Is the river frozen at Nordegg?

[rjlester]

Would like to do some snowmobiling out there on the river. Does that section of the river freeze solid? I was on the Pembina last year, it was froze pretty good, with the odd wet area that was pretty obvious.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by rjlester

Would like to do some snowmobiling out there on the river. Does that section of the river freeze solid? I was on the Pembina last year, it was froze pretty good, with the odd wet area that was pretty obvious.

There are far better(safer) places in the Nordegg area to snowmachine than the river.

BW

[rjlester]

That does concern me and is why I'm researching.

The reason I want to go out there, is to chainsaw a logjam apart that nearly killed my son and I last summer while canoeing.

Years ago the authorities used to blowup logjams, but not anymore. I was pleased with the work the rescue teams did to get us out, but troubled by their statements such as "oh, there were three rescues there last year."

I don't want anyone else to go through what we did. We were very lucky to survive, and there was no way to see what was coming.

Go here to see what happened, watch part 2 as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqG1bnBB5cw

[Passthru]

The effort may be futile with spring runoff ahead of us. Log jams and sweepers are dangerous for sure but reading the river far ahead of you is key. Glad you guys came out of it ok, some don’t.

[rjlester]

Originally Posted by Passthru

The effort may be futile with spring runoff ahead of us. Log jams and sweepers are dangerous for sure but reading the river far ahead of you is key. Glad you guys came out of it ok, some don’t.

Thanks for the kind words, doing my best to warn folks of that section of river.

Regarding watching the river ahead, that is one thing the film doesn't show is how sudden this showed up (around a corner), the speed of the river at that point, and how wide the jam was.

About a mile earlier, the Bighorn river joined up, and then the river split 4 ways. At that point, the 4 new channels all looked the same. We took the right channel. In the end three out of four channels were blocked, only the left channel was clear. I found this out a week later (I'll explain this in a bit).

So, everything was bliss at this point. Our paddles had been hitting bottom since we started. Channel was about 70 feet wide. All of a sudden, the river takes a sharp left, picks up serious speed, and widens out to about 300 feet. No big deal, just another bend in the river. No. The whole 300 feet was logs, with the biggest jam on the right side, which is where the current takes you. Can't stop, or turn around (speed) or go to shore. I was so stunned at what I was looking at because the second I saw it, I knew we were screwed! First we had a sweeper to deal with that came off the right bank (which was a 6 foot sheer wall) so we paddled like crazy to try to get away from it, but it was only 2 feet off the water so on impact we broke the branches off with our shoulders and arms. My son was steering and thank God he straightened us out and we hit the logjam straight on and even started to go on top of the logs. I thought we were fine, but the canoe slipped backwards and then dumped sideways and the rest is history.

It was a miracle we got out of the water as the suction was incredible, and you could not touch the bottom. We lost the canoe and pretty much all of our gear.

Anyways, this is a pretty sensitive topic for me as we definitely had some PTSD to deal with for quite some time. I honestly did not sleep for two weeks and was like a walking zombie. My wife was really worried until I started to sleep somewhat, and I still get the odd sleepless night. My son took it better than me, but I felt guilty about the whole thing as I got him into canoeing. We damn near died, the film does reflect our feelings on that. I had to shut down the comments on my YouTube channel as some people were accusing us of being inexperienced idiots (you guys are not doing that) and that we didn't know what we were doing (you should have done this, should have done that, should have joined a club blah blah) and should not be operating a canoe. When you've been through something tragic, you don't need to hear a lecture.

So a week later, a friend calls me after he saw me interviewed about it on the news. He was apologizing big time for not warning me about that part of the river. We had talked months earlier and when he heard of our plans to start at Bighorn, rather than the Hwy 40 bridge, him and his buddies wanted to do the same in their kayaks.

Him and his buddies ran that stretch (4 kayaks, 4 guys) two weeks before us. When the river split 4 ways, 2 guys took the far left channel, 2 guys took the far right. When the river rejoined, an empty kayak floated out of the right channel to the 2 guys coming from the left channel. So one of the right channel guys got caught in logs and the other guy had to rescue him. Took a half hour or so for the one guy to rescue the other. They both took the single man kayak to meet up with the other two guys. With all four kayaks back, nobody was hurt so they continued on and got caught in ANOTHER logjam shortly after. This took about an hour to rescue one guy and they were all totally exhausted. The rest of their trip to Edmonton was flawless and never had an issue. This has been my experience in the past, but nobody should ever start at Bighorn.

Sorry for the long post, but this is just too personal for me to not do anything. I really would like to at least go out and cut the logs into shorter lengths, and cut off all the branches so come springtime they can float away. That logjam has been there for years, it does change somewhat, but the part we were on seems to grow every year.

I understand the hazards and if it is truly not safe to sled on that river, I won't bother.

I still have the phone number of the Fish and Wildlife officer that helped us so I might call him, he lives in Nordegg. He is a SUPER guy by the way, very thankful for his professionalism and encouragement.

[Nordegg2]

I see you were just around the bighorn river. I find 3 to 5 canoes a year all within a 1/4mile of that spot. Only a short way down stream the logs get less. Always log jams on this section of the river. Happy you are safe. The best way to clear the logs is in the summer with a jet boat. The river does not freeze untill way down steam of the trunk road. In fact this year it is still not frozen over at Rocky.

[timsesink]

Aaron is absolutely a great guy. If anyone has a problem with him, they deserve it.

