From a forum for Corran Addison to tout his new river rating scale to rescue experts outlining current safety protocols, there’s a new zoom venue for paddlers to learn more about river safety.
Portland, Oregon’s Teresa Gryder is on a mission—to spread the message of safe paddling. Gryder, a former California river ranger and guide and kayak instructor for the Nantahala Outdoor Center, has created and hosted a new lineup of Safety Series zoom talks this winter, covering such topics as prevention, swiftwater rescue, river rating systems and more. “Our goal is to provoke conversation about safety in the paddling community,” she says. “Rather than devoting ourselves to rescuing each other, let’s make the kinds of decisions that stop mistakes from accumulating and causing bad outcomes.” In January, she hosted a seminar with Corran Addison on his new system for rating rivers with (watch on Youtube, HERE.). Number two was onaccident prevention with Lee Baker, who teaches the LCCC’s annual Swiftwater Rescue course. On Feb. 5, look for one about traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, with more on the docket as spring unfolds.
Paddling Life caught up with her for her take on the new series:
PL: How was the turnout for Corran’s river ratings presentation?
Gryder: It was a little light, maybe 30-ish, though the views are going up steadily. It was at 11 a.m. on a workday, which was the only time I could get him).
PL: How did people react to his suggestions?
Gryder: Mostly favorable, with the expected concerns about objectivity and implementation.
PL: What made you come up with the idea for these sessions?
Gryder: I wanted to increase safety awareness in my paddling peers here in the Pacfic Northwest, coming from a paddler and guiding background mostly back East. Every safety topic is a direct reaction to something I have seen or heard about on the river.
PL: How have they been received?
Gryder: Happily. Folks are grateful for the focus on safety and on the human factor. The programs are causing people to change their behavior on the river.
PL: What are some other topics you’ll be addressing?
Gryder: I’m just doing three of them for 2024. The topics are certainly not all done yet and there are many more. One topic idea I have is interfacing with The Man—i.e. what happens when you actually call 911 and the Incident Command system. A whole separate topic would be communications from the river—but I haven’t found my expert for this yet. We also need to re-do the one on shore-based safety—folks don’t know how to set ropes so they don’t do it, or do it so wrong that it won’t work.
Watch Addison’s River Ratings seminar here:
About the host: Teresa Gryder grew up swimming in east Tennessee creeks and rivers, graduated to boating in canoes and kayaks in her teens, and became a professional paddling instructor and paddle raft guide in her 20’s. She taught both canoe and kayak for the Nantahala Outdoor Center, pushed a river conservation agenda through her college outing club, worked for Friends of the Cheat to fund acid mine drainage remediation, worked in Grand Canyon expedition logistics and taught kayak rolling at Northern Arizona University. She guided in Colorado and was a BLM river ranger in California. Now that she has landed in Whitewater Heaven (the Pacific Northwest) she has no intentions to leave. She is a licensed Naturopathic Physician with a lifetime of Wilderness First Responder experience.
Want to join in for yourself? Register HERE to get the zoom link