To all the people who don’t know, the Grand Canyon has its own scaling system from 1 - 10 this is a 9, or on the normal scale a 5

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

Lava Falls is not class V on the normal scale, at least not at normal flows. By modern standards class IV or maybe even IV- seems much more accurate. Compare this to the Zambezi or the Stikine or the Indus, the modern yardsticks for big water, and Lava looks super moderate. By the way, I love the Grand Canyon, it is arguably the greatest river trip in the world for many reasons. I cherish my experiences down there. The rapids are big and fun but mostly playful. Even a flip down there usually results in no protracted hardships. The whitewater scale is not just a difficulty scale but a danger scale that factors in consequences and the consequences for most Grand Rapids just arent that severe by modern class V standards. Anyway, who really cares about the ratings in the end. But I think most experienced modern boaters would have a really hard time giving Lava class V

@erictrenbeath9680

11 ай бұрын

@@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650 I agree. The whitewater in GC is class III or IV on the standard scale although it is very big. As you note, swims/flips are rarely a big deal. There is always a pool at the bottom. That said, it's great fun and it still has a high pucker factor cuz it's huge!

@roboticz6317

11 ай бұрын

Edit: I don’t know what I was thinking originally writing this: I recently had a my first Grand Canyon trip and exaggerated the difficulty due to other factors one the trip. One of those would be 110 degree heat every day. Anyway, I agree with you. Lava falls is at highest a 4. It’s doesn’t have enough rocks or really just dangerous spots to put it any higher. The only big danger possibility is the cheese grader rock, as it is undercut.

@dgaydos

10 ай бұрын

Uh......ok. I'll invent a new class system for something.....lemme think.

@dickfitswell8813

10 ай бұрын

I hit a class 45 one time

Wow that's pretty intense. Hope the second person in the last boat is OK.

@stevent425

10 ай бұрын

That is exactly what I was thinking!!!

Wow! Now that is a serious rapid. Great video. New follower here. Crow✌️

The guy at the oars of the first boat is such a pro! Amazing how he/she is in total control the whole time!

@Scott-fy7fm

10 ай бұрын

Haha maintained the appearance of control, the waves were clearly in charge

Did the GC in the 80s with Grand Canyon Dories. At that time, Crystal Rapids was the big one and they made up walk around it but we were able to ride through Lava Falls. What a roller coaster! We had a perfect trip. No rain. No boat flips. All the passengers were cool and the boatmen and women were the absolute best.

I paddled this in a 12ft. canoe long ago. Well, I paddled part of it - swam the rest. The swim was actually pretty benign. It's big and scary looking but boating smaller mountain rives is often much more dangerous. That evening, I was talking to the guy who rowed our big gear boat and had done over 100 trips through the canyon. I asked him "After all these trips is Lava just another day at the office?" He replied "It's the biggest rush you'll ever get"

Yo! In 2008 I did a full 14-day trip and remember Lava Falls clearly. Our guides had us all psyched-up for it beforehand. I was in a paddle boat for this rapid and we got completely swallowed by the V-Wave! Had a fun party that night on the shores below!

@eckosters

11 ай бұрын

I rafted Grand Canyon in May 1993 for 8 days. Unforgettable, incl Lava Falls. Also because it’s the last big Falls of the trip.

Here's a thought. Flip the boat over before Lava and ride it down that way.

@rillawhat8142

10 ай бұрын

😂👍🏾

@riggitydoo5116

10 ай бұрын

Or ride it that way until it flips upright then climb in.

So this was my group. I’m rowing the first boat. The two from the second boat that flipped were picked up and were all good. We put on April 24th 2023. CFS was 40000. Lava was down to 20,000 CFS in this video. Where did the author get this video?

@gng007

19 күн бұрын

Really?!

Well, I’m impressed class nine that’s amazing young man. I never heard of anybody doing that God bless stay safe.

where did the white helmet go?

Outfitter: "What have you boated before? Class IV, class V?" Dax Shepard: "Try class forty-five!!" Outfitter: "Fine lie to me. I don't care. I'm not the one that's going to drown."

Lava got me where boat #3 went over.

The first one made it look so easy. The next two showed it wasn't nearly as easy as it seemed.

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

The first boat was the only one that pivoted before hitting the V-wave so that they squared up to the right-side lateral. That simple move makes all the difference

@bheser4842

10 ай бұрын

Agreed after missing the initial carnage they didn't square up on anything or touch the oars. Second boat made it through luckily but easily could have flipped.

I've been trapped in a class IV and almost died. It was a far more intense and heavy river with far less recovery areas. Main Salmon in Idaho. This looked like a difficult class III at high water but otherwise a lot of fun!

