Linda Weiss drowned on April 10, 2004. I have drawn the information from my own knowledge and from a report written by James Tilley and Lauren Cooper, members of Linda's paddling party that day. I'm leaving it to Tim Kelley to add more detailed information from James, Lauren, and any other others he has spoken with. I've spoken with Bill Weiss, Linda's father and he has graciously agreed the release of this information and photos. My intention is that this be used for educational purposes only with the goal of preventing a similar accident from occurring on the Mettawee again.
Ben Bramlage
The Mettawee is a 3 mile class 4-5 run in eastern New York. It is primarily drop pool and there are 6 distinct harder drops. It was relatively unknown until the past few years, but has recently been paddled much more frequently and has been written up in guide books, on the Internet, and has been featured in several magazines. It has the advantage of having a very long season and frequently runs in the summer after rain.
The Mettowee riverbed is slate. That makes it very prone to potholes and undercuts. The drops are formed where the river crosses bands of harder rock, but it is still slate. There are potholes or undercuts in each of the major drops and several are not visible at normal, runnable flows. Besides Linda Weiss' accident, there have been 2 drownings of non-paddlers swimming in different drops during the summer in the past few years. Normal runnable flow is about 3.5' - 5.0. This translates to approximately 150 - 700 cfs. It is one of those runs where an inch or 2 on the gauge makes a big difference in the drops.Ideal flow is around 4' - 4.5'.
None of the drops are officially named. Paddlers generally refer to the drops as simply "first drop," "second drop," "triple drop," etc. The local newspaper referred to the "second drop," where the accident took place as "Dugan's Falls." I had never heard this name before, though the adjoining landowner is named Dugan.
(Note: all the photos attached were taken at a level of approximately 4.2', the same as the day of the accident except the low water photos.)
The second drop, where the accident occurred, changed during the winter of 2002-2003. The drop used to have 3 slots. Just below the drop (about 15'), the river flows into a deeply undercut wall and turns almost 90 degrees to the right. The total drop is about 15', including the class 3 lead in. The final drop is about 6'. There is a strong, recirculating eddy on the far left at the bottom of the final drop, where a small side stream enters the river. The old line involved running the far right slot, with a clean boof into the run out and a pool below, avoiding the undercut wall. We could tell that the wall that the 3 slots flowed over was back cut, but couldn't tell how far. During the winter of 2002-2003, the entire right side of the drop collapsed. Now there is a large slab of rock in the center of 2 slots and the 3rd slot is gone. The slab is angled about 60 degrees downstream, across the 6' drop. The upstream face of the slab is about 1 1/2' high. There are 3 potential lines, the right slot (which has a nasty hole backing it up at runnable levels), left of the large slab, angled right down a green tongue, or left of the large slab, angled left into the recirculating eddy (this involves a very dynamic ferry out of the eddy and across the face of the undercut wall). At first glance (without knowledge of the sieve) the drop would rate a class 4+ or 5-.
When the drop collapsed, the large slab fell to the right and downstream. To the upstream and left of the slab, a slot opened into a sieve. The slot is about 4' long and 2' wide and runs from the upstream right to the downstream left, basically parallel with the green tongue in the left slot. The sieve itself opens up into a larger pyramid shaped area behind the slab, and the outflow is under the bottom of the slab. Even at minimal summer flow, there is water in the bottom of the sieve, so it is not possible to say how deep it is. There is a small "guardian" rock just upstream of the sieve that is underwater at 4.2'. The top of the upstream face of the slab is just barely exposed at that level. The sieve was likely always there, but the opening was probably much smaller. When the drop collapsed, the opening to the sieve opened up as the slab fell away from it, much like a door opening. The exposed part of the slab is close to the center of the drop and splits the drop into 2 channels.
There are several large eddies on river right, above the drop, and shelves stick out into the drop from both the right and left side. There are basically no good eddies on river left above the drop and part of the lead in flows along a vertical wall. There are a couple of shallow, squirrelly eddies just above the drop on the left. The drop is normally scouted from the right eddies and shelf, and the portage is on the right. From the right side scout, the opening into the sieve is very hard to see. It is hidden behind the slab of rock. The outflow from the sieve is visible at the base of the slab, but it is hard to tell where the water is coming from. From the top of the undercut wall below the drop or from a left side scout, the sieve is very apparent. In September of 2003, I looked at the drop at very low water (35 cfs) and was surprised to see the size and depth of the sieve and the danger it presented. I took photos and posted them on the AW website and other paddling message boards.
