Kayaker Jeff West has died on a solo attempt of the Grand Canyon of the Stikine River in British Columbia. He was 42. West had paddled the 45-mile stretch of Class V-VI rapids with Todd Wells and Erik Boomer in a single day in 2010. The descent normally takes three days. His body was found in an eddy on Tuesday and the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. “There are only a few features I could imagine that could do Jeff in on day two,” Boomer said. “That and some kind of bad luck.” Boomer was due to make his own solo descent shortly thereafter and calls the Stikine “the hardest whitewater of my life.” West paddled for Jackson Kayak, twice reaching the finals of the U.S. Team Trials, and owned the Ace Kayaking School in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
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