# Kayaker fatality South Mineral Creek



## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

very sad to hear

The Durango Herald 07/06/2011 | Kayaker drowns in Mineral Creek


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## Cutch (Nov 4, 2003)

Very unfortunate. Condolences to the family and all involved.


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## thecraw (Oct 12, 2003)

Damn.... very sad indeed. be safe out there everyone. Water is still crank'n in most areas.


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## MountainMedic (Apr 24, 2010)

Rough year, body count is getting too high. Sad.


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## lmyers (Jun 10, 2008)

Scary stuff....head injury leads to drowning. Another reminder that the river can take any one of us, at any time.

Condolences and sympathy to all who knew him.


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## storm11 (Feb 10, 2006)

Article has it wrong... head injury was not the case. I personally was not involved, but have talked to those involved in the attempted rescue, and their account was that he became entangled in his boat.


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## steven (Apr 2, 2004)

geez. any incident report coming that we could hopefully learn from?


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## ccwalbridge (Jun 4, 2005)

I'm the AW acciodent database manager. Can anyone put me in touch with someone who knows more than the reporter?

Charlie Walbridge ccwalkbridge (at) cs.com


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## ccwalbridge (Jun 4, 2005)

make that ccwalbridge (at) cs.com


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## basil (Nov 20, 2005)

Why couldn't his paddling partners rescue him?


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## [email protected] (Mar 2, 2008)

He had run the upper drops above the caldron with little trouble. While entering the caldron he rolled once. When he came up he could not turn his boat and became pinned in the 4 ft. exit slot with his body facing up river. They had safety in place. He was not able to exit the boat. A member of the party had to jump on the boat to free it and him. Cpr was attempted for quite some time. The autopsy that was performed today shows head trauma to the back of his head below the helmet. There was no visible sign of a head injury on scene. There were a lot of people involved in the attempted rescue and everything was done to try and help save him. My heart goes out to the family and friends. 
"All rivers, even the most dazzling, those that catch the sun in their course, all rivers go down to the ocean and drown. And life awaits man as the sea awaits the river."
Simone Schwarz-Bart


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

Condolences to all involved and the family!


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## basil (Nov 20, 2005)

It must be tough on the rescuers.


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## stankboat (Mar 30, 2005)

thanks hotlava. prayers for you and David's family.


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## AZEngineer (Jul 7, 2011)

Trip report.

Durango Colorado
4th of July Weekend, 2011
In Memory of Kevin Bair
by Jens Jensen

A group of us had been contemplating a trip to the Kern River in Southern California for the 4th of July. Several of us wanted to do the Forks of the Kern, a class IV/V run. Water levels were too high, so the trip was changed to Durango Colorado.

A few people traveled earlier in the week and the rest of us came up Friday evening. We camped at Cascade Creek, north of Durango. Kevin Bair and I were originally planning on driving together to California. After switching destinations, Kevin offered to drive to meet me in Nutrioso so that I wouldn't have to ride up by myself. I talked him out of it as it would have him driving four hours by himself to keep me from driving five hours by myself. But that was Kevin.

We did the Upper Animas on Saturday. It's a 26 mile, Class IV/V, very cold, challenging run. The final 2 miles are in a tight canyon (called the Rockwood Box) which is particularly challenging. The box is often avoided by riding out on the train or hiking out on the railroad tracks.

A group of 8 of us did the first 24 miles together and in spite of a few swims, had a great time. I spent most of the day in my favorite boating configuration, with Ryan ahead to help me find a good line and Kevin behind to save me. Kevin as usual, was ready at the rescue and was essential in collecting people and boats.

Most of us were quite tired that day before starting. Kevin was particularly tired having worked hard to get everything done before the trip and completing a major test at midnight the night before. He got a B on the test by the way. 

Johanna Nylen and I had purchased train tickets at Ryan Fair's recommendation the day before. Via some confused logistics we both managed to catch the train out to Rockwood. The rest of the group except Pete Traylor also decided to skip the Rockwood box after we left. They negotiated a train ride for their boats and hiked out on the tracks. Pete met a another group of friends and did the Rockwood Box with them. Kevin commented later that he was kicking himself for missing out on that opportunity.

On Sunday a group of six of us headed up to South Mineral Creek. Kevin, Pete and I rode up in my truck. Ryan, Johanna and Jim McComb rode up in Ryan's truck. We were all aware that this was Class V. Kevin, Pete, and Ryan suited up. The rest of us had no intention of attempting this run.

