Chris Tulley Incident Report
Thu, Oct 10, 2024
On Thursday, October 3rd, I left my vehicle at take-out and returned to put-in via motorcycle. This section of river takes ~1h each direction to shuttle. That evening a total of eight paddlers camped at Blackrock Campground on Little Grass Valley Reservoir.
Friday, October 4th, Chris Tulley, Tracey, Tate and I decided to put on about an hour earlier than the other five paddlers. The other five needed to run shuttle, and this would give us time to set safety and scout as desired in the first gorge. Then we'd wait for the other five to catch up and paddle the remainder of the run together. While only .35 mile long, the first gorge is the hardest part of the ~8-mile run, although the rest of the run was historically IV-IV+ we agreed it was now class V. The entire section had a large wildfire a few years ago, and trees in the river have been an increasing concern, greatly increasing hazards. Three of the eight paddlers had already done this section in the prior two weeks and were aware of the new hazards.
Chris, Tracy and I started hiking down the dam spillway a little before 11am. We took our time in the first gorge, and finished a smooth run through it at roughly 12:20pm We got out of our kayaks and sat in the sun, awaiting the rest of the group, who finished the gorge just before 1pm. We all paddled downstream together, quickly covering .85 miles until the incident. There is a new tree which had fallen at 45 degrees into what was previously a class III rapid. We made sure every paddler in the group knew that it was critical to get left of this new hazard.
At this rapid the river transitions from a relatively open canyon to a gorge. It's now just after 1pm I was in the middle of the pack, and everyone ahead cleared past the log with no issues. I came over log and checked that Tracy Tate came through with no issues, as did Dominic Aguilera, who was paddling this section for his first time. The four paddlers ahead saw the three of us come through, and turned the corner in the gorge.
Chris Tulley had run this section many times over the last twenty years, although it had been three years since his previous descent. As he went by the log, he had more left angle than we did and his stern hit a branch extending from the log. As this happened Tracy got out on river left with a throw rope. Hitting the branch slowed Chris down, and he did not make it over the log. His boat turned sideways to the current and his stern was pulled underwater. Chris quickly exited his boat. His boat and paddle came downstream as Tracy went upstream with a throw rope. Dominic chased Chris's equipment downstream, as I looked upstream expecting to see Chris coming down close behind his kayak. Chris emerged from under the log, but just downstream of the log his progressed stopped, and he stopped facing downstream in the current with something snagged on the log. I saw he was fighting for air and I paddled to river right and climbed up ~80' to get above the gorge, then another ~80' upstream and scrambled down the cliff to on a small flat outcropping which was under the log that Chris was entangled with.
During this time, Tracy had moved as far upstream as possible and gotten a rope to Chris, but the gorge prevented getting a useful angle.
When I finally reached river level Chris was less animated in the water. Something was attached to one of his legs and snagged on the log. I blew my whistle trying to get his attention and threw him a rope. He grabbed on briefly, but the current was incredibly powerful and he was unable to do anything with it before losing consciousness. I pulled the rope in and then jumped on Chris, hoping to break him free. The water quickly flushed me downstream with only his PFD. Tracy tried the same from the other bank of the river and was flushed off too. The current pushed me quite a way downstream before I was able to get to shore, and Tracy was able to swim back to her boat's location. We then regrouped on river right and hiked up and over to get back to the tree. It's 1:21pm and Chris had been underwater 10-15 minutes.
I climbed down the log to see that what had snagged on the log is secured to Chris's left ankle, and is about three feet out of reach. For some time, 15-20 minutes? I tried to lasso his left foot as it would occasionally come near the surface. Eventually it worked, but due to the force of water we could not move him until setting up a 3-1 mechanical advantage from a rock on shore. This allowed us to get him close enough to cut free, and we were able to work him over onto shore with the help of Dominic who had swam across the river and climbed back up the gorge to help. It appeared that while going under the log, Chris's spay skirt had snagged on one of the tree branches (average diameter 3"), and while exiting he or his skirt were twisted by the water and the waist tunnel of the skirt had wrapped around his calf and ankle. It was just after 2pm when we managed to get Chris out of the water and used a satellite device to notify authorities.
Darin McQuoid
Mount Shasta, CA
Thank you Plumas Country Search and Rescue and CHP for making the final extraction at noon on Saturday the 5th.
Outside of being an all round wonderful person he was a huge part of our paddling community and the greater paddling community at large, and will be greatly missed.
