Well today was an interesting day.
It was -11C in Minden when I got up but was +1C when I got there at noon.
The level was guestimated to be about 8.3ish. Lots of snow on the ground and ice here and there on the river.
Quite a few people showed up today: Gary, Martin, Steve, Neil, Derek, Dave, John, Scotty, Mark (spectator), and myself.
Once again Val was a no show (part time wanna be paddler ... Neil made me write that)!
I had already pre-determined that I was only going to do three runs at the most unless I swam and then I would be done for the day and just take pics.
Scotty was apparently playing in Earls when we got there and his dad was doing the video thing.
Everyone else started changing into their paddling gear.
Neil and Derek started below the falls. Steve and Martin ran from the top. I think Dave, Scotty, and John put in below the falls.
Gary and I were the last to put on below the falls. Things were going great for me. I managed to catch a few eddys on the way down. I ran into a big dangling ice chunk with the battleship and ended up running into to poor Steve who then in turn broke some more ice off on the shore line. Sorry about that.
I made it to the foot bridge fine and did the small drop and caught the eddy on river right. Ended up doing a half a$$ ferry and eddy catch on the left. My goal today was not to get pinned on the big rock or get stuck in the ice and sharp rocks on the right.
Made it down to the Otter Slide and set up for my run and thats where my day ended. I ended up hitting the second big diagonal wave after the Otter Slide sideways and went over and ended up swimming. I was really concerned about the huge ice shelf on the left corner rocks and just swam to the middle (see pictures later). I was only in the water for maybe 45 seconds from start to finish. Dave gave me a quick tow back to the eddy. I was fine but embarrased that young Scotty had to tow the battleship back to shore. He thought it was cool when he found the switches for the pumps as he did not have to tow the boat back full. My thanks to Dave and Scotty.
So as per my original plan I decided to end my paddle day. I was still fine, not hurt, and still nice and warm but I stopped anyway.
I talked to Neil and Derek for a bit before heading back to the car to change and grab the camera gear.
Luckily our group was paddling today. I wasn't sure if I was going to put this in the TR or not but I think it is worth mentioning about cold water and its effects. Aparently while I was up at the car, some of the gang had to perform a rescue further down the river in the lake. No the rescue was not for part of our group but for a snow mobiler who thought he could ride is sled across about 700M of open water. The first guy made it fine. The second guy didn't and he and his sled went for the deep dive. The other two supposed buddies where on shore watching all of this.
One of the gang noticed the sled going under and three of our group started paddling over to help out. The guy was now only wearing a t-shirt as he ditched his snowmobile jacket. He was flailing in the water and the only thing most likely keeping his head afloat was the foam in his helmet. They towed him back to shore. He was in stage 2 hypothermia and one of the rescuers figured he would have been dead in another couple of minutes if they had not been there.
During the rescue attempt the first guy to make it across came back across the open water on shis sled and made it to shore (what an idiot). The rescuers told the so called buddies to call 911 for an ambulance. They refused as they were all intoxicated and did not want the cops there. None of these guys had floater suits, etc. Hopefully this guy is still alive and was properly warmed up in time by his so called buddies.
The sled is still somewhere polluting the bottom of the river/lake.
Link to pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmnypny/sets/72157604324165013/
