Hunter Sharp
Chief Ranger
Wrangell - St. Elias National Park
Copper Center, AK

May 19, 1999

Dear Hunter:

By now, of course, you have heard from Marshall Neeck what happened to our two-man kayak party on May 16 on the upper Copper River below Slana. First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for Ranger Neeck and his assistant (a blond woman whose name I'm sorry I do not recall) for the help they provided in our moment of need. They handled the situation with compassion, grace and professionalism. Also, you likely deserve some credit for the superior conduct of your crew. Second, I would like to thank you personally for your help in gathering information and especially for attempting to discourage our descent of the river so soon after breakup. In my opinion, you could not have provided better service to the public. You pointedly warned me about the specific hazard that nearly resulted in our deaths. In what follows, I recount the events of May 15 and 16 that you might use this information to advise other spring river floaters in the future.

On the afternoon of May 15, we flew the river with Lynn Ellis from Gulkana airport to Slana. Below the Chistochina confluence, we saw very little shelf ice, scattered chunks of ice moving down river, no ice jams, but some tributaries, such as the Sanford River, were still heavily iced over. Above Indian River there were many spots that had heavy ice along the banks. To my inexperienced eyes, it appeared that all the river channels were open. However, there was one spot along a steep cut-bank (on the north side) that was completely covered with ice extending from the shore. The presence of a steep bank should have alerted me but I did not recognize this an ice-covered channel. This section turned out to be the main channel of the river. When we returned to the airport I mentioned to Lynn that we would put in at Chistochina and he commented that we should not "mess with" the section from Slana down to the Chistochina. Unfortunately the next day I changed my mind and decided to put in at Slana.

On the afternoon of May 16, we started from the Slana River and were following the main channel when we swung from river left across two open channels to far river right into the channel along the cut-bank. We did not immediately realize we were in a blind alley until we were bearing down on a bridge of ice with no possible path but under. As we exited the boat, it was already rolling under the ice and we were swept along underwater at 10 mph for at least a minute until we popped up in an open section of water. Miraculously, we were both conscious despite having been rolled and pummeled under the ice and John, my partner, having taken some water into his lungs. Providence had left a log half buried and protruding from the bank so that we were able to grab hold of it and make our escape from the river. Not a hundred yards further downstream from that log was another ice bridge. John had trouble breathing and some (minor, as it turned out) head injuries but we managed to make it up to the highway. You know the rest of the story.

As I said before, this was a scenario about which you had attempted to warn me. Having flown the river, I thought I had taken precaution against a blocked channel but I lacked the experience to recognize the very thing that I should have been looking for. Further, even if all channels had been open, the presence of ice overhanging the banks presents a constant hazard of damaging or capsizing the boat. Of this I was aware, but it did not dawn on me until I was in the river that ice overhanging the banks makes it impossible to climb out of the river. Also, it appears to me that these ice shelves increase the likelihood of an ice jam forming should a tributary dump its ice. Thus, there should have been no question of attempting any section of the river with shelf ice along the banks. Lack of experience, lack of respect for spring breakup, and some large measure of stupidity led to my near fatal error in judgment. Should anyone intend to descend the river during breakup in the future, it is my hope that this account of our experience might help to dissuade him or her.

Sincere thanks to you and especially Marshall.

Mike Dirkes
Kodiak, AK