We scouted and planned for quite some time before anyone put on the water. The run is less than 1/2 mile long. It begins with a 20 foot waterfall followed by a series of four or five pool drops, then a tight S turn slot with a small narrow pool called the Cauldron with an exit gap approximately 6 feet wide. It continues on for another quarter mile of less significant drops after the slot.

After we all walked and discussed the entire route several times, I helped Pete and Kevin rope their boats down to the entrance pool above the waterfall. Ryan said that he just wasn't feeling like this was for him for today and opted out. I asked Kevin if he was okay, and although looking nervous, he said that he was - and that he had run harder stuff than this before. He just needed to get his head straight first. He was grinning when he said that he had to admit though, that he was a bit jazzed to be running something that Ryan chickened out on.

Ryan and Johanna set up to take pictures on an outcrop in front of the waterfall. I stationed myself with a throw rope at the top of the S turn slot. Jim McComb was at the exit gap with ropes. He tied one rope off to rocks prior to the runs.

A group of locals were coming down the hill to do the run behind us, but hadn't arrived when Pete and Kevin began their runs. Pete did a clean line off the waterfall, matching the consensus route. Kevin took the waterfall to the left, doing a quick correction just before dropping off. A look at the pictures shows that Kevin was off of the planned line - but the waterfall drop was successful.

Both Pete and Kevin looked good for the stretch for which I had a view. Their lines looked clean and almost identical. Pete went first. We passed OK signals back to Kevin after Pete cleared the slot.

After Kevin disappeared from my view I gathered my rope and several of Kevin's things that I was carrying including a water bottle, his pogeys, and his skull cap. After climbing up a few feet I spotted Kevin's boat upside down in the gap. I dropped everything and started running to Jim's position.

I learned later that Kevin overcorrected a right brace causing him to roll to the left at the bottom of the slot. He did a quick roll which also rotated him 90° putting him in parallel with the gap and horizontal to the flow. Just as he got upright, he pinned nose to tail across the gap with his upstream edge down. The current immediately flipped him to his right. Kevin's upper body shifted to the downstream side, although the boat remained firmly pinned upside down with Kevin locked in. We're not sure if he ever managed to catch a breath after flipping. He did find the rope that Jim lowered. He dropped it once. He then found it again and managed to wrap it around his arm 2 or 3 times and lock-it with his hand.

Ryan and I arrived about the same time and joined Jim in pulling the rope. Three of us pulling with all our might didn't manage to budge the boat, or get Kevin to air. I did see his face once, briefly shimmering ghostlike in the water a few inches below the surface.

Ryan realized this wasn't working and left to attempt to approach from the pool below. Jim and I kept working the rope. We readjusted the rope a bit to the left at one point in order to try to improve the leverage. In releasing the tension slightly, I felt Kevin take up the slack. A short time later, Kevin finally ran out of air and released the rope.

Pete and Ryan were trying to reach Kevin from pool below. I gathered the rope and tossed one end to Pete. We weren't able to drag him up to the boat due to the pull angle and swiftness of the current.

One of the local boys then appeared before me on the opposite side of the gap. He shouted for me to lower him down. He stretched across the gap and I grabbed his hand and pulled him across. I then lowered him down to the boat with one hand while he held Jim's rope with the other. This young man's actions were truly heroic. He jumped up and down on the boat for quite some time unsuccessfully. At some point Kevin's broken right leg floated to the surface flapping in the current. 

The young man finally knocked the boat loose with a push kick off the far side of the gap. He went into the water with the boat. Kevin floated out of the boat and was quickly dragged to shore. Ryan, Pete and others started CPR right away. One young woman (from the group of locals) was a nurse and the other was an EMT. They all continued working on Kevin, taking turns breathing and pumping until emergency services arrived.

I ran up the hill to call 911 but there was not cell service. After turning the truck around I met Johanna who retrieved her phone and we headed down the road. We found cell service after about 5 miles. A forest service truck and the County sheriff met us within about 10 minutes. We led them to the site where they assisted with rescue efforts. An ambulance arrived sometime after that.

It was reported to me by the folks doing CPR that Kevin never showed any signs of life after being released from his boat. He involuntarily coughed up water and stomach fluids after about 10 minutes of pumping, but never blinked or twitched. Kevin's sister said that the coroner's report told that Kevin had a star shaped contusion above one eye. Since it wasn't swollen, it may have been post-mortem. 

