# Sad day on the Eagle.



## liquidchaos (Jul 11, 2005)

approximatly two pm today a PRIVATE rafter was killed on the edwards mile of the Eagle river. He was sitting in the front of a raft that was guided by his friend when they flipped on an wave ( he thought). They were both next to the raft when the guide told him to let go, there were kayakers nearby assisting and the story is vague from there. He was pulled to shore about a half mile down stream at the top of the edwards lake. He was pronounced dead at the scene.  

This is the second accident in 24 hours on the edwards mile, last night another raft flipped with two people in it. both of there lifejackets were "ripped off" ( that part is suspect) they were not dressed for the water, one guy went missing as was found walking along shore, cold but fine. 

So, be safe out there, go with people with plenty of experinece, scout the mile even though its long, and for god sakes wear some warm clothes and proper gear!


----------



## Geezer (Oct 14, 2003)




----------



## mania (Oct 21, 2003)

I wonder if there was a PFD on this one? makes a huge difference. My condolences to the family and friends.


----------



## liquidchaos (Jul 11, 2005)

He was wearing a life jacket, and some warm gear, but not enough.


----------



## Ralphyboy (May 29, 2006)

*Sad Day On The Eagle*

The fellow that passed while rafting the Eagle was my friend Dog Gordon. I am very interested in figuring out what happened. Would it be possible for a person to die from hypothermia in the time Doug was in the water? Did he have a head injury or some other noticeable physical injuries? Why would a person die in such a situation? I apologize if these are stupid questions, but I am not an experienced rafter and just want to know what happened to my friend. Thanks


----------



## basil (Nov 20, 2005)

It does seem that quite a few deaths occur from swims that weren't that bad. Yea, I'd like to know more.


----------



## jmomedicine (May 29, 2006)

FIRST, MY CONDOLENCES TO ALL INVOLVED IN THE TRAGEDY. NEXT TO ANSWER SOME OF THE MANY MEDICAL QUESTIONS I HAVE HEARD OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THESE ARE GENERALIZED ANSWERS...WITHOUT VERY SPECIFIC DATA, YOU CAN ONLY SPEAK IN GENERALITIES.
OK, THIS WILL BOIL DOWN TO WHAT CAME FIRST. ALL "DROWNING" CASES END IN THE COMMON PATHWAY OF LOW LEVELS OF OXYGEN IN THE BLOOD CAUSING A DRAMATIC DECREASE IN BRAIN AND HEART FUNCTION(THOUGH NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER) = COMA AND NON-PUMPING HEART.

NOW, HOW THESE LOW LEVELS OF OXYGEN CAME TO BE IS THE QUESTION. HERE ARE SOME POSSIBILITIES.

1. PREVIOUS CARDIAC CONDITIONS(KNOWN OR NOT), 
2. A HEAD, SPINAL CORD INJURY OR OTHER TRAUMA AT THE TIME OF IMMERSION, 
3. A METABOLIC DERANGEMENT THAT ALTERS YOUR ABILITY TO REACT(EG. LOW BLOOD SUGAR...)
4. TOXINS 
5. YOUR PHYSICAL STATE PRIOR TO STRESS(EG. HOW COLD, WEAK YOU WERE BEFORE THE IMMERSION)

- ANY ONE OF THESE CAN BE A FATAL CONTRIBUTOR WHEN COMBINED WITH THE COLD WATER/RAPIDS SCENARIO OF THE UPPER EAGLE.
-...WATER ALLOWS FOR THE MOST RAPID DECLINE IN BODY TEMPERATURE(30X THAT OF AIR)...HOW LONG UNTIL HYPOTHERMIA DEPENDS ON 1.PROTECTION, 2.#5 ABOVE AND A HOST OF OTHER FACTORS...THERE IS NO SINGLE FORMULA, IT IS VERY CASE/INDIVIDUAL DEPENDANT...JUST KNOW, COLD H2O CAN INCAPACITATE YOU VERY QUICKLY, ADD TO THIS ANY OF THE ABOVE FACTORS + CLASS III-IV WHITEWATER AND YOU HAVE A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. 
I HOPE THIS HELPED AND I AM MORE THAN WILLING TO ANSWER ANY FURTHER QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE REGARDING THIS MOST UNFORTUNATE SITUATION, AGAIN, MY CONDOLENCES....JMO[/b][/i]


----------



## festivus (Apr 22, 2006)

This is actually an area of quite a bit of new research. The phenomenon is referred to as cold shock and is multifactorial. It is different than the mammalian diving relfex, which as an entity is currently in question, particularly in adults. The point of protecting yourself, particularly if you are getting over 40 or 45 is..... get a drysuit if you are boating in cold water and have any chance of swimming.


