Rough Waters: Five Deaths on the Arkansas River

Home Browse Search

Buena Vista efore she could count to three, Amanda Sandling knew it was going to be a long day. A 3o- year -old recording indus- try professional from Atlanta, San- dling was on the second white - water rafting trip of her life, bounc- ing down "The Numbers," an un- imaginatively named stretch of the Arkansas River north of Buena Vista. "It started out pretty shaky," Sandling said of the July 5 com- mercial rafting trip with friends and family. "I fell out of the boat in the second or third rapid, me and another girl. Our raft hit a rock, and it just launched us." Suddenly immersed in the cold ' river, Sandling did not know then that three others had FIVE DEATHS ON THE ARKANSAS RIVER THIS SEASON HIGHLIGHT THE DANGERS OF COMMERCIAL RAFTING A`�TD BRING CALLS FOR IMPROVED SAFETY PROCEDURES. Story by Scott Willoughby, Photos by RJ Sangosti I The Denver Post already died downstream on the Arkansas this season. Nor did she know that the water flow that day was at an above - average ijoo cubic feet per sec- ond, highest of the month. San - dling had no idea what "cfs" meant, but she knew she had to escape the river's icy clutch, fast. "It was shockingly cold," San - dling recalled. "And I am not a strong swimmer. If it had not been for my mind -set saying, `I'm not going out like this,' anything could have happened. I hit the wa- ter and thought, `No way,' and im- mediately did everything I could to get out of the middle of that riv- er." Sandling was fortunate her in- > See RAFTING on 22A wu men on a rartmg trip with American Adventure Expeditions experience the thrills and chills of dropping into the Pinball Rapid in Browns Canyon on the Arkansas River. A rafting guide in training with the company was killed May 28 in an accident at the rapid. A guide from Independence Whitewater Rafting holds out a paddle for two passengers who fell into the Arkansas River on Wednesday. The cold water rapidly saps strength, making a quick rescue vital.