How to cross a river safely

“One of the most dangerous activities a backpacker deals with is fording a river. Hikers are swept away on river crossings every season. Former Outward Bound instructor and mountaineering guide John E Hiker demonstrates basic technique for safely fording a river in deep water with a heavy load. While there are many ways that can be employed for a ford this video shows the most common and accepted technique as described in the book Freedom of the Hills published by The Mountaineers.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XbRRD6zewk



During a recent several-year period more hikers were killed in the North Cascades by drowning—swept away while fording or after slipping from footlogs—than by falls from cliffs, falling rock, avalanches, hypothermia, and all other wildland hazards combined . . .
—Harvey Manning, Backpacking One Step at a Time”