On an unusually warm, 70-degree spring day in early May, around 20 students clad in wetsuits and drysuits willingly submerged into the still freezing Alberton Gorge on the Clark Fork River. With waters already past flood stage at 20,000 cubic feet per second — a unit used to determine river flow — students enrolled in the Swiftwater Rescue Technician course had the perfect opportunity to learn river rescue skills at challenging water levels.
THE 24-HOUR Swiftwater Rescue Technician course offered through the Whitewater Rescue Institute (WRI) entails a half day of classroom instruction with two days of hands-on river training, focusing on river safety and rescue. Students learn how to read water, recognize and avoid hazards, quick rescue techniques, and other technical rescue systems and practice these skills with hands-on scenarios. “I took the class when I was 18, my father insisted that I take it,” instructor Paul Heffernan said.