Nepal 2002

Richard Gunton

(See some photos here).

Me and Kim eventually arrived at Kathmandu international airport, dog tired after 16hrs travel. The moment we exited the terminal a large scrummage of taxi touts descended on us. Luckily Kim had organised a mini bus, we jumped in and headed of to our hotel. Kathmandu is complete chaos, traffic going in all directions, car horns sounding, pollution, street sellers and sprawling ramshackle buildings a real culture shock. We did some site seeing and then booked onto our first river trip the Trisuli with a raft group.

We were taken to our put in on the raft company’s bus, complete with boy racing stunt driver along the road of near death experiences. The bus hurtled along over-taking on blind bends and dodging oncoming traffic. My knuckles were white and my arse cheeks clenched tight, Kim laughed and the Nepali raft guides slept their hang overs off.

At the put in the raft group arrived – German ladies. (Adorn sunglasses and figure hugging wetsuit shorts) The raft leader told me in broken English, me told raft group you professional safety kayaker helping for day. Fortified by my new found elite status I capsized in the nearest big water eddy. After the shaky start I had a great time. The rapids were big and even bigger but they all had clean and easy lines. As expected the Germans paddled with military precision and we all arrived safely at the take out. The journey back provided us with some more vivid memories.

Sunkosi

We heard our driver revving the buses engine like at Donnington starting grid as he came down the track. It was going to be another exciting drive to the get in. Kim laughed I tried not to look as the driver pulled off numerous scary manoeuvres. Arriving in one peace we set off along with two rafts and some fellow kayakers. There was a full range of nationalities on this trip. Americans Irish English and Herman the German porn star complete with speedos and Madalena. This made for fantastic social evenings, debates went on long into the evening. Why had Germany started thewar?. No excuses

There is a lot of flat water on this trip but the rapids are huge and the scenery breath taking.

On our first full day of paddling we tackled some class three rapids. Surprised by the size of the first one I capsized but rolled up OK. On the second there was a huge land slide on river right which was still sending rocks down. I skirted down left following instructions given by a Nepalese safety kayaker where upon I fond two large pour overs waiting for me which I narrowly avoided. I pulled into an eddy next to Ben,. Why didn’t you come down right? he said. Why not indeed. I was learning the Nepali Style of river navigation (safe lines are boring).

The largest rapid on the trip was hakapur. It had some bus swallowing holes and poor overs to catch us out. With an extremely dry mouth I set off to run this. In amongst the heaving mass of exploding waves and stoppers I was like a cork to be toyed with but the river gods let me through. Our Nepali safety kayaker came down left straight into a huge hole getting himself some serious down time. he finally resurfaced 10 yards down stream from the hole spitting water with his helmet pushed down over his face. It had happened exactly as he planned obviously

After this its on down the jungle corridor running a series of large rapids. One in particular stands out, where a huge wave piles away from the cliff wall. It dumped me into an eddy line that swallowed me and my boat so only the very nose of the kayak could be seen. The eddy lines on this river have an amazing amount of power and not for the first time I got nailed.

The sting in the tail of the trip is the 20hr bus journey back to Kathmandu. Broken up with burning buses torched by Maoists for breaking their curfew just like we where doing and an hour stop for food laced with free dysentery. But the toilet had gold tapes and be-day Honestly!!! Go and see.

Marsiyandi

The Marsiyand is a river with a reputation and it was late October so the river would be high. It took me a couple of days to make up my mind to go. But I eventually booked on with the first raft trip of they’re season.

At this point Kim (aka action Jackson) went off to climb a 6000m peak in the Everest area No thanks!!! I got the bus with the rafters from Kathmandu and trekked into our put in at Nagdi. The river looked OK from a hundred feet up. But there was definitely some rapids I would have liked to scout. After lunch the rafters got their safety talk. The Nepali guide told them if they fell in while descending a rapid they would not be alone one of us would come and rescue them. F***K that the only person I could look after in this water was me!!! Each rapid almost ran straight into the next and it would be hard to rescue swimmers.

Then we were off into the first rapid Instant karma (Instant soiled under pants). which was followed by more class four and five rapids than you could shake a stick at. I soon learnt that inspection wasn’t in the Nepali dictionary and its probably just as well. What you can’t see doesn’t scare you until its to late. A raft capsized and emptied its cargo of 6 rafters in to the river. The safety kayakers quickly picked them up bar one who got washed passed towards me. Oh shit, he looked to be in serous trouble. He was exhausted, I yelled at him ******** SWIM !!!! but hewas unable to swim for himself, lucky he found the strength to grab the front of my boat.