It blows me away that people go in sideways and are not pushing hard.

I didn't know river rapids classes went up that high. I've only ever done class 5.

@knaz7468

Жыл бұрын

The Grand Canyon (and a couple other river sections in the world) have their own rating system. For GC it is 1-10. In general, you can just divide the number by 2. So this is a class 4.5 (or 4+). However, it is BIG water. Normally 10k cfs, but in this video that looks to be a solid 20k cfs for this section because the final rock "cheese grater" is mostly under water. So the water gets much more chaotic and hard to predict, and it is deep with lots of crazy eddies and whirlpools that make life fun. the hard thing to understand with these videos is that these rafts are 18 foot long and weigh up to 2000 pounds, and yet get tossed around like toys.

@boathemian7694

Жыл бұрын

Where did you run class 5?

@mtundu2223

11 ай бұрын

I agree. Class 9? that doesn't look more than a class 4 rapid at that level.

@boathemian7694

11 ай бұрын

I’ve never run the Grand but I have run Cataract canyon at interesting water levels before. These desert rivers can be hard for guides who learned to row on pool drop mountain rivers. The perspective is weird and the holes are monstrous lol. Loads of fun though.

@ArtifactRescues

11 ай бұрын

@@boathemian7694 Upper Yough has Class V, I did that quite a few years ago.

And it looks like in the raft that flipped at least one person ca,e up, I guess the second one is lost.

1st raft ride cost 500.00, 2nd raft was a 150.00, third raft was 35.00.

Rowdy!!!

Looks like plenty of water. Big diagonal guarding cheese grater.😀

I've been down Lava Falls on a 4 day trip in the 80's ...2 days after I went 2 people were killed ....I wouldn't do it again ..one of the dangerous stretches...

@itsg66

9 ай бұрын

And people died on the way to work today but you still went 🤔

White Helmet ended up in the Rio Grande and is being used a flotation device.

@reidellis1988

Жыл бұрын

The Colorado and Rio Grande are on opposite sides of the Continental Divide. So that's not happening.

@jimmoses6617

Жыл бұрын

@@reidellis1988 I don't think you realize how big that rapid is!!! :)

@reidellis1988

Жыл бұрын

@@jimmoses6617 I don't think you realize that the Rio Grande drains into the Gulf of Mexico and the Colorado drains into the Gulf of California. Do you know what the Continental Divide is?

@reidellis1988

Жыл бұрын

@@jimmoses6617 I have floated the Green and Colorado Rivers.

@jimmoses6617

Жыл бұрын

@@reidellis1988 I was joking...

Seems like there is probably a bunch of camping gear down stream in that stretch of the river. But the first couple of contestants did good!

PRO TIP: “TAKE THE TONGUE!”

I did that and when they pulled me back onto the boat after it flipped my shoes were gone! And people asked me if the water was cold and I said I don't remember!

Amazing to think of John Wesley Powell and Co hitting these for the first time is wodden boats in the 1870's. Completely uncharted waters at the time, and while attempting these rapids might kill them, getting through the canyon was their only chance of survival.

@richstex4736

10 ай бұрын

I was fortunate to visit Separation Canyon, where three men left the expedition after despairing of a successful conclusion to their journey. They were never seen again.

@spencerthomason6558

10 ай бұрын

@@richstex4736 So cool. They bailed at the last rapid. In the book, "Beyond the Hundredth Meridian" it says that the three were killed by Paiutes 1 day away from St George.

@eliseott

9 ай бұрын

@@spencerthomason6558there’s actually a high possibility they may have been killed by Mormons, who then blamed it on the Paiutes. I recommend checking out “under the banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer, he talks about it in the book.

@CurtisHikes

6 ай бұрын

Powell portaged around every rapid

@ntnsty

2 ай бұрын

@@CurtisHikesno not every

That's some good raft paddling even if last boat did wipe out.

Went through in 78, Crystal was BIG, but smooth. Lava had a big nar spitting hole.

That’s some pretty spooky water conditions doesn’t look that fun to me😮

where did the passenger go after the flip over?

Hammering the oars after the laat big boulder as you cross the bottom of the ledge hole makes for a safer run

Class V is it. Class VI is Niagara Falls

Always above Lava

That's funny! I wonder why the lakes down stream have no water?

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

Because they siphon off huge amounts of it for agricultural use

So…. Class 9 in the GC = class 4 elsewhere (if even that)?

Do the oars actually have any effect whatsoever against such powerful water?

@schuyler67

11 ай бұрын

No, they do not. But they affect from what direction, and angle, a raft enters a rapid, which can make the difference between staying in the boat and swimming.

