this group powered through the rapid without incident, whooping with glee as they careened through the final waves.Įdwards followed a few minutes later. As it turned out, only seven stepped forward. The previous evening, 10 students had indicated they wanted to paddle, which would have required drawing straws to determine the seven who would get seats.
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Later, Halter admitted he had no idea how that happened. Approaching the V wave, some combination of luck and synchronicity allowed Halter to simply hop the gap, and his boat glided almost serenely on the water's surface. Fisk-Williams and Matt Halter would go right.įawcett went first and got through safely. Hester decided to go left, and Kim Fawcett agreed. The conditions on this day conspired to make Lava Falls particularly savage. Heavy flow diminishes the danger in some rapids and intensifies it in others. Now, its flow is regulated by the amount of water released at Glen Canyon Dam. In Powell's day, before the dams were built, the volume of water in the river was determined by nature. Shay Hester, somewhat under her breath, remarked that "the V wave is huge." The guides clustered to discuss which way to go. Everyone piled out and climbed to a promontory overlooking the rapid.
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(Less than a week after the students returned home, a 64-year-old man drowned there.)Īll the boats pulled in to shore a few hundred feet upriver from the falls.
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Explorer John Wesley Powell was so daunted by the torrent he chose to portage around it.Īccidents are rare-about 2 percent of boats flip-but when they do occur, serious injury and even death can result. The right features a giant "V wave," named for the shape produced by colliding water to create a "hole" that can swallow a boat and overturn it. The left channel is treacherous because negotiating the narrow passage is highly technical and requires avoiding rocks protruding from the water. Rated Class 10, the most difficult, it is characterized by turbulent channels on either side of a massive lava formation just beneath the surface in the middle of the river. It is the most notorious rapid in the continental United States, and the only one on the river that makes lead guide Alan Fisk-Williams truly nervous. When students awoke on September 10, the mood in camp was subdued.