Posted on 03/09/2006 7:11:46 AM PST by Rebelbase
OLD FORT (AP) — Daniel DeLaVergne, a whitewater kayaker who paddled one of North America's most dangerous rivers in less than 10 hours, died Wednesday after being hit by a train. He was 29.
Friends said they believed DeLaVergne was camping in the High Ridge Tunnel near Ridgecrest when the accident occurred Tuesday. He was struck by a 1,150-ton train heading west toward Asheville, Norfolk Southern spokesman Robin Chapman said.
DeLaVergne was airlifted to Mission Hospitals, where he was pronounced dead.
National Geographic Adventure magazine named DeLaVergne a 2005 adventurer of the year for paddling the 50-mile run of the Stikine River in British Columbia with three other kayakers. The run is rated Class V+, the highest survivable rating for a river, and the magazine described the river as "the pinnacle of North American white water.".
The magazine said it normally takes three days to paddle the Stikine, but DeLaVergne and his friends did it in nine hours and 50 minutes.
"Daniel has done first descents in Chile, Argentina, the U.S., Newfoundland, British Columbia — the list goes on," said close friend and fellow kayaker John Grace, who paddled the Stikine with DeLaVergne. "He was an incredible friend, had an incredible work ethic and was an incredible person all around."
DeLaVergne was about 200 feet inside the 450-foot tunnel when the train struck him, McDowell County sheriff's Capt. Vick Hollifield said. Investigators found DeLaVergne's sleeping bag and camping gear in the tunnel, and his vehicle was nearby, Hollifield said.
DeLaVergne's friends believe he was scouting an area for a commercial he was shooting. Rain may have forced him to seek shelter in the tunnel, they said.
"We're not sure if he was asleep or what," he said. "The engineer told us that he had just enough time to catch a glimpse of him before he fell in front of the train. He applied the emergency brake. ... But it took a pretty good while to stop. I think it was a couple hundred yards that he was pushed down the track."
Or Senator Kennedy was the engineer.
Yeah, I wonder how much clearance a train has from the tracks. maybe that is what people underestimate or don't take into account.
Poor guy.
His standing as a world-class kayaker will forever make his death a cruel joke.
That seems like a really good theory. I bet your idea is right and the article is wrong.
And the article says he fell in front of the train.
Actually I was thinking the same thing. He was so far in the tunnel, once he heard it, it was just too far to run to get out of the way. I guess we will really never know what happened.
Kayakers never cease to amaze me especially on a choppy day at the lake. They pop up and disappear into the swells and waves. They are hard for boaters like myself to see and could easily end up getting run over.
They insist on paddling in the middle of the boating lanes and then give boaters dirty looks when we pass them.
I'm not against kayakers. They just need to be more sensible when and where to paddle or expect to have their head sliced open by a MerCruiser.
"Dear Mom, when I die, please post it on FR, those folks don't get out much and they really need the laughs..."
=)
Time of the accident would tell us alot.
3am - then he was asleppin'.
I was thinking the same thing. I can imagine that a train barreling through a tunnel might create a bit of turbulence. Could he have been drawn towards the train?
Found this on the Darwin Awards site.
Dumb Kayaker Defeated By Falls
2005 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Hi. I submitted the "Holiday Hypothermia" story, and now I see why it was tossed.
I found something MUCH more Darwanian. Though two DAs (Bottom Of The Barrel and Niagara Falls)about Niagara Falls are already on the site, this guy's idiocy couldn't have been missed.
Jesse Sharp, 28, was an experienced white water kayaker. An unemployed bachelor from Tennesee, he had been planning on a trip over Niagara Falls for years.
On October 5, 1990, our hero, was splashing around in Niagara Falls in his 3.6m kayak.
Without a helmet or lifejacket.
Jesse realized he wouldn't be recongized on video (that three friends were taping) without a helmet. And the prudent desicion to not wear a lifejacket? If he got caught under the falls, he couldn't escape! He also must have realized that he would have no chance of winning a Darwin!
But the fall was just too strong for this helmet-less, lifejacket-less, common sense-less, kayaker.
His body hasn't been recovered. Maybe it's too ashamed.
Submitted on 01/05/2006
Many of you are overlooking this little nugget of information.
He may have been running and slipped.The scenario in post #62 seems very plausible.
I submitted the story to Darwin Awards.
I'm still holding the laptop upside down...coffee EVERYWHERE.
"At least his girlfriend wasn't eaten by a bear."
"I suspect he was walking through the tunnel to go kayaking in a grizzly den"
What is a left handed smoker? Does he pick his nose with his right?
Anything that leaves tracks that size is bound to do you some serious hurt.
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