@DRWFJ40

11 ай бұрын

If you watch the first raft as he enters, he's using a back ferry where you are rowing upstream at an angle, You've got more power pulling than pushing & going backwards does slow you a little (but only above, which gives you a little more time to study your line or soil your shorts) and the angle make you ferry sideways so essentially you use the oars above to position yourself as to where you enter, once you're in there, you're using the oars to keep your angle where you want it, generally, squaring up perpendicular with waves but as you can see with that kind of volume, you get batted around pretty hard.

@user-fw6vu3kz6l

11 ай бұрын

Knarly

@jimmcgregor4598

9 ай бұрын

Yes. If you know how to use them, and certainly if you are rowing a dory.

That's a class IV+ rapid. 99% of whitewater rafters and boaters use the international rapid classification system so that one can compare apples to apples.

Cuts the video short just short of finding out that she is ok, but ends it with him celebrating her death.

They've gone plaid!

The Colorado river I think runs through the Grand Canyon

Ожидаемо. Боком идти

There is & would be very little controlling the rafts in Colorado river rapids, the raft is completely at the mercy of the current the mighty Colorado is a difficult river to traverse in any vessel much less an inflatable raft .

Where's the second guy who was in the raft that overturned?

Whoptie doo.

I have rowed through that rapid. I thought the first boat going down sideways was foolish until that wave front on river right came into view. He was prepping to meet that wave front nose first. Second boat was not lined up to impact that river right wave front and nearly swamped and rolled. The last boat got what they deserved by impacting that river right wave front sideways. By the time you reach Lava Falls from Lee’s Ferry you should know how to approach a wave. For my money Crystal Rapid is much more technical than Lava Falls.

@user-el7vt5ws4k

10 ай бұрын

I thought Crystal was much more intense too. HUGE waves when I went through there back in about 93

The rapids in the Grand Canyon are not rated by the usual 1-5 scale. They have a 1-10 scale.

@halwentz554

11 ай бұрын

In Kansas, rivers are rated on a scale of 1.

@gretchenrhodes288

10 ай бұрын

Western watercuses a scale of 1 to 10. Eastern 1 to 5. Western water is bigger water, eastern tend to be more technical

@user-ff4xu8eq4j

10 ай бұрын

the grand is one of the only rivers that uses 1-10 not "western rivers"@@gretchenrhodes288

Yikes. I did class 2 rapids definitely not doing this. He should not be the ONLY one rowing

White helmet? Under the raft? Dude, don't leave us hanging.

@trendingtigers

Жыл бұрын

She is holding onto the raft blocked from view on the downstream side.

@42WasTheAnswer

11 ай бұрын

Read every single comment to find out the answer to that question. Whew!

This is more of an extreme class 5, and class 6 is considered impassible, I wouldnt call this even a class 6 when 2 out of 3 made it through. We did a class 5 on the Gauley in WV, the guide went flying over us from the back and landed in the water in front of us when we hit a standing wave, we fished him out and kept going.

@schuyler67

11 ай бұрын

By Eastern standards, I'd call this only a class 4.

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

@@schuyler67 Agreed. Lava is class IV by all modern standards except maybe at extreme high water. However, the Grand does have its own scale. It's how the rapids are rated in almost all Grand guidebooks. It's 1-10 and is only useful for comparing Grand Canyon rapids against each other (i.e. 10= hardest rapid in the Grand Canyon).

When did they invent class 9?

@berrycrawford5579

11 ай бұрын

Grand Canyon has its own 1 to 10 scale.

HEY, where is the PERSON IN THE FRONT OF THE THIRD BOAT,They never come up in the video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@chrisgarty

11 ай бұрын

@trendingtigers said they are “holding onto the raft on the downstream side” 😅

@timothyjones1906

10 ай бұрын

😊

@Paintbl99

10 ай бұрын

She gone

@x.noybic7007

10 ай бұрын

Dead

@TimCBuilders

10 ай бұрын

Just try to forget abt them. 😮

I can’t think of anything that would get me to do that. Nope, nothing.

Class V rapid..

I imagine most people commenting are simple too young to know of the old Grand Canyon rating scale.

Big water class 3 to 4. Easy lines in a kayak. Just real big

@mark2885

10 ай бұрын

🤣 Easy lines sure, you can't even see anything from river level. This rapid is massive. But yeah class 3. Grand Canyon words to live by, "Even the little stuff is huge in the Grand"

Hey Rob, do you have an email address we can use to contact you regarding this video? I'd love to discuss a license to use this if possible! Cheers, Felix

Umm, would you like to put your oars in the water? Oh, never mind 😂

Grade 9

I guess that's why they call them reactionary waves

0:25 That left side doesn't look so fun.

angry water

Yoiks

Sissy water😂

Not a single person squared up to that 3rd lateral. The only person with a decent line was the 1st dude

A class 9 or 10 rapid on the Colorado river is better than a class V, this way they charge more for a more thrilling ride. They have to justify their increasing rates somehow. They are already working on a new nomenclature for next year, they will have a class XV (15). They learned this from Spinal Tap.

