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Carbondale kayaker on long float to recovery

Jon MaletzGlenwood Springs, CO Colorado
Photo Courtesy Davis Farrar Hanna Farrar smiles during the World Freestyle Kayaking Championships in May 2007 on Canada's Ottowa River. Farrar, a 2005 Colorado Rocky Mountain School graduate, is recovering well after injuring her legs in a kayak accident in March.
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CARBONDALE, Colorado – A friend peered over the waterfall and spotted Hanna Farrar wading in the water, her kayak floating nearby. He yelled out to her, then tapped his helmet – the universal symbol for “Are you OK?” The Carbondale kayaker shook her head. Moments later, when the group’s guide, Scott, glanced up river, Farrar pointed toward her feet. She made a breaking motion with both hands.”It’s actually funny because it didn’t hurt,” the Dartmouth College junior and U.S. Freestyle Kayak Team member said Monday. “But when I looked down, I said, ‘Oh no, this isn’t good.'”

It was noon on March 19. Farrar and six others were nearly a week into a Spring Break trip chasing whitewater in North Carolina. Farrar had seen footage of the Class IV and V rapids on the Green River’s famed Narrows and was eager to run them.As the group idled in the water surveying a seemingly innocuous 12-foot drop, she finally had her chance.Two people pushed off – maybe three – before Farrar peeled out of the eddy and approached the waterfall. As she paddled, Farrar drifted to the right, veering from the planned line.It didn’t take long to realize something was awry. As she approached the lip, Farrar’s boat started to tip forward – “like going over the handlebars, if you can imagine,” the 21-year-old Colorado Rocky Mountain School graduate said. She figured she would just pencil into the pool below. She had no idea a large rock was lurking on the right side. “Usually when you land on a rock off a waterfall, your boat dents in and takes some of the force,” Farrar said. “I’m not sure what I think may have happened. Because I was tipping over forwards onto my head almost, I didn’t hit the rock with the bottom [of my boat]. I hit it more toward the top. … There’s a seam along the top of the bow, and I’m guessing it was the strongest part of the boat.” Farrar’s kayak didn’t give. She remembers striking the rock and feeling both ankles instantly buckle under the force as she landed upside down. Farrar pulled her skirt and swam out of the kayak. She pushed her boat into a calm current and dragged herself onto some nearby rocks. Reality sunk in as Farrar surveyed both feet. The left appeared to be intact, but the right ankle was dislocated and her foot was pointing outward. People, including a few boaters not in the group, rushed to Farrar and helped pull her up a steep, rock-strewn embankment and out of the water. As the group idled in the remote gorge, they contemplated their next move. Boating the river’s final stretch was out of the question. Farrar, figuring her left ankle was only sprained, tried to limp up the embankment.”I felt the bone give out right away,” she said.They decided to put Farrar back in the water, guide her around a rock outcropping and to a point where the river met up with a trail. The struggles were just beginning. While a few boaters continued downstream to pick up a truck and drive it to the trailhead, others began the painstaking process of transporting Farrar. She was placed in a boat and initially carried.

Because the trail was uneven – and almost vertical in spots – the group concocted a pulley system in the trees. They pulled her 10 to 15 feet at a time before resetting the ropes and repeating the process.Persistent rain and mud “added insult to injury,” Farrar joked.”The people who I was with were absolutely amazing,” she added. “It was much harder for them than me, despite anything they’ll say to refute that. It was really physically and mentally demanding work. “All I had to do was ignore my foot.” Easier said than done, to be sure, but Scott had a temporary solution. One hour into the ordeal, he offered Farrar a shot of vodka – something he carried in his first-aid kit ever since he spent a cold night out in the New Zealand wilderness, Farrar said.She was happy to accept.For more than five hours, the group dragged Farrar foot by foot through the woods. Mercifully, the truck rounded into view by late afternoon. From there, Scott and Farrar took the 45-minute ride to Mission Hospital in Asheville, in the western part of the state. She said she was able to block out the pain during much of the ordeal, in large part because she knew the process would be a “long haul.” The discomfort finally started to set in, however, on the streets of downtown Asheville.”The anticipation of getting to the hospital set in,” she remembered. “I was ready to get there. … Those were the longest stoplights I’ve ever been at in my life.”A new mode of transportFarrar spent 10 days in the hospital, learning to manage her pain and use a wheelchair. During that time, she and her parents weighed the pros and cons of heading home versus heading back to New Hampshire. “I was thinking that if she was back at school, she’d have her mind preoccupied with doing things other than thinking about her ankles,” Davis Farrar said. “I was pretty much an advocate for her staying at school. Cathie certainly had mixed feelings, but I think it was the right decision. Hanna will back me up on that.”



Davis Farrar arrived in North Carolina a little more than a week after the accident. A few days later, the family rented a car and headed for Dartmouth. Hanna arrived about one week after the spring semester resumed. The learning continues both in and out of the classroom as Farrar adjusts to life on two wheels. Farrar insists she has been so busy with class work that she rarely thinks about kayaking. That will undoubtedly change this summer. Farrar plans to fly back to Colorado on Saturday, then begins summer pre-med classes at the University of Colorado on June 2. She’ll be living with her brother Matt in Boulder. “I’m sure my brother will be going kayaking a lot, and that will be tough being around people and places I associate with kayaking,” Farrar said. “This is the first spring I’ve really been out of my boat in a long time.”While her left ankle is healing, Farrar’s right has not yet showed signs of growth. “We still have our fingers crossed that Mother Nature will do what’s supposed to happen,” said Davis Farrar. Doctors cautioned that a full recovery could take up to nine months. The external fixator was removed two weeks ago, and Hanna Farrar now wears two air casts. She’s hoping to be on crutches in the next month. When she’s back on the water is up in the air, however. In the wake of her first major injury, Farrar said she expects things to be different once she does paddle again.”I’ll probably be a little more cautious,” she added. “We’ll see how much extreme kayaking I do in the future.”That decision will be up to her, Davis Farrar said.”I thought kayaking was a lot safer than skiing, but I’m beginning to wonder what is safe. I told Hanna that if she took up extreme knitting, she’d poke her eye out,” he added. “I have great confidence in Hanna. … Both my kids are very skilled athletes, and I think they have pretty good judgment. “I just hope everything they do is calculated, and they know what they’re up against.”


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