One man dead, one missing after rafting accident on upper Colorado River – The Durango Herald

Researchers say neither the 56-year-old man who drowned nor the missing 61-year-old man was wearing a PFD during the second fatal whitewater accident of the 2024 season.

One man is dead and another is missing after their raft overturned Saturday on the Colorado River, downstream from Gore Canyon, near Radium.

Grand County Search and Rescue responded to the river after a 911 call around 3:40 p.m. Saturday reporting a person not breathing. Another report using a satellite-connected Garmin device indicated that there had been a rafting accident and bystanders were administering CPR to a man.

The man, a 56-year-old from the Denver metro area, was pronounced dead by emergency responders.

Searchers used a drone and truck provided by Union Pacific Railroad to search for a second man, a 61-year-old from the Denver metro area, who went missing after their raft capsized.

The Grand County Sheriff's Office said it appeared none of the men were wearing personal flotation devices, or PFDs.

A third person accompanied by the two men was able to reach the shore.

Searchers said three PFDs were located with the overturned raft. The raft lurched around Yarmony Rapids into a stretch of whitewater below the Pumphouse Recreation Area. The Colorado River's flow was about 3,200 cubic feet per second, or cfs, which is considered medium to high. Yarmony's main rapid – also called Eye of the Needle – has a hole that can tip rafts of around 3,000 cfs.

The accident marks the second fatality of Colorado's 2024 whitewater season. A woman participating in a commercial rafting trip died May 30 on the Poudre River west of Fort Collins after the raft struck a bridge pylon. Last year, at least 23 people were killed in Colorado's rivers, creeks and creeks.

The Yarmony Rapid is one of the most difficult rapids on the Class III stretch of the Upper Colorado, above State Bridge and below Gore Canyon. Last year, a 51-year-old Steamboat Springs woman drowned after her raft tipped around Harmony Rapid with a flow of about 5,200 cfs.

The Bureau of Land Management planned to search for the missing man Sunday and encouraged river users to report any sightings.

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