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The gorge of the Lower Bashkaus has a reputation as one of the hardest runs in the former Soviet Union. Although only 25 miles long we were recommended to allow four days to run it (or two weeks if you’re a Russian rafter!). The gorge is extremely committing; there is only one possible escape point up onto the high surrounding plateau. A couple of weeks before our descent a group of Russian kayakers were in the gorge when the river rose by two metres. One of the team attempted to walk out and has not been seen since.

With all this stigma surrounding the river we were rather apprehensive as we approached the get in. Thankfully we were blessed with low levels and beautiful turquoise water. Once again we set off early afternoon for the 20 mile float into the gorge with Igor ‘The Bod’ filming us in his ‘wonder pants’. As the canyon walls began to close in around us there were few places to camp, we pushed on with the aim of reaching a known campsite. A small tributary, the Onysh, joins the river and the canyon open outs slightly; the single previously mentioned escape route. At 7.30pm we were running the first major rapids of the gorge some nice class 4+ slaloming between large fluffy holes, or so they looked in the evening light. We reached the Onysh camp at 8pm pleased to have broken the back of the paddle in and leaving ourselves well positioned for the hardest section of the river the next day.

An early start next morning we soon hit the big rapids with a nasty looking 5+, The Key, clearly marked by a big metal reflector in the cliff, a memorial to catarafter who died there. Several km nice clean class 4, a boulder choke and another memorial to a deceased rafter lead to another long messy 5+ and a hard portage for half the team, The Meatgrinder. We were looking forward to lunch at “The Chicken Leg Tavern” a campsite under an overhang full of memorials and a guestbook, which everyone who runs the river signs. Unfortunately we missed the spot so we have given our message to Russian paddlers who will stick in the book next time they paddle the river.

Great clean class 4/5 continued through the afternoon with plenty of big holes and a few comedy lines. We bumped into the Russian kayakers dubbed ‘River Zoo’ (www.riverzoo.ru) who were looking for their lost friend. They informed us we had less than half a day’s paddle to the end of the gorge! We stopped to camp early at a nice campsite and phoned through to Igor on the SAT phone to tell him to meet us two days early at the get out!

Next morning we exited the gorge at the Chebdar confluence and were invited for tea with some campers who turned out to include members rock band from Omsk, we all got rather overexcited with a feast of fresh bread dipped in baked beans, coffee and of course vodka; a great end to a memorable river.

Despite our quick descent the Bashkaus should not be taken lightly and we could easily see how with higher water it would become significantly harder, a more serious proposition in such a remote gorge.

As always you can see the rest of our photos in our gallery here…

Apologies that it has been so long since our last update but the team has been very busy! 

We crossed the border back into Russia at the end of July; we were met by our truck and taken straight to a river called the Karagem which flows into the Argut. This was a 6-day adventure, which Sherman will write about soon. Himself and Sean have flewn home to their respective jobs, while we continue to explore central Asia. Hopefully in the next few days, between us all, we can fill you in on all the adventures we’ve had over the past three weeks.

After getting off the Karagem / Argut, we bumped into a group of Russian kayakers who’d just endured an epic trip on the infamous Lower Bauskaus river which had flooded beyond recognition while they were in the remote gorge. One of their friends had decided to walk out and hadn’t been seen since… we were due to do the Bauskaus in less than a week’s time and their stories didn’t fill us with confidence!

The Russian group were on their way to a river festival on the Katun river and Tom and I decided to join them while the others paddled the Chulyshman – it’d be useful for information gathering, making contacts and if nothing else a good party. Besides I was missing “gayboating” as the boys call it (playboating).

The festival site was a beautiful, forested, free camping spot between the M25 road and the Katun river. The whole weekend was run by volunteers; cooking food for everyone, DJing and running the river events. There was a brilliantly relaxed and friendly atmosphere about the place and we were made very much part of the family!

The event kicked off with a big party in the woods, fuelled by masses of vodka. There was a DJ stand, lights and a projector showing photos from last year’s event. We were asked if we had photos to add to the show and soon our Mongolia waterfall photos were flashing up on a 4ft square screen. It was awesome!

Saturday hosted the “Fun Slalom”, held on a tributary which came in on the opposite side of the Katun. Everyone ferried across while the families, spectators and other non-boaters drove around to watch.

Tom decided to go for comedy points and took a creek boat down the course, pulling the first gate down to meet his boat rather than manoeuvring his boat to hit it then kissing the banner.