I paddled that stretch of river once many moons ago and I won't again. Simply isn't worth it. That stretch is famous for crazy logjams and sweepers/streamers.

However be careful about cutting out sweepers and streamers. DFO doesn't look kindly at it as they are key fish habitat makers.

Lastly I'd encourage you to invest in proper dry bags, rescue ropes and the such. Makes a world of difference. I also always carry a waterproof survival kit in my PFD.

[Bigwoodsman]

Originally Posted by rjlester

Thanks for the kind words, doing my best to warn folks of that section of river.

Regarding watching the river ahead, that is one thing the film doesn't show is how sudden this showed up (around a corner), the speed of the river at that point, and how wide the jam was.

About a mile earlier, the Bighorn river joined up, and then the river split 4 ways. At that point, the 4 new channels all looked the same. We took the right channel. In the end three out of four channels were blocked, only the left channel was clear. I found this out a week later (I'll explain this in a bit).

So, everything was bliss at this point. Our paddles had been hitting bottom since we started. Channel was about 70 feet wide. All of a sudden, the river takes a sharp left, picks up serious speed, and widens out to about 300 feet. No big deal, just another bend in the river. No. The whole 300 feet was logs, with the biggest jam on the right side, which is where the current takes you. Can't stop, or turn around (speed) or go to shore. I was so stunned at what I was looking at because the second I saw it, I knew we were screwed! First we had a sweeper to deal with that came off the right bank (which was a 6 foot sheer wall) so we paddled like crazy to try to get away from it, but it was only 2 feet off the water so on impact we broke the branches off with our shoulders and arms. My son was steering and thank God he straightened us out and we hit the logjam straight on and even started to go on top of the logs. I thought we were fine, but the canoe slipped backwards and then dumped sideways and the rest is history.

It was a miracle we got out of the water as the suction was incredible, and you could not touch the bottom. We lost the canoe and pretty much all of our gear.

Anyways, this is a pretty sensitive topic for me as we definitely had some PTSD to deal with for quite some time. I honestly did not sleep for two weeks and was like a walking zombie. My wife was really worried until I started to sleep somewhat, and I still get the odd sleepless night. My son took it better than me, but I felt guilty about the whole thing as I got him into canoeing. We damn near died, the film does reflect our feelings on that. I had to shut down the comments on my YouTube channel as some people were accusing us of being inexperienced idiots (you guys are not doing that) and that we didn't know what we were doing (you should have done this, should have done that, should have joined a club blah blah) and should not be operating a canoe. When you've been through something tragic, you don't need to hear a lecture.

So a week later, a friend calls me after he saw me interviewed about it on the news. He was apologizing big time for not warning me about that part of the river. We had talked months earlier and when he heard of our plans to start at Bighorn, rather than the Hwy 40 bridge, him and his buddies wanted to do the same in their kayaks.

Him and his buddies ran that stretch (4 kayaks, 4 guys) two weeks before us. When the river split 4 ways, 2 guys took the far left channel, 2 guys took the far right. When the river rejoined, an empty kayak floated out of the right channel to the 2 guys coming from the left channel. So one of the right channel guys got caught in logs and the other guy had to rescue him. Took a half hour or so for the one guy to rescue the other. They both took the single man kayak to meet up with the other two guys. With all four kayaks back, nobody was hurt so they continued on and got caught in ANOTHER logjam shortly after. This took about an hour to rescue one guy and they were all totally exhausted. The rest of their trip to Edmonton was flawless and never had an issue. This has been my experience in the past, but nobody should ever start at Bighorn.

Sorry for the long post, but this is just too personal for me to not do anything. I really would like to at least go out and cut the logs into shorter lengths, and cut off all the branches so come springtime they can float away. That logjam has been there for years, it does change somewhat, but the part we were on seems to grow every year.

I understand the hazards and if it is truly not safe to sled on that river, I won't bother.

I still have the phone number of the Fish and Wildlife officer that helped us so I might call him, he lives in Nordegg. He is a SUPER guy by the way, very thankful for his professionalism and encouragement.

WOW!
Thanks for sharing your story. I now understand your need to go on the river at this time of year. You survived one mishap please don’t chance another. Like someone said go back with a jet boat and take care of what you can.

BW

[MooseRiverTrapper]

Originally Posted by rjlester

That does concern me and is why I'm researching.

The reason I want to go out there, is to chainsaw a logjam apart that nearly killed my son and I last summer while canoeing.

Years ago the authorities used to blowup logjams, but not anymore. I was pleased with the work the rescue teams did to get us out, but troubled by their statements such as "oh, there were three rescues there last year."

I don't want anyone else to go through what we did. We were very lucky to survive, and there was no way to see what was coming.

Go here to see what happened, watch part 2 as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqG1bnBB5cw

Wow great video thanks for sharing! Glad you guys mader

[MooseRiverTrapper]

I’m a bit confused though. In your video the screen shot shows you on the NSR near chambers creek east of nordegg. But your asking about the clearing logs on the nordegg River?

[Jim Blake]

Glad it turned out positive for you and your Son. My advice is forget about travelling the River in the Winter. You would be at great risk.


As far as cleaning up the log jam, I jetboat that river lots in the Spring, Summer and Fall. The River changes constantly so what might be there now may or may not be by next year or next month.

I hope you continue to run the river, it is a very beautiful trip.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Bigwoodsman

There are far better(safer) places in the Nordegg area to snowmachine than the river.

BW

Water flows are determined by the Big Horn dam and power demands, not a good idea.

Grizz