There are 3 runnable lines in the drop now. You can run the right side channel pretty much anywhere but the hole at the bottom is sticky, aerated, and backed up by a rib of rock. The left side channel can be run down a green tongue either right to left into the bottom left eddy or left to right, across the face of the undercut wall at the bottom. This is the line that Linda's party chose to run.
At this point I'm going to insert the text from an accident report written by James Tilley, a member of Linda's paddling party on the day of the accident:
Date of accident: April 10, 2004.
Weather: Sunny, high of 55 degrees.
USGS water level: 4.25ft/370 cfs
Linda's kayak make and model: Wavesport Mutant
Lauren and I had paddled with Linda, John, and Peter several times. I met Dave, James, and Scott that morning. They arrived to the river with Linda and John.
I had run the Mettawee once at a comparable level. Peter had run the river 7-8 times before. I believe Dave had run the river once. Lauren, Linda, John, and Scott had not run the river. Linda, John, Peter, Lauren, and I are all strong Class IV-V paddlers. I am unsure of the other 3.
We put on the Mettawee between 12-12:30. We all scouted the 1st drop. Seven of us ran the 1st drop without any problems. James walked the 1st drop.
At the second drop, we all scouted from the right side for about 10 minutes. We were aware that the rapid had changed since any of us had run it. We knew that the boof on the right was no longer an option. We knew that people had run this rapid since the change. We were not aware of the sieve in the center of the rapid. The sieve was not apparent from the right side of the river at the listed water level. We all decided that the line was to the left of the rock in the middle of the drop down a green tongue. The green water was about 1-2 ft. to the left of the sieve/center rock. The group's primary concern was the large undercut rock that is approximately 10-15 ft. downstream of the drop on the left side of the river.
At least one person was on the right shore with a throw bag while each kayaker ran the drop.
All seven us ran the drop without major difficulties. Linda was the last person to run the drop. James was on the right side of the river with a throw bag as Linda began her run. As Linda approached the drop she was pushed offline by current and eddylines upstream of the drop. She broached on the center rock for a couple of seconds. She wiggled off the left side of the center rock facing downstream and appeared to wedged between the center rock and another rock left of the center rock that was under water.
At this point most of us were downstream of the rapid in our boats. John, Lauren and I got out of our boats on the left. Everyone else got out on the right.
While we were scrambling up to where Linda was, James had thrown her a rope that she caught on the first attempt (I did not see this, James told me about it later). I also did not see her get pushed into sieve. I am unsure of the order of James throwing his rope and Linda being further in the sieve.
When I got up to where she was, she was holding onto the rope, her boat was not visible, and water was pushing on the center of her back and water was going over her head. She was struggling to keep her head up, but she did have an air pocket. John had already thrown his rope to someone on the other side of the river, and John and whoever was holding the other side of the rope provided her with a stabilization line. I was backing John up.
Lauren went downstream in case she came out. Linda grabbed onto the stabilization line with her right hand, but she was having trouble letting go of the 1st rope because it appeared to be wrapped around her left hand. She received the stabilization line within 2 minutes of becoming pinned. Soon after, she let go of the stabilization line, freed her left hand, and grabbed onto the stabilization line with both hands. At this point I saw Scott paddling downstream for help.
During the next 5-10 minutes she was letting the stabilization line go, and we repeatedly got it back to her. During this time it appeared that she was getting pushed further into the sieve by the current, and it was apparent that she becoming tired trying to stand up against the force of the water hitting her back and going over her head. The cold water also was a factor for her fatigue.
Within this 5-10 minute time period her body became limp and she let go of the stabilization line. We made a couple attempts to get under her body with the line, but the force of the current wouldn't allow the line to go deep enough. At this point we attached two other ropes to the stabilization line with a bag in the middle full of rocks. We used this snag line to try and get a rope under her body. Unfortunately the center rock was hindering our attempts because it was blocking the view of Linda and the rope from the right side. Eventually 5 ropes were attached to the center rock bag 2 on each side, and one downstream.
Within the 1st 20 minutes another group (of 3 I believe) came downstream and they were signalled of an emergency and they took out on the right side. They began to help in the rescue effort. One paddler from that group ended up on top of the large undercut downstream left side and was part of the 5 rope system. He had the best view of linda at that point. Linda was not visible from river right. We could occasionally see her life jacket and helmet from river left.
For approximately 2 hours we tried to lift Linda's body out with this system. We could only get her left arm. When we did snag her left arm we tried shaking her lose and we tried to pull her out without success.
