From Steamboat Today (Joel Reichenberger):
The C-Hole is one of a number of features that have been built into the Yampa River and has long been the biggest and the best. It was named for Charlie Beavers, a local kayaker who died at age 21 in a non-kayak-related accident in North Carolina.
It was built in 2003 and partially washed out by a high runoff in its first season. That damage was repaired, but the Yampa hit its highest mark since that summer in early June this year, and again the hole was damaged. “It’s significantly changed for the worse,” local kayaker Dan Pia no said. “As the river was coming up this year, some thing shifted. There was a big crease in the wave I’ve never felt before. Then when the water came back down, the hole was just gone.”
Some speculate that the boulders moved, likely because the sediment under neath them was eaten away by the ferocious river. The rocks then sank into the hole dug by the flow…
Kent Vertrees, with Friends of the Yampa, said he’s contacted the city and everyone is eager to start work on repairs as soon as Stagecoach Reservoir is finished siphoning excess water into the river. That could mean work in October, though bad weather could push any repairs to the spring or fall 2011. “The city said they’re fully committed. We want to get this done,” Vertrees said. “This is a great amenity that needs to be taken care of.”[…]
The fix envisioned could help avoid similar troubles at the hole in the future. Planners hope to get approval to pour grout between the rocks actually in the river, though that’s not a sure thing and extra boulders might be needed to help lock the feature in place. A new hole won’t necessarily look like the big wave that left even the world’s best kayakers grinning. Organizers said they hope to consult and consider everyone from kayakers to tubers to fly fishers and surfers when deciding what work to do. “Part of the discussion is whether or not the formation should have more of a wave effect. The last feature was built with a little more retentiveness, a little ledgier with a drop-off, to create more of a hydraulic,” Van de Carr said.
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