Myself and two close friends Nick and Chase, headed up to run Eagle Falls after a couple of Sky Laps. Nick had run the drop several times at the same and higher levels, and Chase and I had yet to run it. Nick went first to demonstrate the line, while Chase and I set up safety below. Chase elected to go second, while Nick and I set safety.
As he entered the drop, his line was a few feet left of where he wanted to be. He negotiated the first ledge and was surfed left and flipped. He immediately rolled up as he was going backwards over the main drop on far river left. From shore it appeared he hit a rock with his body as he was dropping, and then he flushed after a short time out of his boat.
I threw a rope within a foot or so of him, but he was unable to reach it and was in obvious pain. He floated onto a mid-stream rock at the bottom of the drop, where I immediately headed over to access him and check him for injuries. He thought that there was a chance he had broken his back but had no obvious injuries. After discussing it with him, we opted to have me live bait and swim him to shore with Nick pulling he and I in to the bank. We got him out of the water and to the hospital where the xrays revealed that he didn't break his back. He did however injure it and was unable to resume normal function for several weeks.
