Officials may resume recovery efforts

       Engineers and heavy equipment operators met with Colorado State Parks officials Friday to discuss creating a temporary cofferdam near Frog Rock to facilitate recovery efforts for missing raft guide Kimberly Appelson.

       Appelson, 23 of Breckenridge and a first-year guide with Arkansas Valley Adventures, was thrown from a private raft carrying five people near Frog Rock north of Buena Vista July 11.

       Stew Pappenfort, senior ranger with Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, said Mike Harvey with Recreational Engineering of Salida and Jason Carey with River Restorations of Glenwood Springs discussed using heavy equipment upstream from Frog Rock to use sediment and rock to divert water around the hazard.

       "It would be very difficult to completely dry out the feature, but we can reduce velocity, allowing rescuers to safely get under the rock," he said.

       State parks officials are seeking bids from heavy equipment operators. Miles Construction of Buena Vista met with officials Friday at the site.

       Pappenfort said Frog Rock is on U.S. Forest Service land, but the upstream location where water would be diverted is on Bureau of Land Management land.

       In order to create a cofferdam, environmental studies would have to be completed for both entities, he said.

       Military personnel from Fort Carson were scheduled to be at the meeting Friday but were not able to attend.

       Pappenfort said he wanted to discuss airlifting equipment to the site, which would mitigate some environmental impact.

       He estimated equipment would weigh between 30,000 and 40,000 pounds.

       Efforts continue to focus on the Frog Rock area, Pappenfort said, because trained search and rescue dogs detected a scent at that location.

       "Before we would begin any of these efforts, we would have the dogs reconfirm there's a scent at the site," he said.

       In 20 years, four deaths have occurred at Frog Rock, which is an undercut rock with a split in it through which the main current flows. The current creates a hole and acts as a sieve.

       When asked whether state parks officials have discussed changing the feature completely, Pappenfort said, "There are ethics in altering natural features for public safety.

       "There are people who think we should do something, and then there are people who say don't change what's wild and natural."

       He mentioned the possibility of Frog Rock being altered and in return becoming more dangerous. "The liability would be ours," he said.

       If state parks officials decide to create a cofferdam, Pappenfort said state parks (whether on the local or state level) would most likely pay for it. He estimated work, if approved, would begin in October.

       Noting he has been with Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area for 20 years, he said, "I've never dealt with a recovery this difficult. Traditional methods have not worked."

       Pappenfort said other organizations at the meeting Friday included Chaffee County Search and Rescue; U.S. Forest Service, Leadville Ranger District; Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area, U.S. Bureau of Land Management manager John Nahomenuk; and state parks personnel Rob White and Tom Waters.

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