I don’t think it gained him all the points as he deserved though, finishing 8^th in the Mens; while despite doing half the course on my head and clattering my arm into rocks on my second run, I managed to come top of the Ladies event and not without stiff competition.

Sunday brought the freestyle leg of the festival, which was held on a feature called Captain Hole – usually a brilliant combination of hole and wave we were told, but the recent rain made the river unseasonably high and it wasn’t much but a flushy wave.

The top five paddlers (male and female combined) were taken into a final – myself and Katya versus three men, including the current Russian Cup holder and the guy who’d been hot on Tao Berman’s tail at a recent Russian extreme race!

Mitai came first place in both the freestyle and the slalom making him the overall champion for the Mens event. I was top lady in both events, but more proudly I was only beaten by Mitai in the freestyle – earning me second prize in the ‘Mens’ freestyle! Crowned king and queen of Captain Hole 2007, Mitai and I drank champagne from our trophies and lowered the event flag.

As usual, you can find more photos in our gallery.

A three day mission, including a night sat with our belongings outside a police station, finally saw us reunited with the others. It was time to take on the Lower Bauskaus…

After splitting up from the horserace enthusiasts, four of us decided to go on ahead and try to scout some of the upland rivers that looked promising from the maps. We headed up into the hills to two massive lakes. After a day of some pretty torturous driving we came across a river which seemed to have a good amount of flow to it. We decided it was worth checking out.

We hiked up the valley for a good few hours to discover that what looked like a fairly steep valley on the map was in fact quite open and the water level fairly low. Dismayed, we trekked down the valley again to the truck. We were even more dismayed later after finding out from locals that the river had been at a much higher level after some heavy rain a few days before. At least now we had something to compare other rivers on the map to. Armed with this new knowledge and after further study of the maps it was decided that most of the rivers in the area would be very similar and we were forced to retreat back down to the lakes.

The next day we met up the equestrian enthusiasts who had quite a story, which has already been told. We decided that the best thing to do would be to head back to Olgii and try out a new area. Rather than take the bumpy road back we thought that it could be just as fast to float down the largest volume river in the area, the Khovd. This didn’t have much of a gradient to it; however rumours of some possible gorges and the want for the multi-day practice with full boats made us get on. As it was late in the day, it wasn’t long before we camped under the stars.

The following day proved quite eventful. We floated past a Ger, when the family came out and made gestures indicating that they wished us to come to the side. They were very interested in our kayaks and we let a few of them have a go on the relatively flat section by their Ger. The family returned the favour by letting us have a ride on their horse! After some tea and yak’s curd, we headed off. The river flattened off a lot until the flow more or less stopped and the river appeared to head into a marsh. Before we knew it we were in the middle of a mosquito infested marsh and the river seemed to have been swallowed up. Being late in the day we dragged our boats for about an hour across what was to be later named the marsh of delusion, to the side of the valley where we saw an abandoned settlement.

Myself and Paul got to the side first and continued up the hillside to see to what extent the marsh continued and whether there was a passage through it. We were horrified to see that it stretched as far as the eye could see. We then consulted the maps to see what had happened. It turned out that the river actually cut through the mountains in a not-to-obvious manner and we had in fact paddled up a tributary into this god forsaken marsh. We slept in an old cow shed, desperately trying to escape the mosquitoes.

The next morning we had to cross the marsh again to get back to the river. The rest of the river was very flat but very scenic. We headed back to Olgii for a well earned rest and determined to find some real white water in Mongolia.

Back in Olgii we laid a plan to look for some rivers in another area further east due to the lack of water in the area previously planned (with 80% of the country dry, rain-fed rivers were not an option). We drove for two days across what seemed to be desert. Feeling totally disheartened we made one last attempt to find a river we could paddle. What we found was beyond what any of us imagined finding in Mongolia; a near perfect creek with large drops, steep slides and crystal clear water.

After a good three hour walk-in with the boats over a mountain, the day started off with an impressive triple drop. A few of the team decided to test their mettle with some impressive results, that can be best described in the photos accompanied.

More sections of quality white water followed with some clean drops and smooth slides, earning the river the name mini Brandset, after the Norwegian classic.

The river finished off by flowing through a very scenic gorge, after which it was swallowed up by another river at a confluence where we camped. Our first first-decent of the trip!

