Madison

Matt sees his shadow, six more weeks of winter?

S-Turn on rare nice weather day.

Because of dam maintenance at Hebgen Lake, the water level at Quake Attack is the highest I have seen. It has been ranging between 3200 cfs and 3800 cfs. The character of the river demands full attention and endurance at these flows, as it more resembles a North Fork Payette than a Madison River Run. Although the majority of the rocks are underwater, they are still sharp and will leave a strong impression should you decide to face off with them. If you are in the area, it's worth a trip to look at it, as it is very easy to scout from the road and there are eddies above the S-turn rapid for an easy portage. It's a great run that demands your respect and attention to safety.

Matt Larson
Quake attack! I was lucky enough to catch this stretch at 2700 a couple years ago. Sick!! If it happens again, go get it. The S-turn is the class-V ish section, more so because of consequence. The only time i have gone upside down, my helmet was destroyed after the same rock broke the shaft of my paddle. The run is Incredibly a fun continuous drop. worth many laps. I've often traveled through lines that i wasn't planning on and they were cleaner than expected. keep it upright.

Joe Booth, IPA, gets a good look at the sharp rocks of quake. A bomber roll is a must for this fast moving section with nothing but sharp landslide rocks on its river bed

The IPA lines it up on S-turn. Front to back; Pat Rogers, Chi-town Ben, Joe Booth
Pat Rogers, IPA, tackles the 'big V' the near the top of S-turn. Punch it in the gut or skirt it on the left, either way, bust hard left and avoid the next two holes in the middle.

I did this run at about 1100cfs and it was fun without being scary. The lines are fairly standard western runs - inside the bends and down the middle of the straightaways. You could probably run this as low as 800 cfs, but be careful the rocks are really sharp. No clue as to a maximum level. A couple of the bends are run in small chutes on the inside to avoid large holes running the width of the main channel.