# Rope in the Poudre River



## Yo_Face (Jul 14, 2009)

the rope in the water is due to an over excited bus driver who has no idea what he is doing out there! dear mountain eddy out assents when there is ONE swimmer in a boat out of pine view and the guide has him allready in his hands there is no need to throw a rope!! your bus driver tossed the rope right asross a boat which caused one of my customers to become intangled and choke, luckily the guide took out hisw knife and started to cut the rope when finally your dumbass driver let go (i was really hoping to see him fall in after such a jerk off move). nothing personal but i'm tired of this white knight rope bagger bull shit. this is twice in two days. if i got 12 swimmers in the water then yes please throw a rope and help!! i will bring you beer!! but that to day was just plain stupid! also the guide that fliped on flip rock you owe me beer for getting your swimmer. or not it's your river karma. i would like to say it's nothing personal but i think it's time for a real talk between our companys face to face. by that i mean the managers so some of this shit can be hashed out.


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## Dave Frank (Oct 14, 2003)

I wasn't going to bring it up, but I saw some overzealous rope work by the same company this weekend. 

I was rowing a one boat trip when I came upon a group from MWD eddied out by the columbine lodge. The lead boat peeled out right in front of me without looking upstream, and I became boat #2 in their line and followed through Cardiac and into Pineview. I probably should have just eddied out and let them all pass, but I did not. When the boat in front of me climbed the Disney? rock and ejected 2 passengers, rope was flying before either of them knew what was coming. The rope was barely to the side when I passed. One of the swimmers kept the old lounge chair position going all the way past the big pull out below pine view.

i find myself wondering about the swim discussion in the "safety" talk, and while nothing untoward happened with the rope in front of me, it seemed like it was flung without much thought.


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## Randaddy (Jun 8, 2007)

I've been saying for years that the drivers need to get down by the river and be prepared to sit down with a hip belay if they actually bag a swimmer. When they're up on that rock they're no good to anyone as the driver is either going to do a belly flop on some talus or take a swim as soon as a swimmer in the current grabs that line. 

Of course we're talking about a driver, not a guide and this is a common mistake made by many of the drivers working safety in the canyon. Our drivers screw up too. So do guides. But before someone gets hurt it might be wise for all of us to mention to our land guides that they should be down at river level, in a spot where they can safely fall to their butts. They also need to know not to throw the rope at a flipped boat unless you think someone will see it. Randomly throwing a rope at carnage is like blindly shooting at the herd, you're more likely to do wrong than right.... pick your target, then throw!

Thanks MWD for the heads up on the rope and thanks for being a bunch of courteous, safe, professionals on the river.


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## gh (Oct 13, 2003)

What he should do is work to get the rope out of the river and that would remind him to think before he throws.


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## Chief Niwot (Oct 13, 2003)

Yo_Face said:


> if i got 12 swimmers in the water then yes please throw a rope and help!!


Not to take your comment out of context, I would not recommend throwing a rope in the middle of 12 swimmers or even two swimmers. I once saw a rope thrown into a group of 5 swimmers with no visual or verbal contact. It created a much more dangerous situation for sure.

I have learned a rope is only to be thrown to one person with visual contact with that person and yelling rope at them when throwing.


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## caspermike (Mar 9, 2007)

good one cheif. i for one hate the unnessecary baggage. as for karma hopefully you get that beer. an hour ago i turned in a paddle i found while up on the Gally


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## gnargnar (Jun 12, 2010)

ropes should be a last resort, drivers need to be better informed on the dangers of ropes in the river and how they don't always help the situation. And raft guides need to remember that the job is fun, try to act that way. 

As far as Karma, as I understand it, it comes back to you in the next life. I wouldn't count on getting any beer, hopefully you'll get reincarnated as a cow in your next life for your heroics out there


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