When he got out of the water one sleeve had been ripped off and he was white as a ghost. It took him minutes before getting his breath to explain he,d been forced under the rocks when the raft capsized. It was getting a little worrying. Swimming in this could have serious consequences.

On the next rapid a river wide stopper gripped me and wasn’t for letting go. A raft passed by and I wished I,d gone rafting instead. Then pulling numerous unintendo loops I was flushed clear, Coughing and gasping for breath, I grabbed an eddy. The Nepali kayaker behind was not so lucky. he was flushed clear minus his boat. Then on down to mamas big butt (large indeed) where I looked up to see large numbers of local people had turned out to watch the carnage. On this rapid it was necessary to ferry out across to river right avoiding rock sieves on river left and run down through a constricted shoot with a large stoppery wave that didn’t look bad from the bank. When I got too the lip of the fall it was much bigger, too late lean forward PLF and do disappearing trick into large foaming white mass then reappear seconds latter upside down, roll up feeling glad to be alive. how much longer till camp!!!!

Too my relief not far, but there was just enough time for another raft capsize which nearly lost someone under a large rock. Well the top section had been a mini epic 2 raft flips one swim from the safety kayaker and numerous must make rolls from me and my fellow kayaks. It had been the hardest and most exhilarating paddle of my life and judging by the pasty white faces of the rafters some people felt the same way. We had all been (Marsiyandi eeeeed) The Raft leader said it had been his hardest trip down that particular section.

The following day I woke feeling sore from the battering the day before. The first rapid was a large one. Appropriately named Good morning and this was followed by more huge rapids. By the end of the day I was totally shattered and had a humongous bruise down the length of my arm. I wasn’t hitting the lines necessary to remain in my boat and a live. So I retired and did not paddle the final day. This run is outrageous in high conditions and rightly deserves it reputation and it is a trip that wont disappoint it has fantastic rapids turquoise blue water and a back drop of some of the world biggest mountains but the best way to paddle it is with a small group of friends not a raft group and at your own pace.

Mini Expedition

I hitched up with Andy an American paddler on arrival in Pokarah. The plan was to carry all our gear with us for the next 8 days and paddle the upper and lower Modi khola, upper and lower Myagdi khola and the Kali kandaki

Modi Upper

This is described as a steep torrent spawned byglaciers of the Annapurna mountain range. With continuous and hard paddling in its upper section. Well I was now bullet proof and invisible after the Marsiyandi. (Wrong!!!)

It was a day’s trek into the river where we stayed in a lodge and put in the following day at old bridge. I peered down into the gorge apprehensively looking at the first rapid. It looked pretty much like a class five. It had some serious pinning possibilities. Anyway we put on dropped over the first 1.5m fall and into the eddy above the class 5. Andy ferried out and entered the fall capsizing and rolling back up on the way down. I tried to get out of the eddy but had great difficulty controlling the boat with its load of gear. After the 4 or 5 attempt I made it and went down the rapid completely out of control rolling three times.

Then we went on down into the gorge it felt very isolated down there. The rapids where very steep continuous hard class 4 with occasional 5. It took us 3hrs to run the first 3km and we where talking about the possibility of sleeping in the gorge for the night at lunch time. But after that the river eased a little and we made good progress down to beritanti where we stayed the night. The 12km had taken around 6hrs. This section of the river had been fantastic the rapids just seemed to keep coming, there was never a dull moment. That evening we watched a stunning sun set behind matchpaturi the sacred mountain of Nepal.

It was up again early in the morning to run the lower section. 12km of super dooper continuous class 3 and 4. With one harder rapid where all the water is constricted into a 3m wide channel and drops over and into two large consecutive stoppers I ran this blind because I didn’t make the eddy. May sound familiar to a few people. Andy spent a few minutes playing in the bottom stopper. We got to the take out at 3 o clock in the afternoon and caught the bone Shaker bus for the three hour drive to Beni a gnarly little town on the edge of the karly Kandaki ringed by army check points. It was clear we where entering an area where bumping into Maoist was a possibility. (Honestly take

Andy’s money he’s loaded) The following day we organised some porters for the two day trek to the put in for the upper Myagdi Khola the guide book describes this as a trip for those with a death wish and that no proper maps exist of the area. Obviously an exaggeration me thinks!! (Wrong) There’s a pattern emerging here. The porters wanted to jump in a jeep until the road ran out. Ah but we new their game, after an easy days pay no doubt. 19km latter when we collapsed onto our beds I wasn’t so sure.

