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Remembering Corey
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n April 23, 2009, Corey Morris of Elmsdale, After running the lead-in drops, the group arrived at the
Nova Scotia, died on the Bass River near the crux of the run—a two-kilometre section of river with very
province’s town of Five Islands. At 31 years old, difficult class V boulder gardens and waterfalls at normal
he was a skilled kayaker, instructor and well- flows—to find the majority of what followed extremely
travelled paddler. swollen and unrunnable. We portaged wherever necessary
Corey was the happiest, most generous and paddled only in between difficult rapids. Now in a
person I have ever meet. His enthusiasm and remote area with no roads and very rugged, steep terrain
personality brought all sorts of people together. buried in snow and ice, hiking out would have taken at least
Corey had a genuine love for the outdoors and all activities four hours and would have required lots of rope work to
that kept him there. Above all he loved to kayak. Working as safely negotiate the icy gorge walls. Already, we were running
a carpenter, earning large amounts of money was never one of short of daylight.
Corey’s goals. Instead he hammered away, saving everything Midway through the crux section, after finishing a long
he earned for his next big trip. portage, we paddled towards the last big drop. The first two
On the morning of April 23, our group of four arrived at paddlers eddied out in a last-chance eddy at the portage.
the take-out to find one of our favourite steep creeks running The high water had made the eddy extremely small, making
at a medium flow. We set shuttle and began the hike in. it difficult for the last paddlers to squeeze in. Corey was the
Post-holing through the several feet of hard packed snow last to reach the eddy. He flipped on the eddyline and washed
remaining on the put-in road, the hike took longer than usual. over the horizon line upside down. His boat and body were
It was three hours before we reached the river. Meanwhile found the next morning by a search and rescue helicopter.
heavy rains fell, making for now flood-like conditions. We Corey’s love for adventure lead to the discovery of multiple
discussed our options. Rather than hiking back down the road runs in Nova Scotia that are sure to become whitewater
we decided to put on the river, agreeing that we could later classics. He is greatly missed by his friends and family.
hike out mid-run and walk any rapids we chose. —Kelsey Thompson
6 Rapid summer/fall 2009
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