Immediately after Towers is Fist. Class-III/IV rapid with a Class-VI undercut. There are 2 lines, the main line and the fire escape. Both start from the river right eddy. The main line is to ferry across to left of center and then work back right so that you clip the edge of the fan rock (Huge Roostertail) The fire escape is a sneak on the right and is easier than the main line, but just as dicey if you mess it up. What you have to do is to wait until a surge of water humps up over the semi-wet rock on the extreme river right bank. When it does this, bust ass and paddle as hard as you can so that you slide up onto the rock and down the side. If you screw it up, you will slide diagonally toward the fan rock and very possibly under the fist rock. My preferred line is the high and dry portage on the river left side of the river. It’s a much easier portage than it looks and the only difficult part is going behind the fist rock. IF you start walking when the first member of your groups starts down the rapid, you can probably be back into the river just below the fist rock by the time the last guys gets through. Click here for Jim Michaud's harrowing first-person tale of the Fist undercut!

My preferred line at Fist is to slide down the far left through a couple of narrow slots and end up in the big eddy in front of the crack...then ferry in front of the crack.
What Doug doesn't mention is that the main line has changed a bit due to the megawater we had this summer; the flow has been diverted a bit right of the crack...I'd suggest scouting if anyone hasn't seen it lately.
The really bad news at Fist is one of the 2 back doors is completely full of logs now...
but that's not the door Jim or Matt came out.

Then comes Maze (4) The first drop is a right-to-left move punching a powerful hole. IF you flip, there is a small recovery pool before the rest of the rapid. The main line is basically nailing several 5-6' boofs down the center of the river. If you follow this line, you will be toward the river-left side of the huge undercut boulder. Once you get down to this rock, either paddle hard left or spin and ferry to the river left. There are 2 holes in the rock; the left hole is clear but the right hole tends to be full of trees and truck axles. This rapid reminds me a lot of Shipwreck Rock on the U. Gauley, only the moves upstream are significantly harder.

Tripple Drop (IV+) is next...You will see a hump left of center on first drop. Paddle full speed ahead down the hump with your boat pointed straight. The left side is tempting, but the hole is much worse over there. As soon as you blast through the hole (dangerously sticky) spin to the left and catch the eddy. After running 1st drop, you are set up perfectly for second drop if you want to pass up the first eddy.   Second drop is a pussy cat, it's a big slide that angles river-left into a couple of big holes. Line up left of center with left boat angle and boogey through. Catch the eddy on the river left and line up for 3rd drop

3rd drop is actually made up of 2 smaller drops, a 3' drop with a weird, POWERFUL hole and then a 6-8' bottom drop with a deep, powerful hole. There are 3 options at 3rd drop. (1) You can do the sneak out of the eddy...just follow the 3 or 4" of water flowing down about 15' from the left bank. (2) The standard line is to peel out of the eddy high, and then slowly work back left so that when you go over 3rd drop you actually just go off of it at it's highest point (it basically turns into a 10’ single drop) and into the pool. (3) My least favorite option. You can peel out high and ferry toward the right, spin and run down both drops angled left. Keep lots of speed going through these holes because if the top hole grabs you, it's going to wreck you and the bottom drop is shallow. A friend of mine had to get a dozen or so stitches above his eye after going down the drop upside down.

El Horrendo (IV+/V-) – It's all good now…the scary stuff is over. When you look at El Horendo it's a lot like Oceana, both look twice as scary as they actually are. Basically what I do is sneak down into the micro eddies on the river left bank. From here I just ferry across above the lip of the first drop, aiming to hit the diagonal hole in the middle of the river. You can either (1) spin around once you are past the diagonal hole and drop over the drop or as I prefer, (2) Ferry on across and into the river right eddy. From there chill out, scope the scenery and look for a launch pad about 5' from the bank. Go off of the left side of the launch pad with your boat angled left. Once you hit the hole at the bottom you should punch through nicely if you have some angle. Take a couple of strokes to pull you out of the maw and toward the left so that you can avoid the nasty little shelf on the right.

Climax- I would rate the Box Move (IV) and the Race Line (V). I've never run the race line so I won't attempt to describe it. Basically the box move is to start out of the river-right eddy and boof with some boat angle to the left. When you land brace, roll, or whatever before you get pushed against the big, slightly undercut rock on the right. Avoid getting pushed up against it. It’s a weird rock because it is easy to get flipped up against it and once you flip over you just stay stuck there and it never seems to wash you downstream so that you can roll. The box is really shallow and swimming in there kinda hurts a little. Trust me, I've swum the box more than anywhere on the river. The last time I swam here, there were 2 dudes with goblin masks and Santa hats rounding up my gear…I swear and this IS why the Russell Fork is sooo scary.

After Climax there are 4 or five little class 2-3 rapids and shoals before you get down to the takeout. About 100 yards upstream of the takeout wave is a sticky hole that is good for lots and lots of ends...