Kali Gandaki

So on my last post i mentioned that Will, Anton and I were off to a three day adventure on the Kaligandaki River out here in Nepal. Lets just say that our three day excursion turned out a bit differently than originally anticipated. The regular rafting put in for the KaliGandaki is about an hours paddle south of a town called Beni. The regular rafting trip down the Kali is advertised as taking three days. Our plan called for us to drive to a town further north of Beni, called Tatopani (which, in Nepali means hot water- or hot springs), run the section of river from Tatopani down to the first, maybe second day camp of the rafters to meet up with a rafting company to get transport back. Right. In hindsight, this plan was a gross overestimation of our abilities/ underestimation of the river and the roads.

The road to Beni was alright- though the bus from Pokhara left at 615 from a taxi park on the other side of town. As we scrambled to get all of our gear on the bus in time, i was left on the ground fighting the taxi driver for change while Will and Anton were still on the roof of the bus tying down the boats. The bus was pulling out of the lot as i jumped on board grabbing Wills camera- the boys were still on the roof, securing gear while dodging power lines. The drive to Beni was about 5 hours down a long, windy, bumpy road. After 3 and a half hours crammed n the back of the bus, we decided to sit up on the roof- a better view, but more importantly- a better exit strategy in case of a crash. The roads here carve up the sides of cliffs and mountains with the river looming far below. Will was perched high up by the boats, and Anton was crouched on the side closest to the cliffs, getting ready to backflip off if necessary.

After Beni we had to hop another bus up to Tatopani to get to our put in for the Upper Upper Kaligandaki- a section of river definitely not run commercially. The road from Beni to Tatopani is probably one of the worst roads in Nepal. Packed in a tiny bus, swaying and fishtailing up dirt roads that are more mud then road- with major rapids jut below you. I think i hit my on the window, the sit, the roof, at least 27 times. The general consensus was we are never taking this road again.

The river itself is one of the dirtiest in Nepal- partly because the road is new, and everything they have blasted out to make the road has gone directly into the river- and partly because the Kali is one of the holier rivers in Nepal- and the Nepalese burn their dead and put the ashes in the water. In our four days on the river we saw at least three funerals.

Thats right. i said 4 days on the river. We finally made it to Tatopani to put on at 3 pm. As it gets dark here around 6, we only had 2 hours or so of daylight to paddle. The upper upper section of the river is steep, with lots of turns and some big boulders, meaning we spent about half our time out of the boats scouting a line down the rapids. Granted, if the boys had been on their own here, they probably would have made it down a bit faster, as i am a lot slower to recognize a line a decide if i want to run it. After about an hour and half, we made it approximately one mile, and decided to stop for the night at a local tea house.I got to try carrying my boat on my head for the first time-not easy,let me tell you. 8 foot kayak, girl about 5'3''....


the Next day we got out bright and early, putting on the river at 7 am in hopes of making it to Beni by lunch time, to still catch up with our Rafting transport. The river ended up taking loads more time than expected- we were making good time until we got to the first major rapid of the day. I ended up swimming out of my boat, and Will got his boat pinned when he went down the line we had scouted out trying to chase after my stuff. Anton went after boat and paddle while Will and I set up a Z drag to get his boat out. An hour later we were sucessful, and i swam across to the other side of the river to get to my boat downstream.

Lucky for me, my paddles showed up about an hour downstream, and i no longer had to struggle with the breakdowns. In the end, we made it as far as Beni that evening, stayed in a hotel and has a relaxed morning before finishing off the river- the section normally run on raft trips- the next two days.

The upper upper kali had some of the most technical rapids with potentially some of the largest consequences that i have ever run. The water is cold, the rapids fairly continuous, and the rocks are undercut. (meaning that the underneath part of the rocks are often shaved away, creating cave like spaces where people, boats, trees, etc can become stuck because of the force of water leading to them.) What made the river even more difficult was paddling with a fully loaded boat- my creekboat probably weighed around 70 lbs, making it much less responsive, and a lot more difficult to control. It also took a lot more energy and effort to move around, meaning that i was more tired, on rapids where i really wanted to be fully functioning. With aboat that heavy, i didn't even want to have to roll up. (The portages were also a lot more difficult- you should see hte bruises on my legs!)

Still, that section of river was an amazing experiance. The second half of the river (the part commerically run) was a much more chilled out big volume experiance. IT was back to big waves, and a few really large holes. There were still a couple of cool rapids, and one or two that we decided to scout, but on the whole, the second half of the river was much more relaxed and scenic, with beautiful waterfalls feeding into the river down the sides of the gorge walls, sunshine on the rivers, and beautiful beaches, one of which we camped on, finally making use of all the food and camping equipment packed in our boats.
(between the three of us, we had 2 tents, 3 sleeping pads, 3 sleeping bags, 3 throw ropes, 3 slings, 4 prussiks, about 6 carrabiners, 1 pot, 3 sporks, lots of choclate bars, some other food, 6 packs of ramen noodles, and other various items- 2 cameras, breakdown paddles, first aid, change of clothes, etc... Its a lot to fit in the back of 3 creek boats!)

Don't know if I mentioned before, but one of the reasons Will is out here is to source out a future trip for Love It Live It- meaning we are trying to fit in as many rivers as possible, and find the best ways of doing them- including places to stay, etc... I think Nepal is amazing, and has amazing potential for a more expedition style LiLi adventure, i can't wait to see the final product the boys come up with. I know LiLi has been going well, with sucessful trips on the Nile and the Zam, and i would love to see them branch out a bit here. Unfortunatley, it sounds as though Sam is having a rough go of it with his shoulder, so best of luck to him- hope he heals up quickly and can keep stuff going.

Tomorrow its off to paddle the Masygandai (sp?) with will, before meeting up with Inka and the Kiwi girls in Kathmandu on the 15th...

photos to follow!