Between 45-90 minutes after Linda was pinned, 40-50 [NY State Forest Rangers] rangers, police, firefighters, divers, and rescue workers arrived at the scene. They did not assist in the rescue attempt, except to place inviduals downstream if she happend to come lose. After 2 hours after Linda became pinned, the park rangers and police asked us to stop before anyone else was hurt. They informed us that a grappling hook was coming to recover the body. We continued the effort for another 15-20 minutes.
The park service set up static lines on both sides of the river, at least 30 ft from the banks of the river and approximately 30 ft in the air via trees.
The river left static line had a z-drag line in place. with two park rangers manning the rope. I am unsure if the river right had a z-drag, but several individuals were manning the rope.
When the grappling hook arrived, we attached it to the throw-rope system the paddlers had in place and we also attached it to the 2 static lines. The kayakers guided the hook with their system and signalled to the park service when to pull on the static lines. Some of this communication was done by radio. On the 3rd attempt we hooked Linda's Life Vest and it was ripped from her. On the 4th attempt we hooked her torso and were able to lift her body out of her boat and the sieve. She fell into the current and a diver pulled her to shore. This was done between 4:30-5:00 pm, approximately 4 hours after Linda had orignally been pinned."
Other responding agencies included the New York State Police, Washington County Sheriff's Department, and local fire/rescue squads. The diver who recovered Linda's body after it was freed was a member of the Washington County Sheriff's Department Dive Team, and the New York State Police were the lead agency for the accident investigation. After speaking with members of all agencies that were involved, I can add that the river right side of the fixed line did not have a z-drag on it, that the Rangers actually bent the grapple hook on one of the first attempts (they believe that they had hooked the boat and the hook was bent by the combined force and weight of the water and the boat, but that can not be confirmed), and that the diver confirmed that there were no visible injuries to Linda other than some minor contusions. The decision to add a fixed line across the river and clip it to the throw bag system set up by the paddlers was made by the Rangers because of concern about the breaking strength of the throw bag lines. The fixed line was a standard 11mm climbing line. The Rangers said that due to the sheer number of people at the scene, it was difficult to keep track of who was who. The incident commander was primarily concerned with setting up an effective recovery system and said that some members of the 2 paddling parties were central to the recovery effort, while others were distraught and dispersed as time passed.
On April 28, the Forest Rangers returned to the site to attempt to extricate the boat as part of a swiftwater rescue training exercise. The level was 4.15', only slightly below the level on the day of the accident. Their intention was to use essentially the same system that had been used to recover Linda's body on the day of the accident, with some modifications to make it quicker to set up and easier to maneuver. The boat was not visible in the sieve except for an occasional glimpse as the water surged. The boat had shifted since the accident, turning 180 degrees so that the cockpit faced downstream, and had folded just behind the seat.
The system that they set was basically a modified Telfer Lower. A fixed 11-mm line was set between 2 trees, one on either bank. This line was set approximately 30' above the water and slightly upstream of the boat. This placement was made necessary due to the location of the trees on the bank. The river right end of this line was anchored while the left side was run through a pulley where it met the tree and down through a z-drag near the ground. A pulley was added to the line across the river. A sling was clipped into the pulley. A carabiner chain was set on the free end of the sling. 3 tag lines were clipped into the carabiner chain, one to each bank and one to the top of the undercut wall, directly downstream of the boat. A large grapple hook was attached to the bottom carabiner. The hook was a recovery type hook, larger than was used the day of the accident. The idea was to use the tag lines to control the direction of the hook side to side and to make small corrections to vertical placement with the tag line on the undercut wall. The single line across the river would be used for most of the vertical control as well as being the haul line once the boat was hooked. The operators of the 3 tag lines and the haul line communicated by radio and a spotter on the undercut wall with a radio coordinated the movement of the hook. The ability to use 3 tag lines for directional control was somewhat unique, and was possible because of the 90-degree turn the river takes directly below the drop.
On the first attempt, the Rangers missed the boat and the hook slid into the hydraulic and aerated water below the drop. When they pulled the hook out, they had hooked a throw rope that was not visible before then. It appeared to go from the boat into the undercut wall. One end was wedged tightly into the undercut and the other was so tight against the boat that it was not clear if it was attached to the boat or not. It was tight enough that the Rangers maneuvered the hook back to the boat on subsequent attempts by hooking the throw rope first and sliding the hook up it to the boat. Once the boat was removed, it became clear that there were actually 2 throw bags tied together that had been part of the original rescue attempt. I believe that this was 2 of the 5 throw bags that had been tied together during the rescue attempt. It apparently had been abandoned after the rescue attempt had failed. One end was wedged firmly into the undercut wall and the other was still in the sieve, and had been wrapped around the boat. This posed an extremely serious hazard to anyone who ran the drop in the weeks between the accident and the recovery or anyone in the recovery attempt that may have fallen into the river. The lines were almost taut, suspended below the surface and completely invisible. The Rangers removed these lines after the boat was recovered.
