Professor Paddle: Sultan river fatality

Message

   I am posting this because I want everyone to know the events of what happened on Saturday. That being said I want comments kept to a minimum, if you have a question please feel free to ask, but if you feel the need to make a statement about this incident please do it somewhere else. These people were naive to the hazards and are another statistic that can only be avoided by education, not blame.

If you wish to pay your respects please come to Travis' Funeral, otherwise keep it to yourself.

Date: 4/25/15, Saturday

River: Sultan

Section: Lower; Powerhouse to Fishing Access

Location: Below “last nasty”

Gauge: Sultan River Blw Powerplant

Water Level: 1,450 CFS (medium)

Difficulty: Class IV+

Accident code:

Injury code: Fatal

Age: Unknown (mid to late 30’s)

Years paddling: Unknown

Private/commercial: Private

Boat Type: Paddle Raft

Boat Manufacturer: Hyside 14’

Boat Model:

Number of occupants: 4

Number in group: 4

Number of victims: 1

Around 3:30 PM our group of 5 kayakers (Adam G, Jon S, Jon C, Mike H, Jed H)ran the rapid known as Last Nasty.  I was the last individual in our group to complete the rapid and when I eddied out on River Right I discovered two individuals standing at river level, who immediately told me “we need help”(we will call them victim 1 and victim 2). They were wearing cotton clothes, ill-fitting PFD’s and generally looking unprepared for a river trip. At this point they informed me that there were 4 people in their group but only 3 were accounted for and the missing party was last seen floating downstream without a PFD face down in the river and their raft was gone. A previous group of kayakers (Sam, Jordy, Mike, and Ben) had encountered the group and when they were told there was still a missing victim they took chase to determine if the 4th victim was on shore or in the river still.

I initially told them that the best thing to do would be to hike out to the road because they were wet and cold and they need to get out of the river bed.  At this point I guessed they had been on shore for about an hour. Considering their situation and the information I had in hand this appeared to be the best option.

After moving back downstream about 100 feet I discovered that the raft was still in the river upside down with the stern line chocked to the bottom of the river.  At this point I eddied out on the right where we found the third victim sitting on a rock near the shore on river right; she was in shock, very cold, and not communicative but luckily sitting in the sun.

At this point I changed our plan and three of us (Mike H, Jon C, and myself) paddled to river left and recovered the raft.  One member (Mike H) climbed on top of the raft from his kayak and attached a throw bag to the raft, he then cut the webbing that was chocked to the bottom of the river freeing the raft and Jon C and Myself pendulumed the raft to river left.  At this point other groups were coming downstream who assisted with recovering the raft and heading downstream to communicate our situation to Search and rescue.  We used breakdown kayak paddles to paddle the boat to river right.  

At this point myself and another member of our group (Jon S) hiked about 200 feet upstream to where Victim 1 and 2 were still at river level where I had previously made contact with them, this took us about 5 minutes. When I spoke to them I learned that the group of 4 had initially all made it to shore but the 4th had reentered the water in an attempt to recover the raft.  At this point he went under the raft and after some time his t-shirt washed out followed by his PFD and sometime later he floated out face down and out of sight.

From this point we slowly worked our way back downstream, traversing the steep, loose and uneven terrain back to the raft.  I would scout a line, clear brush and cut steps, then return to the group and lead them to another stable spot and start the process over again.  It took us about an hour to traverse back to the raft. Jon S and I worked in tandem to pick lines through the thick brush and steep slopes as well as assist pulling, pushing , and motivating the pair to continue forward. During this Mike P’s group stayed in their kayaks directly below us in the event that any of us slipped or tumbled down the slope into the river.

Once back at the raft the other members of the group had tied my kayak to the raft and had recovered two of the raft paddles.  We loaded the two female victims onto the center compartment and the male victim into the front with a member of our group (Adam G).  I was guiding while the member (Adam G) in our group and the male victim paddled. It took us about 15 minutes to navigate the last few rapids down to the take out at the fishing access on river left off of Trout Farm Road.

At the Fishing access the Sheriff’s department and paramedic unit were waiting with an ambulance.  At this point the 4th member was still unaccounted for.  After making my statement and giving my information to the Sheriff’s deputy we continued downstream in an attempt to recover Victim 4.

About a ¼ mile from the fishing access we came across another group who had discovered the 4th victim stuck on a rock left of center in the river.  At this point they pulled his body to river left and walked to a house to call emergency care to recover the body. 

I stayed with the deceased with Mike H and Jon S until Monroe EMS arrived and recovered the deceased.  

This group had put in at the powerhouse and was not aware of the Recreational release from Culmback dam.  That being said, if the release hadn't been happening it is unlikely that there would have been another group running that section and I surmise that they would have not been able to exit the canyon without assistance and would likely have died from exposure.  This group had no prior experience and was wearing cotton pants, ill-fitting PFD's, and no helmets. 