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| Michael below Pine Tree: photo Evan Stafford |
Marble, Colorado: 7:30 a.m. The sun is peering over the mountain ridge, mist is rising from the lake near the take-out, and I’m already feeling gripped. I’m cooking pancakes, when Patrick arrives. We share our excitement to be paddling one of Colorado’s premier class V late-season runs. Within an hour, Evan, the third member of our crew, arrives.
It’s one of the last weekends of the year that the Crystal Gorge will be running before settling into its off-season, low-water dormancy. I must have read the description in “Rivers and Creeks” fifteen times, and studied the picture of Zute Chute, the 40-footer that drops you into the heart of the gorge, for hours. But we’re not to that drop yet, just paddling down the first half-mile, which is smooth and easy, a far cry from what’s in store.
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| Patrick at the first drop: photo Evan |
The first drop is a manky 10-footer, and from there the river falls steadily: a 10-footer here, a 12-footer there, all straightforward class V, until we reach Pinetree Falls. It’s a scary looking 20-foot double drop with a fairly difficult approach and an obvious tendency of pushing boats into a nasty wall on river right. We study it. Amped, we get ready to run it. I run safety first while the other guys prepare to run the falls. After ten minutes, I see a boat dropping over the first lip without a paddler, I then see Evan waiving his arms frantically. It’s apparent that Patrick has taken a swim and that his boat is probably not going to survive this stretch of river without him. Within a few seconds the boat has cleared the falls, avoided the hole, and is heading straight for me. I get a hand on it and start to pull it in, when it flips, the force of the water against it too great for me to hold on. It releases from my grip, tumbles down another waterfall and disappears around the bend.
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| Pine Tree section |
I try to run after it, but the gorge is guarded by hundred foot tall cliffs, impeding any quick rescue of the boat, paddle and gear. I find a ledge and scramble across it until it delivers me around the bend, where I see his boat being re-circulated at the base of a rapid below. The only way that I’ll be able to reach it is from the other shore, and the only visible way across is via an old cable spanning the river. It probably belonged to an old mining bridge, a relic of the last century, and unfortunately is the only option. I test the cable by hanging on it. The boat dislodges from the rapid and starts moving downstream. There are just a few minutes before it will sweep into the gorge and be crushed or lost. Hand-over-hand, I cross the rusted cable, tightening my grip as it sways. As I reach the other shore, I spot the paddle resting in an eddy. I grab it and work my way towards the boat which has lodged itself against a boulder. Attaching a rope to the stern, I pull against the onslaught of water and free the boat, pulling it to shore. It’s damaged, with a hole in the bow, but it still floats.
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| Mike getting it done: photo Evan |
Rattled, the three of us rejoin and continue wearily downstream. Several more drops take us to the crux, Zute Chute, the big one, a 40-foot-tall gatekeeper marking the entrance to the inner gorge. It’s a clean drop, but getting there looks tough. The water peels off to the right, falling into a series of boulders, a possible sieve scenario to be avoided at all cost. The only passage is a three-foot wide tongue of water on extreme river left that carries you over the falls and into a pool, setting you up for the next quarter-mile of tight, pushy water and big holes.
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| Evan in the inbetween: photo Michael |
From the trail above, we peer into the gorge, discussing at length the lines and our options. For an hour we debate whether or not to even continue. Patrick’s boat is not in shape for this next section and we all feel weary from the hour-long boat rescue. We opt not to continue and to instead make the long portage back to the take-out.
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| Portage down to the take-out: photo Michael |
To say that we “ran” the Crystal Gorge would be an overstatement, but the top half offered challenging, first-rate boating through stunning terrain. Now that we know the river, we are all surely keen on returning.
We’ll just have to wait until next season to answer that calling.
Editors Note: Mike’s rescue of Patrick’s boat and paddle was truly special. He acted quickly and confidently and without hesitation. While Mike was chasing the yard sale downstream, I remained to assist Patrick in his mission to cross back to the river right. In the lead in to Pine Tree Falls there is a benign looking S-Move that can certainly catch you off-guard (as it did Patrick when he was caught in the small, blocked off, re-circulating eddy, upside down, which the move feeds into). None of us had run the gorge prior to our attempt and upon further inquiry I have found that this move is often portaged. Our plan was to have Patrick run down to an eddy at the lip of Pine Tree on the left and to set safety there for my run of the falls. He never made it to the eddy. We were truly surpised to come around the corner and see Mike with Patrick's boat and paddle! A gear rescue he had completed solo.
This is an excellent run and was a really challenging day out, especially without a guide. It was seriously a tough decision not to attempt the inner gorge because both Mike and I were truly amped to attempt it: something in the air just did not feel right and these are the small universal inconsistencies that all creek boaters must heed. If it doesn’t feel right, you show your respect, and it will still be there for the next round, and consequentially so will you. We will be back.
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