On the second attempt, the Rangers hooked the boat around but the boat slid off the hook. On the third attempt, they hooked the boat by the cockpit and were able to start pulling it free.
Although they were able to get the boat part way out of the water, there was too much force on it to free it completely. A second z-drag was added to the system on river right and then the boat came out easily.
The boat was hauled to the left bank. I was able to inspect the boat, and found it heavily damaged. The hull was dented and cracked in 2 places. The front center pillar was torn partially out and the bolts holding the footbrace adjustments in place on one side were gone. I believe that the damage was caused by the boat folding, not the original accident.
The system used by the Rangers to recover the boat was very effective. However, it took approximately 45 minutes to set up and another 15-30 minutes to recover the boat. It would not work well in a rescue situation where time was critical. The ability to add a third tag line for control from below the drop was somewhat unique because of the 90-degree bend in the river right below the drop.
Posted on Boater Talk by James Tilley, 4/12/04:
http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/581135
Linda had about 8 years of experience paddling in the northeastern U.S. She was a solid class IV-V boater.
Linda was with a group of 8. I was one of the 8. Of the 8, one individual had run the Mettawee 8 times and I had run the river once. Linda had never run the Mettawee. I am unsure of how many times the others in the group had run the river, but at least one other person had run the river once.
The group's experience level for creeking was high. Some of us have been through multiple safety/rescue training courses.
The river level was 4.25 ft/370 cfs. Linda was vertically pinned in the second drop on the Mettawee.
We were all aware that the rapid had changed since anyone in the group had last run the river. We were unaware of the sieve that had formed in the middle of the second drop. The entire group scouted this rapid on the right side of the river. The sieve was not apparent from the right side of river.
Everyone in the group decided to run the left side of the rapid (the boof on the right no longer exists). Seven of us ran the rapid without major difficulties. Linda was the last in our group to run the rapid.
Safety was set for each person who ran the rapid. Linda was thrown a rope as soon as she was pinned. She received a stabilization line within a couple of minutes.
Accident report written by James Tilley, a member of Linda's paddling party on the day of the accident;
Date of accident: April 10, 2004.
Weather: Sunny, high of 55 degrees.
USGS water level: 4.25ft/370 cfs
Linda's kayak make and model: Wavesport Mutant
Lauren and I had paddled with Linda, John, and Peter several times. I met Dave, James, and Scott that morning. They arrived to the river with Linda and John. I had run the Mettawee once at a comparable level. Peter had run the river 7-8 times before. I believe Dave had run the river once. Lauren, Linda, John, and Scott had not run the river. Linda, John, Peter, Lauren, and I are all strong Class IV-V paddlers. I am unsure of the other 3. Please let me know if you would like to know more about our experience/training. We put on the Mettawee between 12-12:30. We all scouted the 1st drop. Seven of us ran the 1st drop without any problems. James walked the 1st drop.
At the second drop, we all scouted from the right side for about 10 minutes. We were aware that the rapid had changed since any of us had run it. We knew that the boof on the right was no longer an option. We knew that people had run this rapid since the change. We were not aware of the sieve in the center of the rapid. The sieve was not apparent from the right side of the river at the listed water level. We all decided that the line was to the left of the rock in the middle of the drop down a green tongue. The green water was about 1-2 ft. to the left of the sieve/center rock. The group's primary concern was the large undercut rock that is approximately 10-15 ft. downstream of the drop on the left side of the river.
At least one person was on the right shore with a throw bag while each kayaker ran the drop. All seven us ran the drop without major difficulties. Linda was the last person to run the drop. James was on the right side of the river with a throw bag as Linda began her run. As Linda approached the drop she was pushed offline by current and eddylines upstream of the drop. She broached on the center rock for a couple of seconds. She wiggled off the the left side of the center rock facing downstream and appeared to wedged between the center rock and another rock left of the center rock that was under water.
At this point most of us were downstream of the rapid in our boats. John, Lauren and I got out of our boats on the left. Everyone else got out on the right.