I think that if he could, Kevin would look at this tragedy with his engineering mind and try to figure out what safety lessons could be drawn. It is so ironic - that Kevin was such a safety nanny to everyone he boated with. And naturally, all of us involved (and many of Kevin's other boating friends) have studied and discussed the sequence of events in an effort to understand what happened and what could have been done to avoid Kevin's death.

Even though we all felt that Kevin was capable of making this run, he didn't successfully complete it. I personally think that the lesson is that even if you (and others) consider yourself to be a Class V boater, you can't count on boating at a Class V level when you are tired and you haven't been on the water in a few weeks. Class V boating by definition has very little room for mistakes, and any mistake can be fatal. 

We are all devastated. Kevin's kindness, generosity, and genuine concern for everyone's safety and well-being touched many lives. We are heartbroken to lose him.


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## Canada (Oct 24, 2006)

*I'm so sorry for what you experienced*

my prayers are with all of you.


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## ilanarama (Jun 25, 2010)

Thank you very much for posting the detailed report, which must have been hard to write. My sympathy to you and the rest of Kevin's friends and family.


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## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

Thanks for sharing Jens. I met some of your very nice crew Saturday at Tacoma I was the one who offered to bring their kayaks to Rockwood on the train. sorry things turned out like they did. It sounds like your crew and locals made every effort possible given that it was a hard pin. I and some others here have been on the scene of a river fatality and it is truly one of the worst things, no way around it. my sincerest condolences to all.


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## catwoman (Jun 22, 2009)

R.I.P.


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## Hope Floats 2 (May 5, 2011)

Thank you for posting this account and for sharing a little piece of your friend with us. So sorry for you, all his friends and family.


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## leif (Jul 11, 2009)

That was an intense read, and it brought back memories of when I was involved in a kayaking fatality. Sounds like your safety was better than our setup usually is, but there just wasn't anything that could have been done. Very sad.


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## spahle (May 26, 2011)

Thank you Jens for sharing the trip report. I know it must have been hard to write and even harder to experience. My thoughts are with you his family and everyone else who knew this amazing young man.


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## studytime (Oct 4, 2010)

This may seem a silly question but has anybody ever thought about carrying a 4ft length of clear flexible tubing? I am sure you can roll it up pretty small. If you were able to get a air passage to the pinned Kayaker would that have saved him? I dont Kayak, just raft but I always hear of kayakers getting pinned just under the water in thier boats. 

Just a thought.

Sorry for your loss.


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## johng (Apr 25, 2005)

A few kayakers carry a breathing tube, and I've always thought that in an emergency you could cut the hose off a float bag and use that. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone using a tube, but it does seem like a good idea, especially for small creeks.

Always depressing to hear of a loss like this one. My condolences to family and friends.


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## carvedog (May 11, 2005)

Vibes and condolences to all involved. Thanks for sharing, it couldn't have been easy. 

The only takeaway is what we can learn and that requires this discussion.


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## craven_morhead (Feb 20, 2007)

If memory serves, the Drago Rossi Mafia had a breathing apparatus of some sort. I like the float bag hose idea.


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## kerry edwards (Apr 24, 2009)

Rapid Products.com | Extra air to breathe for Water Sports

I usually carry a flexible snorkle. The mouthpiece seems better to me than a hose from an airbag. Someone did attempt to use an air bag hose for a pinned boater in Brown's Canyon many years ago. My recollection is that it was unsuccessful.


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## Stuntmonkey (Jul 9, 2009)

Very Sad...Condolences to all involved. 
Incidents like this, and the breathing tube subject brought up, reminds me of the possibilies of carrying some sort of tiny, personal air tank. Like the "Breath of Life" pictured in this website. Of course, it wouldn't allow you to just sit under there and wait for rescue, but it may privide the extra 1 or 2 breaths you need to survive the situation, you know?


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## Stuntmonkey (Jul 9, 2009)

Sorry for the double post...
But this seems pretty cool:
The extreme spare air


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## TheDeb (Sep 17, 2010)

Everytime I read one of these, it brings tears to my eyes...sincere condolences.


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## rivermanryan (Oct 30, 2003)

For more than a few inches underwater the tube would collapse from the pressure and it would be very difficult to breathe through if done like a snorkle. Maybe it could work if someone on the surface blew air down to the person entrapped.


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## cadster (May 1, 2005)

Have to assume this is the same James McComb that was involved with this previous accident.

Kayaker dies in East Verde | Payson Roundup - Payson, AZ


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## AZEngineer (Jul 7, 2011)

Yes, Jim McComb unfortunately drowned in very similar circumstances two years later.


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