The next day we headed downstream from the confluence into a very large, impressive and beautiful gorge. The water itself was a constant 6km long grade 4 boulder garden with one walled in section that got the heart racing. We were all feeling pretty pleased with ourselves on what was our second first-decent in as many days; a complete contrast to feeling like idiots driving around the desert with kayaks.

We have LOADS OF PHOTOS, check out our gallery to see some!

So our last post left us stranded overnight at the Russian Mongolian border waiting to hop accross the 32km of no-mans land!

It was an early start for Sherman as he decided to wake up uber early and hike to the top of the big hill right next to the border and take pictures of the sunrise over Mongolia (see above). He took a few photos before realising that behind him was a border guard truck driving towards him, it drove right to him and put him in the back at gunpoint! He didn’t even get a chance to actually see sunrise! After an English speaker was found, he showed them lots of photos and was released… all before the rest of us had even woken up!

The early morning was then spent blagging our boats onto cars, vans and jeeps to get ourselves accross the border. It was all managed with a minimal charge of 500 Rubles (about 10 pounds). So everyone was split up and ready to cross the border. After being dragged around the many different border controls by my new non-english speaking Mongol friend and lots and lots of waiting, it was a nice scenic drive to the Mongol side.

At the Mongol side i was kicked out with my passport and left stranded at passport control as my driver sped away with my boat and all my kit into the distance. Sherman was dumped in the same way and once we had our passport stamped we ran out of the other side to find our Mongolian trucks loading on our boats. Apparantly they speed through the border to avoid paying tax and being searched – but boy did we poo our pants! Once at the other side we had a much needed afternoon snack with dumplings and noodle soup inside a Ger (mongolia tent).

Everybody had some amazing stories from one truck carrying 1.3 tonnes of beer, another getting a puncture in no-mans land and recieving tyres and pumps from other passers by but the most common being ditched at the border with all our kit left inside the vehicle.

We had a scary drive along tracks that didn’t even vaguely resemble roads to Olgi and that night we were fed and ewatered befored sleeping in a traditional Mongolian family Ger.

 The next day was the start of Nadaam, the famous traditional countrywide Mongolian festival; with wrestling, archery and horseback riding with an amazing market and opening ceremony.

We also took the opportunity to stock up on supplies for the next two weeks!

Today we split the group with half heading back into the altai to scout out some Mongolian rivers. The other half heading to the horseback riding part of the Nadaam. This was held on the top of a giant hill up amongst the mountains. It was a fantastic mongolian spectacle before we headed on to meet the others in the afternoon.

On leaving the festival our crazy driver Pakka almost ran over a few small children as we sped away. A little further on the needle on the speed-o was pushing the top end (not great as there was no real roads) and the van started to slide around and went over a large bump the van leaving the ground and taking some air before bouncing back down onto 2 wheels. Slightly further down the track Pakka managed to rear-end the car infront. After much heated discussion and a kid in the car infront telling us Pakka was drunk. We were almost left stranded as the car infront took our keys and started to drive away but Ben lept infront of the car to stop them getting away. We got the keys back and agreed that one of us would drive and follow them to the police station. Pakka negotiated and we ended up going home before the police came.

It looks like we might have to wait until tomorrow to meet the others! 

More photos… click here!!!!

We have just finished our first week in Russia and it has been quite an eventful one. We flew out in two groups from Heathrow to Novosibisk relatively hassle free. We were met by our Siberian guide, Igor, and our driver, Tank. After constructing our own roofrack, we made our way out of Novosibisk towards our goal, the rivers of the Altai Mountains.

After a full day’s driving we randomly picked up Tank’s family, including the family hamster, and camped at a lake which was also a Russian holiday resort.

After a bbq, lots of vodka and 98% ethanol from Igor, we headed up to the resort’s premier nightclub and needless to say… what happens on tour, stays on tour.

Another full day’s driving brought us to the confluence of the Chuya and the Katun rivers. We made plans for the next day, involving paddling the upper Chuya and tackling the mighty Mazhoy cascade.

We awoke bright and early the next day, full of excitement at the prospect of paddling our first Siberian river. On the way we survived a traditional water fight as part of a festival carried out by local children and retreated, resoundly beaten, to the upper Chuya.

