A journey of their own

They have been going for two months and have 700 kilometres to go. Their travels towards Tibets holy city of Lhasa happens rain hail or shine.


Tibetean pilgrims prostrating, "chaktsel pa"


As we descend the Parlung valley we do so beside pilgrims making their way to Lhasa. Their path is via the road and ours the river, we have regular contact with familiar faces. Whilst the journey they are taking is of a more spritual/religious nature it surrounds ours with a very real and authentic vibe.



Photo - A man with plastic river thing.
Pilgrims getting distracted from the task at hand.




Ready to go, we almost recruited another paddler!



Big days, nourishing food a necessity. One square meal for the road.

Parlung Tsangpo

Put in elevation, 14354 ft

The full catchment of the Parlung Tsangpo has for the last five days been our focus. Whilst parts of this vast catchment have been paddled, it contains days and days of tasty big volume whitewater and as yet un-run sections. A gorge twenty five kilometres in length has seen no action and should we feel up to it we intend on making a descent this week. One added beauty that can be associated with the Parlung is in the fact thats its all roadside! This factor whilst removing the wilderness feel and most certainly the our level of committment to never seen before gorges does enable us to travel light, paddle with more manuverable kayaks which are not stern heavy, portaging is made easier and making lines and navigating downstream can be approached with a greater confidence.



Photo - Fresh snow on the hills and feeling short of breath, our journey began high at the rivers source. Begining with technical moves and a creeky like feel, the flow of the Parlung was low. We are here in the prime time of the year for this river, its levels look manageable.



First move of the day. Rocks like cheese graters, silty water camoflaged the submerged boulders.
JJ getting warmed up.


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Last stroke right side but im going left. Clean drop day one, we predict it will take twelve days to complete our descent.

First descent Jepu Chu

Photo - The Jepu catchment

The day was by far the coldest we have had, fresh snow settled all day and a chiling wind blew directly up the valley freezing our hands and faces.


One may question pushing higher to run low volume steep creeks when you in a country that possesses some of the biggest rivers in the world.
The team shared mixed reviews about the Jepu, and we had a good time observing these reactions! Taking the good with the bad, we paddled 10km, and portaged numerous out of control rock infested rapids that had the boys cursing as the boulders we climbed up and over were covered in a greasy film of silt and slime.

One clasice in the moment comment to come from the day was during a particularly manky stretch. Myself loving the adventure conveyed this to one of the team who quickly said, "if your loving paddling this piece of shit river mate, you should go take a look at the crap that's all over Scotland"



Right at home, Eden Sinclair.



Six hours at river level, scouting every 30m, Matt Tidy, always a watchful eye.


A long cold day out but warming up and happy to be off before dark.Dave loves his tea!

We pulled the kayaks off the water, got changed in front of fifty
curious locals and headed straight to the nearest shack for a
warm meal and celebratory beer.

Finding big water, Yiong Tsangpo

20km, 600RMB taxi fare, Chembe (one of tibets few kayakers) joined us for a supposedly "slightly easier day"

With our bodies beginning to feel the strain of a few big days out we were keen to back the pace off for a day. Our previous three days had involved descents of testing long continous rivers and we were all feeling the effects of the river gradually wearing us down.


360 degree views, we were dwafted by the surrounding peaks and landslide debri.

In april 2000 a massive high elevation (4500-5200m) lanslide ripped out and formed a natural dam, the slips front edge spanning 3km.
The flood plains of Bangladesh and India recieved the full impact of the release once the pressure became to great.

The beta we had highlighted a 20km stretch of the Yiong Tsangpo that would see us put in below the massive lanslide. We expected class three whitewater, but upon arriving at our first proposition our mindsets for the day quickly changed from casual float trip to its class five and "this is the biggest volume whitewater run Ive been on"


More class three! Yiong Tsangpo


Its easy to get lost in there! waves coming from all directions,
breaking pillows of whitewater, trying to remember what do I need to avoid next?
your mind constantly questioning "am I online"
Sam Hughes is about to find out.

