Staying afloat

Using an oversized stick for balance, Carl Motes-Conners leans into the current of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River.

He is creating a mini-eddy for the two students stacked behind him who are clinging to his PFD as they attempt to cross the river. The water is moving quickly and is nearly neck-high in sections, making this no easy task.

"Let's go out until we fail," Motes-Conners yells over the splashing river water.

Drake Ambroze, a 16-year-old from Atlanta, seems unsure, but he puts his head down and digs his feet into the river rocks below.

As a team, they move out into the deeper water, fighting the steady current with all their might until, finally, the river's force wins, sweeping all three of them and the big stick downstream to the end of a rock bar.

The real-life scenario is just one of a weekend's worth of training Motes-Conners puts his students through at Glacier Raft Co.'s whitewater rescue technician class in West Glacier this past weekend. They also set up rope systems, practiced with throw bags and discussed techniques for releasing pinned boats.

The regimen is part of the raft company's second round of river safety courses being offered for all ages, taking place this month and into August. The raft company added the second round of classes due to extraordinary demand.

The classes are taught by lead guide Motes-Conners, of Whitefish, and run the gamut from teaching river professionals how to set up rescue systems using mechanical advantage to educating first-time rafters on how to avoid log jams if thrown out of a boat. It's the latter of the two that Motes-Conners says is really important.

"The point of those classes is to get people to recreate safely," said Motes-Conners. "Working at the raft company, I see so many unprepared people make mistakes out there, like swimming into a strainer, the number-one killer on the river."

A strainer is basically a log jam beneath the water that is permeable enough to allow quickly moving river water to pass through, but not larger objects, such as people. Imagine a spaghetti colander. Uneducated boaters often get trapped against these jams.

Motes-Conners will be helping teach boaters about these hazards for the next two months, or until the demand wanes.

One class offered is an introduction to river skills session. Motes-Conners says he will show boaters how to read and run whitewater and do more technical things, like unflip a boat.

"This class is great for people who just want to get out on the river and learn how to recreate safely," he said. "It covers all the basics you need to have fun on the water."

The other option for beginning boaters is the "river sense" program, aimed at children and young adults.

"I'm really excited for the 'river sense' program,'" Motes-Conners said. "It deals with what to do if you fall out of a boat or when you're out tubing with a friend, how to save yourself."

For more information, contact Glacier Raft Co. at 1-800-235-6781 or 888-5454.