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Snake's Rapids claim rafter Idaho Falls man dies west of Hansen Bridge
By David Cooper Times-News writer
HANSEN - A pristine day for whitewater on the Snake River turned tragic Sunday as a rafter died following an accident two miles west of the Hansen Bridge. The victim, Dirk Gombert of Idaho Falls, was rafting in a party of four on the Murtaugh Stretch of the river. Emergency personnel were called in around 2:30 p.m., according to Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lori Nebeker. Gombert was retrieved about an hour later by a helicopter from Reeder Flying Service and pronounced dead around 4 p.m. at St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center.
The accident happened a few hundred yards east of the popular rapid Let's Make A Deal. Nebeker said that eyewitnesses reported the raft became stuck in a hole beneath a rapid, causing the water to flow backwards. Nebeker said the raft was spiraling in a circle and couldn't get out of the hole. "At one point, each of them was thrown out of the raft but able to get back in," Nebeker said of the four rafters. It is uncertain how long the boat was stuck in the rapid. But after one of the rafters was thrown and then managed to swim to shore, the other three agreed they'd try to do the same, Nebeker said. "That's when the deceased jumped from the river and was later found unconscious," Nebeker said. "They don't know what happened." Other boaters began giving the man cardiopulmonary resuscitation as they awaited emergency response crews.
Because of the steep terrain into the Snake Canyon, search and rescue personnel from both Twin Falls and Jerome counties at the scene were unable to reach the group far below. Twin Falls County called in Reeder Flying Service because medical helicopters were not immediately available, according to Jerome County Sheriff Doug McFall. Nebeker said the other three boaters in Gombert's group were not injured. Long after the victim and other rafters were taken from the river, the group's raft was still caught in the powerful rapid hole. The boat eventually floated free some three hours after the accident occurred.
The Murtaugh Stretch is a renowned whitewater run featuring Class 4 and 5 rapids for higher skilled boaters. The run includes 16 major rapids in a 14-mile stretch where the river drops 25 feet per mile. The stretch is only accessible during high water periods. Flows through Milner Dam this weekend were charted to reach 17,000 cubic feet per second. McFall said high water should serve as a warning to boaters to play it safe. "People are going beyond their abilities ... taking rapids that are over their head," McFall said. "Those people need to be aware search and rescue are limited in getting down in this canyon. Without helicopter ability it's hard to get them out. "Our best advice: if it's close or beyond your ability, don't take it."
David Cooper may be reached at dcooper@magicvalley.com or 735-3246
Dave, Here is Gary McDannel's account of what happened last Sunday. Gary and his son Josh both agree with including it in the AW database, it may be that Charlie Walbridge has already received this. --
Ray From: Gary E McDannel Sent: 04/21/2009 05:39 PM MDT
Subject: Detailed/first-hand account of the rafting accident that claimed the life of Dirk Gombert
The following description is an attempt to provide a first-hand, factual iteration of the events that led to the death of our dear friend and fellow rafter, Dirk Gombert of Idaho Falls. As there has been some inaccurate information provided by the media, please feel free to share this with others so they understand the facts. We will also attempt to post this later. The group involved consisted of 4 rafts (2 catarafts and 2 traditional rafts) and 9 people. The oarsmen were all highly skilled and experienced having rafted several class IV rapids/rivers over their rafting careers. All rafters had their life vests on and, in fact, the victim also had on a dry suit. (Alcohol was not a factor.)
The accident occurred in a rapid known as hooker ledge or S-turn. The traditional lower water route through this rapid is typically to the far river right. However, at this water flow (~16,500 cfs), there is ample water to allow a center route through the rapid. These options were discussed prior to entering the rapid by the lead boats. Since a clean route was visible and since there was some uncertainty about the difficulty making it from the far right to the center of the river in preparation for running the more difficult downstream rapid known as "let's make a deal," the lead rafters decided on the center route. This was also the route they had taken successfully ~ 3 years prior when the flow was ~ 19,000 cfs. Three rafts had successfully negotiated the rapid, which had numerous routes over the ledge that avoided the reversals. A typical rating for the rapid where the event occurred would probably be a Class II+ or III- at this water flow. So the rapid in question was less difficult than these rafters had negotiated earlier that day and numerous times in the past.
The oarsmen involved, a 20+ year veteran oarsmen with extensive Class IV rapid experience including this section and others (e.g. Bruneau, Middle Fork of the Salmon, etc.), was following the same line as the previous three rafts/catarafts when he inadvertently caught an oar on a rock, breaking the oar. Catching an oar on rocks routinely happens when rafting, especially in murky water. Typically, this type of accident will break a oar blade or pop the oar out of the stirrup, but in this case for some unknown reason, the oar shaft broke, rendering the oar useless. The oarsman quickly (~ 5 seconds) grabbed his spare oar and had it in position, when, too late, they noticed they were headed into a ledge reversal. Literally, had there been a couple more seconds allowing another couple oar strokes, the raft would have caught the slot leading them past the reversal or they would have entered the pour-over bow-to-stern (vs. sideways) and likely have made it through.
