Whitewater Rafting and Kayaking in Oregon and Washington - the Columbia River Gorge

Wet Planet Whitewater – the center for rafting & kayaking in the Columbia River Gorge.
Contact: Jaco Klinkenberg – 800.306.1673 / jaco@wetplanetwhitewater.com / www.wetplanetwhitewater.com

DATELINE: White Salmon, WA. June 10, 2005

WHITE SALMON’S WET PLANET TO COMPLETE FIRST PROFESSIONAL RESCUE TRAINING

Oregon and Washington Swiftwater River Rescue Courses

If you happened to be on the White Salmon River last week, you may have noticed a group of relatively sane looking people hurling their bodies into the frigid waters. This isn’t a new sport that’s hitting the Gorge; this was a group of young professionals participating in a Whitewater Rescue Training.

The course was held at the Wet Planet Whitewater Center in Husum, WA. The course was instructed by Todd Collins, owner of Wet Planet, and Chris Jonason, owner of Wave Trek. The course covered advanced safety techniques that are applicable on the river, important knowledge to have if you work or live near that environment. The students were mostly made up of raft guides and kayakers looking to gain the crucial knowledge needed to handle a water emergency. Nick Puff, a paramedic at Skyline Hospital, also attended the course. Nick has played an active role in determining various evacuation spots along the White Salmon. “Lots of things can happen, and not just river related. If someone goes on a rafting trip and has a heart attack, we now know the exact points along the river where an EMT can get to that person. This is a huge step in river safety.” Currently, Wet Planet is the only whitewater outfitter in the area certified to provide rescue training backed by Rescue3, the leading organization providing nationally recognized certification in swift-water search and rescue techniques.

The course covered many different aspects of river safety, including rescue philosophy, technical rope systems, and water-contact rescues. Various emergency scenes were simulated, and the students worked together on rescuing the victim. The course benefited from the extensive experience of lead instructor Todd Collins, who has over 15,000 commercial river miles both nationally and internationally. A level II senior instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School and a swift-water rescue instructor for Rescue3, he is a recognizable figure in paddling communities throughout the industry. With these types of courses, Collins is using the visibility of Wet Planet and his experience training river professionals to increase the level of whitewater rescue knowledge in the area.

The White Salmon is a stunning river that should be enjoyed and shared, but it’s important to keep safety a number one priority. This is exactly what Wet Planet has been doing, and not only by sponsoring the course. Wet Planet has definitely been setting the standard in whitewater safety. Through their attention to the details of risk management, such as running “tight trips,” carrying satellite phones, vacuum packing first-aid kit contents, and using support kayakers whenever one raft is going alone (not to mention the double support kayakers they use on the Wind and the class IV/V stretch of the Upper White Salmon), Wet Planet is putting new meaning to risk management. All of their guides have whitewater rescue training, and are true professionals in the whitewater industry.

Talia Norman, a participant in the course and an employee at Wet Planet had a multi-layered view. “After months of training hard to reach the standard Wet Planet requires of its guides, having this course under my belt makes me even more comfortable on the water, both in my kayak, and especially in the raft. The level of commitment that Wet Planet has put into risk management is incredible. It’s the number one reason I decided to work with them. It’s so important for guests and clients to be aware of industry standards, and to openly ask questions to the rafting companies. Any company that has done everything they can to prevent and handle river emergencies should be more than willing to discuss their risk management practices.”

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