Late introduction, The Tibetean team

We have some of WindHorse adventures staff helping us get the job done out there.
Behind the scenes Passang, Dawa and Chembe drive the roads, play and sind loud Tibetean music, help with logistics, try to catch pigs, sweet talk the locals ladies, negiotiate with government officials and introduce us to many typical Tibetean tastes as well as show us what not to taste.


After our days in the Tongjuk valley we made our way downstream. Our thoughts were that we had been playing on a big river. At the meeting point of the Tongjuk and Yiong Tsangpo we suddenly had the realisation that we had been on a mere creek comparitively. Joining forces from this point on the rivers name changes to the Po Tsangpo on route into the Yarlung Tsangpo Gorge and the "Great Bend". Its ultimately these rivers that collectively form the Bramaputura that flows through into Bangladesh. Its an awesome sight.

Photo - Tongjuk/Yiong confluence route 318 Tibet/Sichuan highway

Tongjuk

Photo - Sam Hughes lines up the first move of the day.

Below a small village the Tongjuk rivers branches combine. With all its flow combined its suddenly a much bigger proposition. More time needs to be allowed to get to where you need to be. Calculating this supposed amount of time and the downstream distance between yourself and a massive hazard is crucial. Failure to make one stroke, or underestimate the speed and power of whats below you and its quite likely you will find yourself getting a good old fashioned spanking!


Photo - Breaking it down, dave and eden put the pieces together.


Photo - Matt Tidy, dwarfed by huge snowcapped peaks



Keen on paddling in remote areas? be prepared to do you time in a truck's back deck, bouncing around on single laned gravel roads, maybe with huge drop off's?
Its all for the mission, jj, eden, matt, well versed in kayak expedition travel.

A taste of Tibet's finest

October 6th, packing up camp beside the Druksum river we headed down the valley to a town called Bayi before climbing up again over a high pass at 4600m. The day was cloudy and this restricted our views out towards the mountains. Two towering peaks dominate the area overlooking the Yarlung Tsangpo river gorge and its great bend. Gyala Pelri 7294m and Namchi Barwa 7756m however remained hidden in the cloud as snow covered the truck and a chilling wind kicked up.

Photo - Waking up to this! Gyala Pelri as seen from our camp in the Tongjuk catchment.

The road dropped away significantly on the back side of the pass. The south fork of the Tongjuk river flowed roadside the entire length of the valley and our altimetres showed a 1000m drop in elevation. Its volume at around 25 cumecs is unlike most other Tibetean rivers. Us kiwi's being used to steep technical rivers agreed it looked good to go, it begged to be descended for the first time. Rain overnight kept its flow in a paddleable range the next day we worked away at its lower 10km and 300m drop in elevation, paddling continously for five draining hours.



Oct 8th - Tongjuk north fork, class 4-5.
Needing a more capable truck, one that could get us higher into the Tongjuk catchment we swung a deal with a local who worked in a nearby mill. With kayaks loaded we set off upriver through a couple of villages heavily involved in the milling of local pine trees.


At 3090m the put in was lower down than our previous runs. The rivers flow was around 150 cumecs creating massive features that we did our utmost to avoid. Rapids that attempted to suck you towards bus sized holes, waves that folded overhead, flying paddle blades driving our kayaks from one side of the river to the other was the style of the day.

The north fork of the
Tongjuk is a classic.


Photo - Typical Himalaya's, big rivers, big mountains, its a place that overwhelms you.
Dave Kwant gets set to ride it out.

Drukla River

Morning of October 4th, the scene, massive granite peaks, a monastery nearby, hanging glaciers and farmers on motorbikes with their stereos cranked up blarring chinese music at the put in for the Drukla river.
We paddled two kilometres of a tributary that served up one long complex class five rapid before joining the main drukla itself. It was a hot day this combined with an elevation of 3600m demanded accuracy right off the bat, the lines were clean, Eden probed first and came away unscathed.




Photo - JJ, busting through a huge recirculation.




Impaired vision, Dave Kwant feels his way through the mayhem.








Once on the main river, 6km of continous
class 4+ whitewater lay ahead of us, we
boogied on down, soaking up the amazing surroundings.





Kids from the local village met us at the take out.

Lhasa to Chengdu, via the Tibetean plateau

Photo - Dave on the job, Kongpo river


Finally we broke camp in Lhasa, loaded our rig and began our five week journey across the Tibetean plateau.

