Last Saturday I had my first guide run down the Black with real customers, not other guides and trainees. The river had come down from the previous Saturday (7000CFS) to a respectable 4500CFS. The fun thing about this level is that it's big, but you don't have to run the high water lines. At Knife's Edge we were all running a burly B-Line Skate (Run the first ledge on the left then back surf the wave above the middle ledge to the right, punch through K2 and then book it right to skirt Mary's Hole). Last year in the Spring I stuck to pretty conservative lines, especially through Knife's Edge (IV+), so this year I wanted to go for bigger moves. After talking with another guide, I decided to move my line to the left at Mary's Hole, just enough to get a big hit, without the unwanted wurf (yes, wurf=worked+surf). So I set out to do just that. So far my crew had been a good one and I felt confident that we could make the line. I didn't back surf as well as I wanted and wound up on the wrong side of K2, left and with left momentum. I spun the raft and called for all forwards to see if I could make the line from left to right (across the top of Mary's). The crew must have thought that the rapid was over because they weren't paddling as hard as I really, really, really needed them to be. Right before the compression wave above the lip it was clear that the only option open to me was to go into the dead center into Mary's 4500CFS heart. Leaning out over the back of the 14' round bow AIRE, I pried (is that the past-tense of "pry"?) my brains out to get teed up to the hole. As we crested the compression wave I called out, "HIT THE DECK!!" The back of the raft raised as the bow started over the drop and I got my first full-on look at Mary's...*crap.* Still in the pry postion over the back of the raft, I reached for the chicken line with my hand that held the shaft of my guide stick, put my feet on the back of the twart in front of me and braced for the hit. And what a hit it was. The raft taco-ed a bit (which means exactly what you think it means) as all 14 feet were compressed in the hole. I was slammed forward, barely holding on the the chicken line as the green water crashed down on the back of the raft, simultaneously pushing the raft forward and ripping my guide stick out of my hands. My friend Ben asked what it felt like and as best as I could describe, it felt like riding in the back of a pick-up truck during and head-on collision in a gaunlet of fire hoses. Needless to say, my left arm/side, which was holding the line and my paddle is on fire. Luckily, no customers fell out because I had to use them to steer us into the eddy, since I had no paddle. Also the safty boaters that retrieved my guide stick said that she'd rather have chocolate than beer. All in all, the best line through Knife's Edge that I've ever had!