That’s gonna be a hard no for me

1:50 seems easier to float down with the raft upside down; why are these fools trying to row normally then?

Make a will

So class 9 is about class 3+ on another river?

@goji059

Жыл бұрын

pretty much

@jimmoses6617

Жыл бұрын

4+

@joeleader6551

Жыл бұрын

@@jimmoses6617 4+ how? Giant tounge, no particular move to make just some big waves which as the video shows you don't even need to hit particularly straight. 4+ would normally involve some manouvrering at the very least

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

I like IV- for Lava. Video is deceptive but Lava is rather straightforward. The tongue is not as giant as you think, current pulls hard into the V-wave which, as shown, can easily flip a large raft. Any flip is a big deal when loaded with 3 weeks of gear. Definitely not class V by modern standards, not with rivers like the Stikine or Zambezi routinely being run. All of that to me justifies a low-end IV rating

White helmet drowned?

@Lea99Jones

Жыл бұрын

Not likely

@Lemmon714_

Жыл бұрын

She floated into Mexico and was captured by a cartel member. She was forced into prostitution until either she earns $200,000 or her family comes up with the money. Hopefully they will get her back.

@randylindberg77

11 ай бұрын

😂

They didn't have any control. That was clearly not safe to run. That one person never came up though! Tf

How is that a class 9 ? There's no such classification !

@zachramseyphoto

Жыл бұрын

It’s not class 9. It’s level 9. The grand has its own rating system. The uploader either doesn’t know this, or is trying to hype it up more with the caption.

@knaz7468

Жыл бұрын

It's 4.5 (or 4+ or IV+). See my comment above. It's as zach just said ... different rating system.

Class 9 ?? This is rated Class 5.

@robburgoyne4044

9 ай бұрын

www.riversandoceans.com/lava-falls-rapid/#:~:text=Lava%20Falls%2C%20Grand%20Canyon%20National%20Park&text=Difficulty%20rating%20of%20a%20Class,whitewater%20rapid%20in%20the%20world.

Why did they want to go through the rapid upside down?

Class three at best

Class 9??????? Didn't even swamp a boat......

looks flooded out

Looks like a 3

Sorry, ain't no such a thing as class IX....that's definitely Class V or VI though!

@robburgoyne4044

10 ай бұрын

www.riversandoceans.com/grand-canyon-rafting/grand-canyon-rapids/ Colorado river has its own class system, this is the conversion.

Thats not a class 9

Should have gone left.

Cool. Great way to end yourself

This rating is comical at best. There isn't a rapid in the canyon harder than grade III in the old scale.

Class 9? No such thing

@berrycrawford5579

11 ай бұрын

Grand Canyon has its own 1 to 10 scale.

Should learn how to classify rapid Cool footage But learn your stuff

@kenaipeninsulawhitewater5650

11 ай бұрын

Maybe you need to learn your stuff. The Grand has had its own scale since probably the 1930s.

No such thing as class 9

@jimlahey3919

3 күн бұрын

Yes there is. Grand Canyon goes up to 10.

Распашная гребля на такой реке... Убогое зрелище!!! Смог осилить только 40 секунд. Впрочем американцы придумали рафт и что после этого еще от гих ожидать?

Class 9 . Lol no such thing except in clickbait land

@thenewfire

Жыл бұрын

Colorado believes it's special and uses their own system

@mountainslapstick6170

Жыл бұрын

Wrong. the Colorado is on it's own rating of 1-10

@trendingtigers

Жыл бұрын

@@mountainslapstick6170 you must be an American

@oldkayakdude

Жыл бұрын

Nah, "Dock" Marston created a 1-10 scale for the bigger volume rivers in the western US, it also provides a bit more granularity. Dock was running the Canyon in the 1940s, so a little nod to the river pioneers to retain the rating / history. It's really more like a class 4 run if you rate it on the 1-6 scale. Guess you've never paddled the Canyon.

@trendingtigers

Жыл бұрын

@@oldkayakdude He ran it in Dorys.Respect Nope never run the Colorado ever. I have seen plenty of footage of the main rapids at different levels. My home river is the Zambezi-If we would rate a rapid out of 10 ,the minus rapids would get a solid 9. Ever run or seen that river?

Class 9?? Liar and worse, false advertising

Class 9...🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yeah OK. Must be Dramarado