Once in the reversal, the raft initially almost flipped and likely would have had the rafters not immediately jumped to the high-side. The raft and the people inside were being tossed back-and-forth and periodically the raft would rotate 180 degrees requiring them to move to the other side of the boat to avoid it flipping. Prior to moving downstream, the other 3 rafts wanted to ensure the group was together before running "let's make a deal" and one of the rafters alertly noticed the 4th boat wasn't with them and appeared to be caught upstream in a reversal.
It took ~10-15 minutes for these rafts to make it back upstream through shallower, calmer water and willows to a location below the raft caught in the ledge reversal. The two catarafts positioned themselves as safety boats in the two channels of water downstream of the reversal in order to catch any people or gear and prevent any swimmers from floating into "let's make a deal."Â The other raft oarsman was finally, by wading through the willows, able to get within ~75 feet directly downstream of the raft, but too far to toss them a rope/throw bag. All the while, due to the violent nature of the reversal, the 4 people on the raft were periodically being washed out of the boat and having to be pulled back in. This happened at least 5 times to the 3 surviving rafters (the victim was never washed out), each time making them colder and more exhausted.
The oarsman tried everything he could to free the raft from the reversal, such as using an oar to pry the boat out and even flipping the boat, but to no avail. All three of the oars were severely bent or broken in the attempts to free the raft. They were attempting to get their throw bag with ~75' of rope down to the rafters below the reversal, but each time they were ready, someone would get washed out or the boat would rotate 180 degrees preventing a sure throw. (A poor throw would have resulted in the rope being pulled into the reversal, creating an even greater hazard.) It is uncertain if the people below could have pulled the boat out even had they been able to get a rope downstream, but it was worth attempting since other options had failed. Also, while the river was busy that day with numerous people, there was a long break in between this group and the next, thus no help was available from upstream.
Finally, one of the rafters got washed out of the boat and got separated from it. When this happened, the current took him underwater and flushed him out below the boil line (the point in a reversal where part of the water heads downstream and part returns upstream to the pour-over). He floated down to the shallows/willows below where one of the rafters was able to grab him. Once this occurred, the 3 rafters remaining on the boat, who by this time had been in the reversal ~ 30 minutes, were getting weak and starting to get hypo-thermic. They also knew that having another person get washed out of the boat and hauled back in was perhaps too much to take. So, the oarsman, with the other two in agreement, said our best option is to jump past the boil-line. They all got on the downstream side of the raft and jumped toward the boil-line. While two made it, one did not make it past the boil-line and got recirculated back to the boat where he held-on the best he could until it appeared he no longer could.
Shortly after he lost consciousness, a matter of minutes (< 5), his body flushed out of the reversal and was pulled to the shallows by one of the rafters, where immediately mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was started by rafters from the original group. Shortly after starting mouth-to-mouth (~ two minutes), a group of kayakers were waved down and came over to help. One of them was a doctor and indicated we also need to give him Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), but it was impossible to do so in the waist-deep water. So we moved him to one of the rafts where CPR was given until the helicopter arrived close to an hour later. He never regained consciousness while on the river.
The rafter was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead approximately an hour later. It is presumed that an autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death. During the hour before the helicopter arrived, the near hypo-thermic rafters were provided warm dry clothing by the gracious group of kayakers/catarafters who had gathered at the scene. Another catarafter and one of the original group catarafters shuttled the surviving rafters to shore where they subsequently hiked out of the canyon to search and rescue/law enforcement personnel located on the canyon rim. The raft remained in the reversal for several hours after the remaining party floated to the take-out.
Later that evening, a motor boat found the raft in slow water above the take-out and towed the raft into the dock. The rescue rope was severely tangled with a broken oar and the self-bailing floor had been ripped out of the boat and had filled with water. Gary McDannel General rule of thumb is to always stay with your boat. However, there are times when this may not be possible or advisable. I don't want to speculate about any 'what ifs', but I think it is important to understand this particular case. The 4 people in the raft were getting trashed in that hole. They would get tossed out, then flushed under the hole/boat, then resurface and get pulled back into the boat. This happened several times and they were all losing the ability to survive in there.
Hypothermia and exhaustion and other injuries were taking their toll and becoming a very serious threat. The first one to escape was thrown from the boat and floated to safety. The remaining three felt that they could not survive being thrown into the hole again and had to make a decision. All other attempts to free the boat were unsuccessful and options were running out. This thrashing went on for at least 1/2 hour - that is a LONG time to be in a hole. These factors led to the decision to jump from the boat. This decision was not made hastily and all three agreed they needed to get out of there. I've seen a lot of boats get stuck in holes. They usually come out in a matter of seconds or minutes, or they flip and everyone washes out in the current. This place was different. The fact that the boat stayed in there for hours shows that this was one nasty place to be and normal options to deal with the situation were not adequate.
2nd hand from one of the other passengers: Gombert was rowing, they broke an oar above the drop. Didn't get the spare, or extra paddles, deployed in time. Stuck in the hole for about 20 minutes, one pass fell out early while trying untie bow rope, he flushed ok. Other 3 people eventually decided to jump, 2 flushed out, victim did not and reportedly surfaced on the upriver side of the boat. Other passengers (Jake Jacobsen, Bobby Jeffers, Anastasia _?_) had no significant physical injures.
Dave Cernicek .
