Colorado
19. Lee's Ferry to Lake Mead (The Grand Canyon)
This kayaker is running to the right of the infamous ledge hole. At this level, the left side is not an attractive option. Where this boater is, the water is pushing hard to the right and will take him to a large white V-shaped breaking wave/hole straight below the green tongue, followed by a huge wave train going down the right side as the rapid tails off. When we scouted this, we thought that it might be possible to go left below the tongue to avoid being buried by the sizeable breaking wave directly below. Observing rafts and a couple kayaks run demonstrated your two options: (i) you could go straight down the green tongue and get buried by the breaking wave, or (ii) you could go left and be taken into the breaking wave anyway. The most difficult thing about Lava was lining up your approach, which is really blind until you literally fall into the rapid. If you are not where you want to be, it's already too late to do anything about it. For reading this rapid, the resolution is a little better on my other pic of the raft running it.
M. White
Jun 6, 2001
Lava Falls