That's a pretty sweet day with skiing early and then running the river in
the afternoon.  Sounds a lot like an experience I had on the New River down
in West Virginia on Class III to V rapids.  Just non-stop whitewater
facials with the someone seemingly getting ousted from the raft every so
often to keep things interesting.

I'm sure Sharon would've loved it.

-Scott

On Sat, 31 May 2003 00:47:25 -0400, Matt Duphphy
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>5/30/03
>
>After unloading from the Lenawee lift for the second time, I headed for a
>little stomach rush. The morning corn was cold and fast down along the
>angled ridgeline runway to King Cornice. Zoom... splat and go.
>
>Took off from A-Basin and drove east to get some face shots.
>
>My unexpected 7:30 wake up call informed me I'd be doing a rafting trip
>down class 5 rapids on Clear Creek. An 8 mile run through wild churning
>water in a boat withjust me and 4 guides. They put me in the front.
>
>The whole length of the trip was almost entirely through rapids. Wave after
>wave of white blindness in my face. Within the first few minutes our acting
>guide was ejected from the boat. A sign of things to come? He was quickly
>yanked back in and we paddled on.
>
>Oh, BTW, Jason Malczyk was the guide with the reigns.
>
>He generally steered us into all the biggest waves and most chaotic water.
>Through one of the particularly hairy rapids with a name I don't remember,
>a little bump into some rocks set off a chain reaction. One of the others
>was jarred from the boat. I turned to look at him when Trevor(?), who was
>next to me in the front said: "Forget him! Keep paddling!"
>
>We had to straighten up the boat before reaching a gurgling torrent of
>water frothing forcefully in a few different directions. I think we got it
>pretty close to straight, but I'm not sure of exactly what transpired to
>eject Tevor and I into a white water swim. Something happened with a rock
>and the right side of the boat dipping and dropping out Trevor. And the
>boat folding lengthwise a bit going over something, shooting me straight
>out Superman style. Splash.
>
>At this point the bank was completely rocky and presented a challenge in
>fast moving water. After a couple tries I was able to latch on and pull
>myself out. Got a few bruises, a couple minor cuts, and one hell of a
>headrush. Wow!
>
>Back in the boat we raged through more rapids, got big waves crashing down
>on us every few seconds, the "self-bailing" raft couldn't keep up with the
>incoming water. The river was so high that be had to duck under bridges.
>Well, more like laying down in the boat and looking up at concrete and
>steel just a few inches from our faces.
>
>After three of these limbo excercises I noticed the high rock walls of a
>scenic canyon filled full of burnt looking western earth tones everywhere.
>During this brief break between rapids, Jake(?- the first guy swimming in
>that sequence) described "So I was clinging to that rock and I heard you
>say 'Forget Him', and I thought: I'm dead - they're nervous and they're in
>a boat!"
>
>It wasn't until we were carrying our boat back that I realized my toes were
>numb and that water actualy was cold. I was too active and exhilirated to
>notice all during the trip. All for a very reasonable $10.
>
>Not a bad day. Spring corn skiing in the warmth of the sun followed by a
>thrill ride down a relentless river at the end of May.
>
>Hey, somebody had to do it!
>
>mpd
>
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