Tibet, a world class kayak destination

"A landscape so majestic and dominating in its appearance, when you look around you it feels huge, you feel overwhelmed and insignificant.
The secret is out, Tibet is a fascinating place"


As a team we headed into an area relatively new and bursting with whitewater potential. Looking back over the last two months its clear the quality of our experience in Tibet was as good as it gets.
Running on information from Chris Jones of Windhorse Adventures, we all agree the,first month of our time is some of the best kayaking we have ever done. Whilst isolated trips in various other parts of the world are standout its rare to arrive in a country with so little documentation surrounding kayaking and yet cover as much ground and paddle as much high class whitewater as we did.



Tibet as a kayak destination seen through our eyes was one held in high regard. In the past large scale expeditions have been carried out, teams of paddlers focusing their attention towards one of the worlds deepest and most remote river canyons, the Yarlung Tsangpo.
Inspired by the type of people that make these big adventures happen it was the stories and images that came home with them that fed our desire to get out there amongst it ourselves.





For those who have followed passion4adventure thanks for you interest.
Big thanks to our expedition supporters.
Liquid Logic kayaks, One Square Meal, Merrel Footwear, Highgear, Kokatat
Palm,Hydraulics, System X.

A good run comes to an end

Day three began well, more sunshine, and the day was packed full with continous class 4-5 whitewater. Most rapids required inspection from the bank. Operating now within a smaller team we moved quickly downriver.


Side channel, eden finds a waterfall and a soft landing.

Pulling the kayaks from river level late, dinner was served, we managed to find some local fruit and then settled in for the night.
This is when it all went bad, eden was sick all night. the next day Eden could hardly move and so we bailed back upriver hitching a ride back to Dunba and better facilites!
The following morning Sam and myself both awoke to unsettled stomachs and a long day ahead. At luchtime we managed to hire a truck to complete the journey of 250km back to Chengdu.
27 hours later, after bumping along a road beyond repair, a midnight police checkpoint restricting further travel and a truck crash we limped into Chengdu, hardly stoked with the days events!




Were drinking! come back later and then you can pass! Police checkpoint, rice wine central.

Kayaking in Sichuan, China

Leaving Dunba, literally the whole town took their smoko break and shut up shop to check out our departure. Leaving was a good thing, paddling downstream the human like smells vanished and once again it was just us and the river.



Packman, with kayak loaded, adjusts to a kayak laden with gear and pushy whitewater.





The Dadu river from the town of Dunba suddenly gathers volume. Content to paddle along and find rapids of a moderate grade we unexpectedly descended down on countless intimidating rapids that stirred the nerves, and slowed progress.
After a full day we spied a level river beach at 6pm and set up camp.



River cuisine, Chinese style.

Do da de da do da day Dadu Dadu!, first day Dadu river.

With a week up our sleaves and the impression that the Sichuan province of western China would provide one more big volume river trip we set off.
Hitching a ride with our Tibetan mates five ours back the way we had just traveled. We unloaded in a town called Kangjing and immediately set about attempting to download the rugby, All Blacks vs England.

The next morning super early we tied down our kayaks onto the back deck of a small truck and headed up the Dadu catchment.
Our plan with six days remaining was to paddle as far down the Dadu river as possible and then get back to catch the train to Beijing.


Sam portages a class 6 rapid day one




Things were mostly flat for our first day with the exception of this class 5 entrance rapid to an out of control rapid we happily portaged around.
Eden runs a hard left line.

Covering 40km down to a riverside town called Dunba, locals greeted us at nightfall.


Things you dont hear everyday, "Go hard left and make the eddy with the pig in it"

Tibet expedition done and dusted

It all done here, the team beginning to go their separate ways.
Its been an amazing trip for us all, many classic days on big whitewater.
Our journey has run smoothly from day one and whilst Tibet has no whitewater guidebook as such the information we gathered prior has held us in good stead.
Our expectations of Tibet as a destination for kayaking prior to arrival were that it would not be easy to travel and enter into Tibet. We were under the impression the Chinese government had a stringent system in place for all outside travelers.
Windhorse adventures took care of all our necessary permits and ensured a no stress entrance to the roof of the world.

Dave and JJ loaded onto the Chengdu- Beijing train yesterday and settled in for 26 continous hours across China.

Matt Tidy left this morning on a train to Shanghai, he's on route back through Nepal and finally the UK.
Sam, Eden and myself are sticking together, our plan is to check out the Sichuan province and spend a few days paddling. We are all running low on cash, this next week we are looking to pull off a 240km trip on the Dadu river.

More updates in a week
zak