This section proved to be a great warm up, a big volume grade 4 which reminded some people of paddling in BC. We eventually came to a bridge that marked the start of the impressive gorge that is the Mazhoy cascade. It turned out that the day had really only just begun! The short gorge section we expected became a five hour trip involving, some read and run grade five, much scouting and a portage. One powerful rapid led to a long swim and lost set of blades, Graham and Ben having an exciting time chasing said blades through walled out grade five. Eventually we popped out at the end of the gorge tired but chuffed with our first river of the trip. An awesome run.

We ran the river again the following day starting higher up and adding a tributary to the section.

Anyone been there before?

Lowri learned to pee like a boy (we’ll leave that to your imagination, but thanks go to Palm) and we reloaded the truck to head to a new campsite. Apparently it doesn’t do to stay too many nights in this particular area as the locals are not all welcoming.

We spent today travelling to the Russian-Mongolian border, although really we only made it as far as the Russian border, as there is a 35km no-man’s land between the two border points. We tried and failed to get a permit for our truck to cross no-man’s land and also tried and failed to hitch a lift across the border.

We’re now bunking down in a Siberian “Youth Hostel” (shack with beds) after spending the evening looking at maps to the Mongolian Altai and fraternising with the locals in the “kebab shop”. Fingers crossed for a more successful attempt at crossing the border tomorrow and for rain in Mongolia.

Stay tuned to find out whether we make it across the border and whether there is anything floatable in Mongolia after all!

For now, check out more photos here.

After months of planning, the first four of us have safely taken off and got all the boats on for no extra cost – some serious ‘check-in charm’!! Staying up until four o’clock sorting gear out at my house seemed to pay off!

We have managed to raise over £7500 of cash from our Universities and grants and still have £1000 worth of rafting vouchers to sell. We have also managed to get sponsorship from Palm, Pyranha, Alpkit, Vango, Blacks, Medi UK, Splash White Water rafting, Lyon and Run and Jump for various bit of kit we needed. We’d all like to take this opportunity to thank all the people that have helped us up to this point.

Congratulations to our four new graduates; Sean, Ben, Sherman and Patrick… Here’s Sean at his graduation, loading boats with his parents before flying down to London (from a bomb scared Edinburgh Airport). 

Happy Days! Graham has recently had a huge box dumped on his doorstep full of equipment from Lyon Equipment.

A couple of months ago we applied for the “Lyon Equipment Expedition Award”.  Apparently it is quite a competitive award with lots of applicants so we were delighted to be given £500 to spend on their equipment and for an added bones anything over this value we could get at trade price.

Thanks to this grant we are now fully stocked up on Dry bags, Sleeping Mats, Head torches, crabs, and most importantly of all, sunglasses (some styles of which are rather…”funky” shall we say eh Graham?)

Check their website for all their stock and products http://www.lyon.co.uk/

Cheers guys, especially Martin for your patience after all the changes and alterations and daily queries!

Answering this million dollar question has been my task for the past few days.

Using an Odometer to count the length of a river, and then counting how many contours it falls in this distance I have been jotting down the gradients of any river that looks as though it may have potential in the Altai region. It’s taken a long time! There are a lot of them out there, and a healthy number with gradients of between 15-35m/km.

The rivers generally aren’t very long, so there will be none of the multiday stuff like in Siberia, but there looks to be fair few cracking sections, fingers crossed the trucks will be able to get to them!

The next big question now though, are they going to have any water?? Let’s hope its raining as much in Mongolia as it is in
Doncaster!

Just as we head off, the international magazine Kayak Session has published this:

Kayak Session also said that they will print updates on our trip as we go, so keep an eye out in their next issue; and once we return, of course, there will be a full article.

Canoe Focus (the BCU magazine delivered to thousands of Canoe Union members across the UK) also printed this news snippet:

We will be touring the country giving talks about our adventures: the highs and the lows, the troubles and triumphs, the beautifully stunning and the ugly (Graham?). If you would like us to give a talk at an event, club or organisation, please get in touch.

Dates so far:
September 21st: Andy Jackson Weekend, Fort William, Scotland.
October 20th: Student Safety Symposium, Plas-y-Brenin.
November 2-4th: Tyne Tour
November 7th: River Rats, London
November 20th: Aberystwyth University
December 8th: Gene 17 Weekend, Dart Country Park.
February 16-17th: Canoexpo, Coventry.
March 17th: Cumbria Canoeists, Keswick
March 18th: Cumbria Canoeists, Staveley

We will also be giving talks to each of our Univerisities, dates to be confirmed.

Please come along to see our photos and hear tales of our adventures!