[treeswarper]

My mama always told us this was a place to NEVER EVER go into because water is released, unannounced into what is usually a dry gorge. There are also big warning signs at various points. Some teenage boys went ahead, water was released and here is the rescue. Guess they flew in a drone with a message telling the boys to stay put and wait for rescue. The Rescue

[Anne Elk]

Wow. The old "cross the Khumbu Icefall crevasses with a ladder" trick. That's pretty neat, thanks for posting it, TS. I know nothing about that area so it was an opportunity to investigate and read about the Lake Chelan dam. An unusual rescue method, I'd guess (as opposed to helo lift-outs). SAR!

[treeswarper]

Really really expert kyakers have run it with the understanding that no rescue could be done if they had trouble going down it. I'm not sure if they still do that or not. Lake Chelan has a dam on it which raises the lake higher than it would be naturally. I'm thinking it's for irrigation purposes. The lake flows out and goes down a very rugged gorge to the community of Chelan Falls and into the Columbia. That's near the Beebe Bridge, which crosses the Columbia. It is normally dry. Large DANGER stay out or something similar signs are posted where folks could get into it. My folks stopped on the way up to Chelan one time, got us out of the car to look and we were lectured about the dangers. My mom lived in the area during her high school years and worked in the orchards around Chelan Falls so was well versed on it. The other scary stop on our trips to go swimming was at the school bus site. That was a place where a school bus skidded off the road and into a deep part of the lake on a snowy day and most of the kids were killed. There was a plaque at the spot, now it looks like they put something fancier up. https://www.historylink.org/File/7645

[altasnob]

Photos, videos, and info on kayaking Chelan Gorge, which is one of the premier Class V runs in the state: http://www.professorpaddle.com/rivers/riverdetails.asp?riverid=382 https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/River/detail/id/3144/