RAFT GUIDE TRAINEE DIES ON RUSSELL FORK

Near Elkhorn City, KY : October 9, 1993

DESCRIPTION: A Tennessee teenager training to be a whitewater rafting guide on October 9 was killed while running the Russell Fork of the Big Sandy River in the extreme Western portion of Virginia . The Class V section of the run is short, but notorious for steep drops and undercut rocks. Jason Campbell, 17, was running the river with two co-workers. Entering Triple Drop, a succession of 5, 8, and 9' ledges, he fell from the raft and was swept under a downstream ledge where he became caught in ropes and debris. It took his companions over 30 minutes to free him and by then it was too late.

SOURCE: Washington Post

Addendum: The victim, 17, had done support work for an outfitter on the Nolichucky River for several years but could not guide because of his age. He was working a trip on the Russel Fork River and he was invited to come along, presumably to gain experience for when he would start guiding the following year. . The parents sued the outfitter, and extensive litigation followed.

The Russel Fork is by far and away the most dangerous stretch of commercially-rafted whitewater in the East because of the prevalence of undercut rocks. Anyone who goes these does so at their own risk!