Sketchy Ski Site?

[rodltg2]

Yesterday we took the kids for a nice drive in the country just outside of the city we live in. We ended up near a lake that I used to frequent before I joined a ski lake, and I still go there few times a year.Its a fairly small lake open to the public with alot of camp sites. Anyway on the the other side of the dam the water feeds into a small lake. I have heard there was a ski club that used it. So on the way out we followed the overflow and checked out the site. Looked pretty cool , but then I noticed that near the end of the course , the water just dropped off over a spillway. I could not tell how strong the current was, but it seems scary like you could potenially just go over! I did not see any type off barrier.

 

Anyone ski here?I bet the water is frigid coming from the bottom of the other lake!

Here is a google shot.

 

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b265/rodltg2/campfarwest_zps126145e9.jpg

[Murrski]

@Rodltg2 Is this near Camp Far West?

[BraceMaker]

Looks kinda shallow on the left near that angulation in the blue line. Like a shoal.

 

If I were skiing there I'd keep an anchor in a towel behind my seat with the rope already tied off to the bow. That way if your skier is screwing around by the prop or are drifting you can toss the anchor and be fine.

 

I ski an area quite shallow, if you get the right wind I sometimes have to jump out and hold the boat. Would want to check depth for that method first.

[XR6Hurricane]

I'd be cautious. If the motor dies and you can't get to the skier, they could be in real trouble. If the current going over the spillway is strong at all, it's near impossible to escape because it holds you down. Granted they would have a vest on, but it might be too strong even for that. A couple of very strong, young guys from EIU's wrestling team drowned in the current beneath the spillway on the Embarras River when I was a student there.

[BraceMaker]

Yup - Anchor.

[Wayne]

Depending on the spillway even a vest isn't enough. The lake I grew up on had a drowning incident at the spillway dam, the guy jumping in to rescue another person had a USCG vest on and people on the scene said he went under instantly. This was on the outlet side though. On the inlet side they had a bunch of fake logs chained end to end as a floating barrier to keep boats away.

[rodltg2]

@murrski yes it's camp far west. The water was definately moving , don't know if in the summer it slows down .

[jcamp]

I ski to have fun. I don't think I could have fun skiing in a place that I'd always have to worry so much about ...

[crashman]

oh but that site looks like it would be glass 99% of the time

[rodltg2]

I found this youtube clip and its doesnt seem sketchy or that anyone is really worried about it. It never shows the west end though. Looks like a fun club!

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbrake]

That's Sheridan Oaks. don't know if it's still a club or not. Sounds like it's not based on what you saw. I skied in a tournament there in '81. coldest water I've ever skied in as it comes out of Camp Far West. Was a beautiful site though. I think at the time they had a buoy line or rope of some sort upstream of the spillway.

[rodltg2]

I'm pretty sure it still is a club. There is another video from 2012 . Looks like they like to party! Maybe thats how they dont worry about the spillway!