hydrothinko: India Nepal Mission

This year I was joined by a stellar team for a mission across Northern India and Nepal. Our goal was to traverse a section of the Himalaya range paddling as many rivers as possible. Many hours were spent researching various sections of river via google earth, topographical maps and speaking to various folks who had paddled in the region. For most of us we had 2 months to fully explore the sub continent.

India and Nepal boasting the highest mountain range in the world

Kevin England hailing from New Zealand bringing a ton of experience to the team plus some shiny new Life Vest from his newly launched company Hydroscapes. http://www.whitewater-safety.com/

Will Stubblefield from Memphis TN. Fresh from another season on the Payette River in Idaho, Will arrived ready for the challenge of the big volume and steep nature of the rivers in the region.

Jason "JJ" Shepherd hailing from North Carolina somehow roped everyone into joining him on his 4th trip to the tallest mountains in the world.

Cooper Lambla from Charlotte NC served as the head of PR and negotiations on our mission. Cooper the eternal optimist was vital in keeping dreams alive and the ball rolling.

Toby McDermott certainly the most accomplished boater on the trip. As cooper put it you could buy a new kayak before a trip like this or you could just invite Toby. If you want to travel with your very own MacGyver in list Toby. Incase you didn't know it MacGyver aint real but Toby is.

Isaac Thomson from Christchurch New Zealand has travelled the globe and is well experienced in dealing with challenging logistics in various rough corners of the globe. Isaac served as the trip banker and resident sheep expert.

If you want to go Kayaking in India you need to contact this guy. Shallab Gahlaut. Look him up at www.kayakindia.com Shalab was crucial in the success of our mission through India lining up drivers a vehicle helping deal with the local authorities often looking for a quick buck.

Having done some time in Delhi on my previous trip Toby and I arrived at 10pm. We quickly battled our way to the arranged meeting point and met the rest of the team. Our Rig was to meet us at 5am. We slept for a few hours and quickly loaded up the rig and headed towards the Yamuna River.

Arriving at the Yamuna it was obvious that flows were high. In fact we were dealing with the biggest monsoon season Uttarakand India had experienced in 70 years. It didn't stop raining until 10 days before we arrived. Seeing the upper Yamuna my gut dropped it was 3 times higher then the previous time I had paddled it.

Regardless of flows we put on the pushy water of the upper Yamuna. With water high we were able to push higher up the valley then had previously been paddled finding steep pushy water all the way to the confluence with the Hamuna Chatthi. Will running the meat as Cooper holds rope.

Cooper staying high and dry in the typical Cooper smooth Style

Isaac show boating for the crowd. Our presence was detected by the locals and they lined the bank of the river to see what the strange bright colored foreigners were up to.

Kev England going for the glory boof.

After finishing off the upper section of the river, following some beta from Shalab the boys opted to hike up the Hamuna River named for the Monkey God and housing a temple at the Confluence. This was another first descent with only a few short portages all the way down to the confluence with the Yamuna.