King William Traverse and Denison Descent

[Mark_O]

Hi Darren. Hope you have had a good summer up your way and avoided the fires. PM me if you come down to Hobart and are keen for a paddle, etc. Having seen numerous paddles disappear over the years (more whilst kayaking than packrafting) I sometimes carry XL hand-paddles (253g) as a backup on high volume rivers such as the Franklin as despite their weight they take up almost no room. On non-technical whitewater I can paddle with them but not on steep or high volume rough water. My thought is to actually lash the hand-paddles to a decent stick as make-shift paddle blades - haven't had to utilise them yet though and hope not to test my theory. 9 out of 10 times from my experience the lost paddles have been found within the next 1km of river (although unlikely to be the situation on the Gordon) but without a spare of some kind to travel that next one kilometre you can obviously end up in a pretty bad situation as Frenchy discovered.

Frenchy - interested to know if you actively discussed lashing the packrafts together side-by-side during your predicament? With a half split-paddle each you can get reasonable control, much increased stability, can support each other emotionally and it keeps both paddlers and gear all together. Have seen it used on high volume rivers with kayaks, inflatables and rafts with some success. That said if individuals aren't comfortable in the conditions you experienced then it may just lead to further danger and it does not mean that I think you did the wrong thing.

It is great to see that more and more major packrafting expeditions involving decent whitewater are taking place in Tassie. The following is not directed to Frenchy but to inexperienced whitewater packrafters contemplating such trips I would like to point out the obvious - that having a group of only two paddlers is extremely limiting in a rescue situation or in setting safety on a rapid and that it significantly increases the risk factor! It also increases rather than decreases the likelihood of losing gear such as a paddle or even an entire packraft. Plans therefore need to me made to allow for dealing with this. A slightly larger group is a lot safer although not always possible. Anyone who undertakes a professional river rescue training course will soon see just how dangerous and limiting having only one rescuer is. I am not implying that no-one should packraft in pairs as many experienced paddlers do successfully whilst others go solo without apparent issue but the risk factor is very real and not to be underestimated. I understand that the nature of many of the trips being done in Tassie does not allow for anything but very small groups making it even more important that everyone in the group is at a level that they can independently not only look after themselves but safely rescue others. Likewise a highly experienced team of two may be a lot safer than an inexperienced team of four. Although packrafting has many similarities with remote area bushwalking it is actually a very different environment and activity and extensive experience in bushwalking may not be enough to keep you safe on a river. My second and last obvious point: ALL rivers in Tassie rise very quickly, flood regularly and are really cold when you swim for a significant distance - packrafters need to plan for and to be able to deal with such.

Safe paddling to all.

[DarrenM]

Hi Mark,
We've had a fairly quite summer and managed to steer clear of the fire dramas. Appreciate your insight on all things river wise and I'll definitely let you know when the Tassie thing happens....Might actually paddle with some crew!

Great pics by the way Frenchy....back on the horse.

[Son of a Beach]

Hey, this is a great trip report, and I enjoyed the photos too. Reminds me a lot of my one and only white water trip ever on the Franklin. Especially the suck and pull of the whirlpools and hidden currents, even on apparently flat water, when the river is in flood. It's very disconcerting. I also agree with your mate's comment about how difficult it is to float in white water even with a full wetsuit and a life jacket on. There's not only the under tow but also a lot of air in the water.

I can also sympathise with losing paddles - but I was lucky. I lost two paddles on our Franklin trip. I didn't take a spare on that trip, but thankfully one of the other guys did and we also found a complete paddle in the trees at the Irenabyss camp site. So after losing two paddles, we were able to continue the entire rest of the trip.

I'm one of the least experienced white water rafters around, but I do think (in hindsight) that a spare paddle should be carried (depending on experience level).

I would not do a long remote white water trip without a spare paddle - I've learned my lesson the hard way. It doesn't need to be one paddle per person, but at least one per group (perhaps one per 3 people, or something like that). The chances of losing a paddle is high, and in serious white water and remote scrubby territory the possibility of being able to get out without a paddle is ~nil.

if they lost a raft and kept the paddle I'm sure no one would suggest carrying a spare raft!