After a simple breakfast we left for the final days trek to the put in a solid 8hr trek up hill with incredible mountain views. How our porters carried our boats full of kit on their heads for two days I will never no. One thing was certain arguing with these little but immensely strong guys was not an option. At diner time we stopped for lunch Andy order japatas and eggs. The chickens crapped on the dinner table and ran around in the grain being used to make our lunch and the chief had a quality technique for cleaning our plates, using his trousers (un-washed for 10years) but hey we were hungry and they were happy to feed us. The friendliness and hospitality of the Nepalis people is incredible

Looking down into the gorge We could make out the river thousands of feet below, it looked serious and I knew there would be no chance of rescue for a least three days if anything went seriously wrong. May be I was beginning to feel a little scared. We finally found some accommodation just before sun set where we where given the kids bedrooms. In the morning we

trekked down to the river. An old lady at the rivers edge warned us using sign language there had been a large rock fall into the gorge. We set off into the unknown the first few km where class 4 situated in a sheer sided gorge, incredible. on rounding a corner we were confronted by a large flat pool and a horizon line created by an enormous rock fall (every things on a large scale in Nepal) hopping out of our boats we inspected. A definite portage not a particularly easy one because all the loose rocks created by these land slides are extremely sharp and we had to cross a shoot of water that disappeared under rocks. So setting up safety lines we lined our equipment and ourself across.

We set of again running some fairly tight and testing drops. This water had some real power where it was being constricted in between rocks. This was at the limit for me. Then came another huge rapid a hard 5 with sketchy lead in and undercuts. I’ll take the photos I insist!!. Andy ran this rapid with style. We had a lunch stop and then continued.

We had to do another nasty portage around a land slide and then I missed an eddy and capsized I new rolling up was a must. I did but went over the next 2m fall backwards. Rolling up again I looked with horror into an undercut which I’d nearly gone into. We stopped for a break Andy pointed out that it would have been extremely difficult for him to have rescued me from under there. Too right mate!!! We set of again after I had regained my composure. The river eased after this and there was time to admire the fantastic scenery and breath easy. We arrived at the take out at around 4 o’clock I was spent. Unbelievably Andy went out and played Frisbee with the kids. This guy seemed never to run out of energy. If the Marsiyandi was the most exhilarating paddle, this had definitely been the scariest and hardest paddle of my life. I latter found out that this river was only discovered in 1998 and has only seen a small number of descents the last group two years previous had had a near fatal incident. Ignorance is bliss

The next day when we set of a large number of villagers came out to see us off (minor celebrity for a few minutes). The bottom section was described as class three with one grade 4. but it seemed to be more like class 4 with some 3. This section was fun and a little testing in places, we made Beni by dinner time and stopped for lunch at the confluence with the kali kandaki. We decided to continue on down and camp on the banks of this river.

The kali kandaki is an extremely sacred river where many cremation and burials are held. It was not unusual to see mounds of rocks and funnel piers as we paddled. It also had some fun rapids with the odd harder rapid chucked in. We found a campsite just as night was beginning to fall. Andy cooked up some food. We ate and then settled down for the night. I had an extremely rough night my stomach had been get worse since leaving Pokahara I was very tired and there was a nagging though in my head that at any moment on the river I was going to get into serious difficulty. The

incident the day before had really got to me. So I decided that I would (bottle it) I mean hop on the

next bus back too Pokara in the morning for some rest and recovery. I went back and paddled the lower section latter and found it great fun.

Upper seti

After a few days rest I went to run the upper seti with a few people I had met in pokara. This river is a fantastic play run grade three with one 4 at the level we were paddling, and all you need to do is get a taxi for $8 for the twenty minute drive to the put in which will pick you up at the take out 2hrs later. The water is turquoise blue and there is a fantastic mountain back drop you could spend days playing on this and not get board. I ran this section numerous times excellent!!! There’s an eat your heart out play hole just above the put in.

Trip Highlights

1. Getting off public transport with all my body parts still attached.
2. Having a party with local villagers at the end of a stunning 6 day trek.
3. All the outstanding white water.
4. Meeting the local people.

Lessons learned

1. Must learn to hold breath underwater while being violently thrown around.
2. Inspection only creates more fear.
3. Always take extra pairs of clean wet suit shorts to put on after inspecting large rapids in very remote areas.

Recommendation

1. Go there, its unbelievable.