Kurt Hoge, Project Great Outdoor's Board President, was kind enough to share the details of the accident at last night's River Management Advisory Committee meeting.  Following is some of what he shared:

First and foremost, the victim’s name was Soren Peterson.  He was participating in day 5 of summer guide training. Soren was 30 years old and he and his family are from Denmark.  Kurt related that his family did have a chance to visit the site of the drowning.  There will be a small memorial held this Saturday July 11th at the Nugget @ 7pm.

Second, while Kurt provided a lot of useful detail – I thought the the flow & location of the foot entrapment would be most useful to share.  The rest of the details will be available as soon as they post the July RMAC Minutes - usually out by the 1st week of the following month.  The flow at the time Soren’s group arrived at Troublemaker to scout was approximately 1800 cfs.  The flow rose to approximately 2200 cfs at the time of entrapment and by the time of recovery it was approximately 3500 cfs.

The location of the entrapment is below Troublemaker rapid itself at the “play wave” by the jumble of rocks where you may have seen many a playboater trying some spins or cartwheels. The following flickr link shows two photos of the rock that Kurt took at low water – you can easily see where and how a foot entrapment can occur.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40311817@N05/?saved=1

Brian Schaub of the El Dorado Sheriff’s Dept related that the force of the water, even at 1200 cfs kept Soren’s body so pinned to the rock they had to use mechanical advantage to remove him.  And it is the same location where a tuber was rescued the year before. So while the powers that be decide how to address this rock – please be aware it is out there.