No, but you do carry a raft repair kit. A raft is unlikely to be lost, but can easily be damaged. So you carry a repair kit to account for the likely problems with the raft. Paddles are less likely to be damaged (although can still happen!) but are actually very easily lost - much more easily than a raft.

As I was told on my Franklin River trip (and as jmac said)... If you get tossed out of your boat, don't let go of the paddle. Forget the raft, but don't let go of the paddle. The reasoning is that a raft is much less likely to get lost completely. It may get washed a long way downstream, but it will usually get found again (quite easily if somebody else has already gone first). At least it will float, and remain visible for a long time. A paddle, even though it may float on flat water, usually ends up going under water in any rapids or current, and often gets jammed in logs or rocks. So when you come out of a boat, the paddle is very easily lost permanently but a raft is usually found again without too much trouble. This certainly matches my (limited) experience with coming out of my raft multiple times on a flooded Franklin River.

Even having been told all this, I still lost two paddles in the one trip.

These days a spare paddle weighs ~1 kg (I bought one just a few weeks ago for rafting highland lakes - don't have a raft yet, though) and packs down quite small. That would be about 500g per person. I think it's essential enough to be worth taking even on a difficult to access trip because paddles are so easy to lose and so absolutely essential.

I guess it depends on your experience level though. For somebody like jmac, who may be very confident of not losing a paddle, it may not be necessary. But to somebody with not much experience, or otherwise not confident they can avoid losing a paddle, I reckon a spare should be carried. I can assure people that when you're freaking out half way down a huge flooded rapid and then get tossed out of your boat, and you're not experienced and confident, you don't think about holding on to your paddle - you only think about trying not to die. It was a big surprise to me at just how easy it is to lose a paddle.

Of course, all this is in hindsight. I didn't take a spare paddle on my trip because I didn't recognise the need for it. So I certainly wouldn't blame anybody else for doing likewise. However, I would strongly recommend it to anybody who asks.

Caveat (ie, grain of salt): I'm rather unco. so perhaps it's just me?

[Irenabyss]

Well done on your first descent. Getting pinned or boatless in a big rapid would have been a much greater disaster. Life is precious. John Mclaine and I have discussed a few times taking a spare paddle and probably will with group size>3. When I had my spill in a Gordon eddy (mentioned above) a swirling hole literally appeared right next to me and I was over before I could brace. However we had already reminded each other - whatever happens don't let go of your paddle; the boat can always be retrieved as likely to be visible. The paddle is also a source of buoyancy. I luckily came up clutching both.
Having once sparked a chopper search and winch out from being simply overdue due to flooded rivers (and all the family angst) I second taking a SPOT, it gives my family great reassurance and knowledge of why I'm stuck - still requires pre-communication such as 'if it rains a lot while we are here we will have to sit out' , 'and the We Are OK but ... button' etc. I have just bought another tiny PLB (rescue me) to keep in life jacket in case of boat loss.
There will always be a bit of guilt RE getting extracted uninjured but the risk of a bad outcome given your available resources had gone up considerably; you might have got away with it but then you might have ended worse off. Also remember that your taxes also support thousands of EMS man hours every night picking up people who needlessly abuse their own or other peoples bodies. Yours was a much more worthy pursuit.
Discretion is the better part of valour. Good job.

[magee]

Hi I was Frenchy's companion on this trip and appreciate all the views and advice posted. I can second that this was a great trip (at least until the rescue).

I will upload a couple of additional photos of the trip

Attachments

ascending the South side of the King William Divide towards Slatters Peak

Campsite near KW3 looking north

The large Eucalypts on the ridge leading down to the small plains north of the Denison

Crossing the button grass plain west towards Observation Peak

Typical log debris in the upper Denison

[magee]

Some more Photos

Attachments

Looking back up Marriott's Gorge about half way through

Another of the rock sieve in the Denison Gorge

On the side of the Gordon

PC190102.JPG (138.88 KiB) Viewed 7537 times

[Dolerite Walker]

As I understand it, Gordon River water releases by the Hydro are not public knowledge. Perhaps there's a case for them to become so.