----------



## Ralphyboy (May 29, 2006)

*Sad Day On The Eagle*

Thank you very much for this information and for your kind words. I am going to share this with Doug's son and we may have some additional questions.

Now I hope someone who saw what happened or was involved in some way will answer this and let us know how Doug's last few moments played out.

Thanks again.


----------



## Ralphyboy (May 29, 2006)

*Sad Day On The Eagle*

Thanks for this information festivus. I have no idea what Doug was wearing, but it sounds like it wasn't enough. Hopefully when this is done, there will be a way to educate others so they don't end up in the same situation.

Thanks again.


----------



## liquidchaos (Jul 11, 2005)

I was there after the incident occured and helped the fire guys unpin the raft. THere were two kayakers who helped him to chore, i am not sure of their names but it was a older couple ( ironically the same people who called 911 the night before). As a long time guide the one possible cause is when a person has a laryngiospasm, that is where some water, just a drop is needed hit the vocal cords and makes them spasm shut. we have all experinced this before, like water going down the right pipe. when this happens all you have to do is breath through your nose and exhale through your mouth, but as your swimming this is not easy. This is also a bad place to swim, long, bumpy and cold. As i was told they flipped, were both holding on to the downstream side of the boat and his partner told him to let go in hopes to swim the boat to shore. after that the incident is all pretty fuzzy. I hope that others can learn from this experince and that we have a safer rest of the summer!
Doug


----------



## Ralphyboy (May 29, 2006)

Hello,

Thanks for adding your thoughts to this sad tale Doug.

The following was posted on the "River Rescues" thread... thought it might be helpful to add it here as it seems to finish the story.



I received this email from friends who were there. 

Although I had a great time on the trip, the post Yampa kayaking 
> on the Eagle river near Vail had a tragedy of a rafter who was on the 
> same section while we were boating. On Sat. the 27th, a raft with 
> two men on it flipped while running the Edwards mile (continuous 
> class III-IV) on the Eagle. Although we did not know them, their 
> boat was between our lead raft/kayaker and Kim Boberschmidt and 
> myself kayaking in the rear. 
> Doug Blockcolsky (kayaking), Tim Perez, Chuck Boberschmidt, & 
> Shellie Miller (all in lead raft) managed to get the one swimmer to 
> shore after about a mile in continuous class III-IV water. The 
> swimmer held on to Doug throughout the entire rapid, then lost 
> consciousness. Despite heroic efforts by Doug, Chuck and Tim in the 
> rescue and Tim and Chuck performing CPR, they were unable to revive 
> the individual. After approximately 30 minutes, emergency personnel 
> arrived and took over, but were also unable to revive him. He was 
> pronounced dead at the scene. While scouting the rapid Kim and I 
> found the other rafter, who had been rowing the flipped boat. We 
> convinced him that his best chance at helping his buddy was for him 
> to make sure rescue personnel knew that he himself was okay. I find 
> this hard to write about, but feel the need to let you all know. 
> Although it was high water (~2800 cfs) and serious rapids, these were 
> local rafters with much experience on this river. 
> I hope everyone had safe and fun trip home, 
> Mark


----------



## alex (Mar 29, 2005)

My condolences to the family and friends who are trying to cope with this loss and understand what might have happened.

Although I don't understand the reasons, there have been several similar cases of people on raft trips in the Grand Canyon drowning after a relatively short swim in very cold water. If I remember correctly, age seems to increase risk. At the same time, this can happen even to a young person; a trainee raft guide drowned on the Colorado recently, in a situation with an apparently excellent and very quick rescue operation and near-immediate CPR. Sometimes the stress triggers a hidden heart or other condition, sometimes it's just a bad combination of factors that add up.

Most people who run rivers like these (like your friends) understand and appreciate these risks, although most of us prefer not to think about being the one in trouble. You may never know exactly what happened.


----------

