The gear in action

In my last article I talked about the importance of having a “pin kit” and knowing it’s uses and applications on an expedition.  Some of the gear included rope, locking biners, pulleys and prussik cord.  During the 2011 Athabasca expedition our cache of gear did in fact come in handy on one particular day.  The gear we brought exclusively as the “pin kit” included: 4 locking biners, 3 pre-tied prussik cords, 1 prussik minding pulley, 1 regular pulley, 1 length of anchor webbing.  In addition to this gear we had two throw-bags which were tied to either end of the boat, so that in the event of a swim we could grab one boat.  We also had two utility lines that we used on a day-to-day basis for tying up the boat on-shore during the day of in the evening after a day of paddling.  It was near the end of our expedition in Grand Rapids Provincial Park that all of this gear did get used in a very real way.  It lowered our risk level quite a bit but it also increased our workload for the day significantly.

We had been in Grand Rapids Provincial Park for a few days and we knew we had a big day coming up with the approach of the famous Grand Rapids of The Athabasca.  The previous few days had included a bunch of rapids up to class 3.  Most of these rapids we had a choice of going through big waves in the middle of the river or dodging rocks and running small ledges along the bank.  We almost always chose the slalom course and ledges so that in the event of a swim we would more easily be able to get to shore.  There were a few rapids that we had to line along the bank of the river because of bigger ledges and waves.  This was done with much difficulty.  We did have one close call where we were running a rapid and saw a ledge just in time and got to shore about ten meters above it.  Upon closer inspection we would have been lucky to make it through without swimming, and with another couple hundred meters of whitewater below it would have been a rough and cold swim.  Needless to say we were constantly on edge and even though we had brought along a couple bottles of whiskey to enjoy during a “homme du nord” party, we weren’t interested in libations so we could have clear heads all day.

Once through these rapids we had smooth sailing all the way to Grand Rapids.  With about 12 kilometers to we camped for the night at the “Grand Rapids Lodge”.  The lodge wasn’t open yet but we had gotten permission to camp there by the owners before we left on the expedition.  We spent the night relaxing and strategizing for the next day.  Little did we know those plans and strategies would get thrown out the window first thing in the morning.  The next morning we packed the boat after a good breakfast of strong coffee and oatmeal.  The plan was to paddle the 12 kilometers to the portage trail, hammer out the first half, take a break then do the second half and be back at the river in the early afternoon.  Have we started getting close to Grand Rapids we were having trouble locating the portage trail.  It had been 15 years since I paddled this section so my memory was a little foggy, but I did remember that the trail was very obvious and paralleled a creek.  We scouted the bank over and over, stopping every 100 meters.  Each time we pulled over we would go up the hill, look for the trail and come back down, and each time we were getting closer and closer to the canyon walls that form the river-right side of Grand Rapids.  Finally, around 11 we pulled over one more time.  This looked like the last good landing before the canyon wall rose up.  Below us was a class 3+ rapid with a massive log-jam extending off the bank eliminating the possibility of sneaking along the bank, and with a canyon wall rising up 30 meters we might not have a way of pulling off the river.  Our GPS and map were telling us we were close but with no way to see around the corner, a significant rapid just downstream with a massive logjam as well as a class 5 rapid just below that we made one more scout looking for the trail.  There was a very steep slope above us and as I got to the top of it I found a game trail along the rim that headed downstream.  As I walked the trail for a few hundred meters I found that it spat me out at a nice flat clearing with another game trail at the other end heading in the same direction.  This would have to do.  The steep slope was an issue though.  We could barely scramble up, there was no way we would be able to portage the boat up the slope, and taking bags up would have been difficult as well.  I quickly made the call to open the “pin kit”.

One of the throw-bags was used as an anchor on a good sized tree about half up the slope.  In order to make the anchor as “bomber” as possible I made a four strand figure 8 knot with the rope around the tree.  Then I tied the other throw-bag rope, which was made of spectra, to the canoe to act as the load line.  At this point all that was needed was to attach our prussiks and pulleys to the system, and we had ourselves a 3:1 mechanical advantage pulley system.  We hauled the boat up to the anchor, tied off the boat with one of our utility lines and moved the anchor up the hill so we could repeat the process.  After two and a half rope lengths we had our boat and all of our gear at the top of the slope.  The whole process took around an hour, without that gear and the knowledge of how to use it would have taken several sketchy hours to get all of gear up that slope.

Once on top of the slope we began the long process of hiking and portaging everything.  We had a long and arduous day ahead of us.  That morning we made a conservative decision to pull off the river before finding the start of the portage trail because we couldn’t see what was directly below us, we had canyon walls rising up just downstream and we knew there was a class 5 rapid around the corner.  Plus the fact that because we were by ourselves there was no rescue option or safety net.  The “pin kit” we brought along gave us a feasible option for overcoming the obstacle that was in front of us and we were very glad to have those few small pieces of equipment as well as the ability to use them in a practical manner.  Plan ahead, bring the gear you need and know how to use it.

James is a Swiftwater Rescue Specialist (SRT 4) with Rescue Canada and is currently working as a Rope Rescue Medic in Northern British Columbia