India 2008

From ICCC

People

• Ralph Evins
• Adam Holland
• Tom Haywood
• Patrick Clissold
• Tom Laws
• Dave Goadby
• Tim Burne

Trip Report

River	Length	Star Rating
Stage One
Yamuna	45km	**
Tons	30km	**
Manalsu	3km	****
Phojal	3km	****
Beas	15km	***
Spiti	25km	** / ****
Gyundi	4km	***
Pin	20km	**
Lingti	10km	***
Chandra	40km	*****
Indus	20km	***
Barsu	15km	****
Suru	25km + 15km(!)	***
Dras	70km	****
Zanskar	140km	*****
Stage Two
Tsarup Chu & Zanskar	300km	**** / ***
Manalsu	5km	****
Baragran	5km	***
Sanj	15km	*****
Sutlej	90km	****
Pindar	40km	*****
Nandakini	25km	*****
Alakanandra	25km	****
Stage Three
Nepal 2008

Stage One

This will at some point become a full report for our India trip. However, this first section will have to wait.

In the mean time here's a list of all the rivers we did. Also have a look at Patrick's blog, Tom's blog and Dave's blog.

Yamuna

Tons

Manalsu

Tim, Tom L and Dave G got a taxi up through old Manali to walk down to the river. 3km of powerful class 4 later and we were at the bridge. Notably highlights were Tom forgetting that his sleeping bag was still in front of his footrest, making the boat as responsive as a lazy donkey in a Valium induced coma.

Phojal

Following an inspection of the Parbati, which was way too high and terrifying, Tim, Tom H and Adam cruised the last three km of this run before it got dark. Some nice technical grade 4. One spot of carnage occurred at the rapid above the takeout when Tom got pinned briefly, then swam. In his haste to run down the bank for a rescue, Tim stepped on a large pile of shit (more specifically, human shit - it covers any Indian riverbank in towns), slipped, and put a gash in his hand. Some eye-watering iodineing later on was most definitely called for.

Beas

Turned into a micro epic. Tom H and Patrick decided they wanted to put on lower down, so we split into a 5 and a 2 (sensible, I know) and set off. With the group of five 2km into the top section, Tom L missed an eddy above a horizon line and had to run a chunky rapid blind. Not wanting to let him potentially swim off alone, Tim paddled back into the current to follow. A few crunchy holes later and they were both in eddies grinning. The other three inspected, Ralph chicken chuting and the other two opting to portage. As they were doing this, Tim's foolishly placed boat fell into the river and floated off downstream without him. Tim nicked Ralph's Everest and gave chase, eventually getting it to the bank after a tiring 2km. Ralph hitchhiked downstream to find Tim whilst Dave, Adam and Tom L got back in their boats. Now was Adam's turn to mess up, hitting a hole and failing to roll. Eventually recovering his boat, only three of us continued on downstream to where we were going to try to meet Tom H and Patrick who we assumed were still waiting for us as arranged. Not finding them by a few km later, we got out, went to the road and waited for our lift to arrive.

Tom H and Patrick it turns out had waited 1.5hrs, got bored (and a bit worried) but got on anyway. They had no problems, and cruised down everything they came across with only the odd inspection. Nice!

Gyundi

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/55953697.PDF

Spiti

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/55953697.PDF

Pin

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/55953697.PDF

Lingti

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/pls/portallive/docs/1/55953697.PDF

Chandra

Indus

Barsu

Suru

Dras

Zanskar

Stage Two

Everyone else has left us, so it's just Adam, Tom and Ralph. We had a great blast down the Upper Indus - all good read-and-run "Himalayan pool-drop" grade IV. Adam had a swim, and was left sitting on a rock in the middle of the river for some time while Tom and Ralph went chase boating.

Tsarup Chu & Zanskar

Then we embarked upon our biggest and most renowned trip: the Tsarup and Zanskar multiday. 300km, 4210m to ~3500m, it took us 4.5 days. The levels were low, so the miles and miles of gnarl didn't really materialise, and we finished it 1.5 days earlier than expected, with no epics. Mind blowing scenery, awesome remoteness and world class whitewater - it's reputation is well deserved. Check back for photos when I can find a card reader.

We chilled in Leh for a few more days (it's that sort of place), before heading south. The bus to Keylong then on to Manali (25hrs) was arduous.

Manalsu

The morning we did the Manalsu Nala, which flows down past the old town. Very nice steep creeking for 5km or so. We carried on down from the bridge near Old Manali to the confluence with the Beas. This section was great, one of the best on the river, but the Beas was a huge brown mess, so we walked out through the park to have lunch in the German bakery.

Baragran

In the afternoon we ran the Baragran, a Beastrib further down the valley. Again, great steep creeking, though a bit more bity than the Manalsu. We had some confusion looking for the put-in, and went miles upstream, where we found a nasty looking gorge and some way above it a very nice looking waterfall.

Sanj

Still further down the Beas is a great trib with a bit more volume, the Sanj. Lots of enjoyable grade IV, with one grade V near the start, and a grade V gorge near the end. We ran this as a day trip from Manali.

We then headed down to Shimla, a crazy town where everything seems very British (the Raj used to go there in the summer). We spent a day there before heading off to the Sutlej.

Sutlej

A properly big river for a change. The Spiti is a trib of this... it's huge. We put on at Rampur, and the first day down to Lhori was great, lots of big volume grade IV. The second day was less amazing, with lots of flat and only a couple of big rapids. We took out at Tattapani, at a rafting company slash hotel with beer and hot pools. Very nice.

Back in Shimla, we found an actual nightclub. It was a bit cringeworthy on the dance floor (where we didn't venture), but had a nice restaurant / bar attached. Not good cocktails though. We then caught an overnight local bus to Haridwar, then an Ambassador taxi up to Rishikesh.

Pindar

In Rishikesh we met Sean. The rest of his group had just left for Delhi, having done the various runs in the area. We got lots of useful info from him about what to run.

We spent a day getting up the valley to Tharali, the put in for the Pindar, and spent the night there. The next morning we paddled down to Karanpryag: 40km of reasonably continuous III/IV. Dragged on a little in the last 10km, but generally a cracking run.

Did have a few upsets: Adam had a nasty long swim, and Ralph got annihilated by a huge hole that gave him whiplash.

Nandakini

Our next river was one of the very best of the whole trip: the Nandakini from Ghat to Nandapryag. Very continuous low volume grade IV for 25km. Absolutely wonderful. Tom ran the one harder grade V rapid near the top. There was one annoying dam that stole the water lower down, but overall it was a cracking run.

We then had a rest day in Nandapryag, including walking up a nearby hill.

Alakanandra

Our last river in India proved to be a worthy choice. We ran the Alakananda from Chamoli down to Karanpryag. It was much bigger volume than our previous few rivers, with some big IV/V rapids. Tom ran Hillary's Step, the "grade VI" rapid.

Stage Three

Tom has now gone home, so Adam and Ralph are heading on to Nepal to meet Mark (see Nepal 2008).

Media

Check out some photos of the India trip at http://theearlymorningmission.blogspot.com/2008/11/india-2008.html