I was videoing people running Moshier Falls at the crux drop and this guy ended up swimming on River right just above the drop. the current dragged him left under the undercut rock and into the sieve. it took everyone a few seconds to realize his boat came out and he didn't.
We all started fishing right down the sluice, but were getting nothing. after about 90 seconds we were all starting to realize this was probably going to be a recovery when a photographer who was standing behind the undercut rock started screaming and pointing down a hole between the rocks. somehow this guy had come head up into a 2' x 2' room under the rock that had a small window to the sky. he was ok, but hanging on trying not to get sucked farther into the sieve. luckiest guy in the world. but that sieve is nasty. I have high video of his swim and pics of the location of the room he came up in. I will upload them soon.
I was about to drop into the final section of the falls when the ropes started flying. A buddy of mine downstream was taking photos, from the time he disappears until the time he starts climbing out of the sieve over 2 minutes passed. Scary.
wow, just realized the video after the first link is the sound track of the time between when I handed my camera off to a guy on the rock next to me so I could throw my rope. [ Click here for link... ] it's a good 45 seconds from the start of that recording before the guy is seen in the hole. a couple boaters with full gear on the river right side were just starting to set up a live bait rescue when the guy spotted him in the hole.
Gonar's description is pretty spot on. On the second drop into the diagonal feature I bumped into a boater that had peeled out real close in front of me, I flipped and missed my roll twice, at which point I bailed knowing that I was about to go over the falls. I swam over the third drop at mosier falls, and got pushed really deep underwater by the cross current from river right. At the bottom of the river the force of the water pinned me against a rock, and I spent a few seconds trying to free myself.
Pinned down at the bottom I thought I was done for, but somehow I managed to free myself. I started floating to the surface, while the cross current pushed me towards/into the sieve, and I could feel my helmet scraping against one wall of the sieve as I floated up. I grabbed the rock wall in front of me and climbed into air, at which point I was in the cave formed by the sieve. Several tense moments were spent using my legs to brace myself and climb above the water to avoid being sucked farther into the sieve. I saw the hole in the roof of the room and from where I was could spot legs and shoes standing on the rock above.
The river was too loud, and my shouts for help didn't get anyone's attention. Finally a guy standing nearby spotted me through the hole. He and another boater tried to lift me out by the arms, but my lifejacket and helmet were too big to fit through, I luckily had just enough room to take them off and only then could fit through the opening. While I may have been out of sight for ~2 minutes, there's no way I was underwater for that long, I spent a decent amount of time above water in the sieve, trying to work my way out. That said, I'm incredibly lucky those guys were right there and that I could fit through the hole in the rock. Not a swim I'll ever forget, and its going to be long time before I run Mosier Falls again. As gonar said, that sieve is nasty.