While we were scrambling up to where Linda was, James had thrown her a rope that she caught on the first attempt (I did not see this, James told me about it later). I also did not see her get pushed into sieve. I am unsure of the order of James throwing his rope and Linda being further in the sieve.
When I got up to where she was, she was holding onto the rope, her boat was not visible, and water was pushing on the center of her back and water was going over her head. She was struggling to keep her head up, but she did have an air pocket. John had already thrown his rope to someone on the other side of the river, and John and whoever was holding the other side of the rope provided her with a stabilization line. I was backing John up.
Lauren went downstream in case she came out. Linda grabbed onto the stabilization line with her right hand, but she was having trouble letting go of the 1st rope because it appeared to be wrapped around her left hand. She received the stabilization line within 2 minutes of becoming pinned. Soon after, she let go of the stabilization line, freed her left hand, and grabbed onto the stabilization line with both hands. At this point I saw Scott paddling downstream for help.
During the next 5-10 minutes she was letting the stabilization line go, and we repeatedly got it back to her. During this time it appeared that she was getting pushed further into the sieve by the current, and it was apparent that she becoming tired trying to stand up against the force of the water hitting her back and going over her head. The cold water also was a factor for her fatigue.
Within this 5-10 minute time period her body became limp and she let go of the stabilization line. We made a couple attempts to get under her body with the line, but the force of the current wouldn't allow the line to go deep enough. At this point we attached two other ropes to the stabilization line with a bag in the middle full of rocks. We used this snag line to try and get a rope under her body. Unfortunately the center rock was hindering our attempts because it was blocking the view of Linda and the rope from the right side. Eventually 5 ropes were attched to the center rock bag 2 on each side, and one downstream.
Within the 1st 20 minutes another group (of 3 I believe) came downstream and they were signalled of an emergency and they took out on the right side. They began to help in the rescue effort. One paddler from that group ended up on top of the large undercut downstream left side and was part of the 5 rope system. He had the best view of linda at that point. Linda was not visible from river right. We could occasionally see her life jacket and helmet from river left.
For approximately 2 hours we tried to lift Linda's body out with this system. We could only get her left arm. When we did snag her left arm we tried shaking her lose and we tried to pull her out without success.
Between 45-90 minutes after Linda was pinned, 40-50 park rangers, police, firefighters, divers, and rescue workers arrived at the scene. They did not assist in the rescue attempt, except to place inviduals downstream if she happend to come lose. After 2 hours after Linda became pinned, the park rangers and police asked us to stop before anyone else was hurt. They informed us that a grappling hook was coming to recover the body. We continued the effort for another 15-20 minutes.
The park service set up static lines on both sides of the river, at least 30 ft from the banks of the river and approximately 30 ft in the air via trees. The river-left static line had a z-drag line in place. with two park rangers manning the rope. I am unsure if the river right had a z-drag, but several individuals were manning the rope.
When the grappling hook arrived, we attached it to the throw-rope system the paddlers had in place and we also attached it to the 2 static lines. The kayakers guided the hook with their system and signalled to the park service when to pull on the static lines. Some of this communication was done by radio. On the 3rd attempt we hooked Linda's Life Vest and it was ripped from her. On the 4th attempt we hooked her torso and were able to lift her body out of her boat and the sieve. She fell into the current and a diver pulled her to shore. This was done between 4:30-5:00 pm, approximately 4 hours after Linda had originally been pinned.
Lauren and I had paddled with Linda, John, and Peter several times. I met Dave, James, and Scott that morning. They arrived to the river with Linda and John. I had run the Mettawee once at a comparable level. Peter had run the river 7-8 times before. I believe Dave had run the river once. Lauren, Linda, John, and Scott had not run the river. Linda, John (Linda's boyfriend), Peter, Lauren (Jame's "wife"), and I are all strong Class IV-V paddlers. I am unsure of the other 3.
This group did all the normal steps in scouting a rapid and their speedy rescue attempts were limited by the rapid features and nature of a suction pin. More than we sometimes care to admit, our only real safety is maintaining control. Just because others in the group have flushed through without incident doesn't mean a rapid is free of hazards.
Changing rapids are a fact of whitewater as are the hidden dangers of sieves. Sieves though are often only visible from down river. Paddling rapids that have recently changed is far different than just paddling a river you're not familiar with. You need to treat rapids that have shifted drastically like first descents and scout from multiple angles and at different water levels. If in doubt or you don't have time, walk the drop and scout from below for the next time you paddle the run.
http://boatertalk.com/forum/BoaterTalk/581135
