Published: October 05, 2007 11:30 pm         

Kayaker dies on Upper Gauley

17-year-old from Montana was ‘experienced’

A 17-year-old student from a Montana kayaking prep school drowned Friday when his kayak got trapped under water on the Upper Gauley River, authorities said.

The body of the Missoula, Mont., teen was taken to the Fayette County coroner’s office, Chief Ranger Gary Hartley of the New River Gorge National River said. His name will not be released because of his age.

The incident was reported to the Fayette County Emergency Operations Center around 1:30 p.m. Friday. A group of about 10 students and an instructor from the Missoula-based World Class Kayak Academy were taking a trip on the Upper Gauley. The academy is a preparatory high school specializing in training competitive kayakers.

The group was in a rapid about a half-mile above the Class V Sweet’s Falls rapid and the victim was trying to navigate water between two rocks, called a “chute,” Hartley said. His kayak then became entrapped and submerged near a rock known as Thumbnail Rock.

Members of the group tried to rescue the boy, as did private boaters and commercial rafters, Hartley said. None was successful. Two of the boy’s classmates then traveled downstream to get help. They reached a commercial rafting group at Sweet’s Falls — where most kayaking and rafting trips on the Upper Gauley end — which summoned help with its radio-based communications system.

Once the call was made, professional rescuers from the Oak Hill Fire Department’s Swift Water Rescue Team, the Fayetteville Fire Department’s Vertical Rescue Team, Ansted Fire Department, Jan-Care Ambulance and National Park Service arrived on the scene and took over, Hartley said. After two hours, the boy’s body was recovered. The kayak was wedged and caught underneath a rock.

“It was upside-down with him in it,” Hartley said. “It was pinned with him in it, under water.”

Hartley said he understood all the students were “experienced” kayakers. They had been on a multi-state kayaking tour, and their instructor told authorities this was the school’s first fatality.

— E-mail: apridemore@register-herald.com