Photo JJ, makes the crux move avoiding a large weir like feature, 3700m elevation.


Our first week has been exceptional to say the least, big volume classic whitewater, at perfect flow is how we have had it. So far we have managed to paddle 5 rivers. Its been hard to move on! The kongpo river was paddled four times, two days ago we enjoyed 8km of continous class 4+ on the Drukla river, yesterday we descended 6km of of a tributary of Lake Taisha, we paddled two forks of continous whitewater and joined the main branch enjoying move after move down to a 60m vertical walled canyon that plumeted into a class 5+ gorge downstream.

Peering over the edge we considered having a go but descided it just looked to full on and our ability to escape would have meant pulling out the prussics and climbing out via pre placed ropes.
We have named it "oportunity gorge" for anyone bold enough to get out here in winter and catch a lower flow.




Typical river, clear water, big volume, multiple lines, over looked by jagged rock spires and huge mountains.


Kongpo take out.

Images along the way

Dragon, Jokhang Monastery.


Downtown Lhasa


Driving west, on route to the Yarlung Tsangpo

Expedition cinematograher Dave Kwant

Yarlung Tsangpo, first river paddled!

Expedition team left to right.
Matt Tidy UK, Jason Shepherd USA, Eden Sinclair, our teams best paddler NZ, Zak Shaw NZ, Sam Hughes IRE/Norway, Dave Kwant NZ/world hybrid.

We couldn't resit any longer! The Yarlung Tsangpo provided our first taste of things to come. 400cumecs, huge features big water moves and aggressive hydraulics.



Dave finds out the key is getting to where you need to be early!




At 3600m even paddling on flatwater is draining,
Eden successfully navigates 500m of
pounding rollercoaster.



Whilst the whitewater kept us on our toes the
days biggest challenge came at the take out.
200m from river to truck = six desperate
kayakers heaving for air with inefficient
lungs.

The "Roof of the World"

Photo - Tibetan prayer flags

Lhasa has been our base for almost a week now. Narrow streets, curb side stalls, monasteries, monks and a culture unlike any other has filled our days.
The altitude here dictates, its no point trying to rush this faze of the expedition.
Still we continue to experience shortness of breath and headaches.

Photo - Team crowds a map of the Tibetan Plateau.

Chris Jones from Wind Horse Adventures has been an incredible source of local knowledge, outlining the terrain we will visit and how much is out there, which not surprisingly is "shit loads"



Photo - Local Tibetan woman completes a circuit of the Jokhang, Tibets most sacred and active temple.


Photo - The Potala, home to each successive Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama now lives in excile in India.

Long haul flights, welcome to Beijing, Team arrival

Photo - Jason Shepherd USA


With half of our team safe and sound, all gear accounted for and on Chinese soil. We headed straight out for a night of celebration. In a dark alley, some good beer, some cat, dog, chicken and rabbit dishes covered the table before us. We were starving after our various flights via NZ and USA and we ate most of it before agreeing the cat was best.



Photo - Eden Sinclair 23, representing Hokitika, NZ.

















We spent a day on the Great Wall of China, humid temperatures and lots of steps got the better of us.


The smog of Beijing got to us after a couple of days and we were keen to gain some altitude and fresh air of Tibet.

The Air China check in desk weighed one of the kayaks (the one with no gear it) we kept the others off in the distance as they were fully loaded. Our 20k baggage allowance was insufficient however and we got stung. Landing in Lhasa at 3600m we were all in good spirits. We had made it, we were in Tibet and what lies in front of us is kayaking, thats when it becomes clear that its worth it.


Lhasa the "Holy City" has two distinct areas. The side influenced more so by the Chinese the other Tibetean. The Potala stands prominent above the city and dominates the skyline. This white fortress was home to each sucessive Dalai Lama. Today however it is deserted. Prostrating pilgrims circulate the Potala performing the "chaktsel pa" a caterpillar like prayer movement.
Sam Hughes and Matt Tidy arrived from Nepal a day before us, the team plan is to now base ourselves here and acclimate to the altitude and buy provisions for the road.

Photo - The Potala in the distance perched above the streets of Lhasa