First Descents in Uttaranchal, India
By Monica Gokey
When kayakers think of India, it's the big water behemoths that come to mind: the Zansakar, the Indus, the Ganges and so forth. Often over-looked, the tributaries to these heavyweights offer some quality low to medium volume creeking…
Almost Nepal-esque in terms of ease of access and straight-forwardness. This October a group of four took the chance to further explore some of these tributaries in the Alecnanda drainage to the Ganges. And the verdict? Five first descents of boulder-bopping, boof-your-pants-off kind of Bollywood fun.
James Thorp (AUS), Leon Bedford (AUS), Santiago Indalecio Lo Greco (ARG) and yours truly, Monica Gokey (USA), touched down into the sauna of Delhi's late September summer. Within a few days the group made it to the Ganges drainage by Rishikesh, with sights set on some feeder valleys of the Alecnanda. Another group of kayakers had been to the region in 2007 and gave us some excellent beta for the trip. Most paddlers frequent the area in the August/September monsoon season to charge the big water goods -- but our later trip coincided with perfect water levels for the style of creeking we sought.
Just downstream of Chamoli, there is a tributary that feeds the Alecnanda from river-right -- the Balikila. It is easy to overlook as the bottom bits appear to be Class II-III rock gardens. But higher up the treasures abound!
It was just after paddling the Balikila that we realized the magnitude of exploration still yet to be done in this area. You know it's going to be a good paddling trip when you're only paddling first descents for the first week. With some invaluable information from Shalabh Gahlaut of Kayak India, we moved on down the valley in search of more goods.
After spending a few days in the Nandakani and Pindar valleys, we headed over to the Mandakani drainage of the Alecnanda. Kayakers of the world -- you must go to this place! Based out of the religious town of Kalimath we found about 6 days of quality paddling -- day trips, my friends -- tainted only by the upstart of several small scale dam projects.
The Kali Ganga branch of the Mandakani was one of the best runs of the trip. It packs two sections worth of steep, continuous [yet manageable] low volume creeking. We left a few drops un-paddled for lack of a little extra 'cushion' -- take it as a challenge, dear readers!
After leaving Kalimath like heroes, we wandered over to the Bhilanga River valley. Shalabh mentioned this area as a potential treasure trove, saying they'd run an excellent section of about 30k two years before starting from the town of Ghutti. To our regret, this section has since been dammed and is now un-runnable about 10k into it. But upstream of Ghutti was fabulous! Yet even here there was another dam in progress, jeopardizing the opportunity other kayakers have to paddle this gem.
Whilst charging hard on one of the bigger rapids on the Upper Bhilanga, Leon dislocated his shoulder, putting him out for the rest of the trip. It was towards the end of our alotted time in India anyway, so we made the decision to head over to Nepal a bit early to catch high water there (late monsoon this year, folks).
Although I think everyone was sorry to see the trip end after so much fruitful exploration in Uttaranchal, we've come away having discovered that India's creeking is definitely on par with its reputation for big water. The season is a bit later, late-September to mid/late-October -- but it is well worth the trip for some kayak adventure slightly off the beaten track.
Signing off for now -- see you there next year! Thorpie, Leon, Santiago and Monica
By Monica Gokey
When kayakers think of India, it's the big water behemoths that come to mind: the Zansakar, the Indus, the Ganges and so forth. Often over-looked, the tributaries to these heavyweights offer some quality low to medium volume creeking…
Almost Nepal-esque in terms of ease of access and straight-forwardness. This October a group of four took the chance to further explore some of these tributaries in the Alecnanda drainage to the Ganges. And the verdict? Five first descents of boulder-bopping, boof-your-pants-off kind of Bollywood fun.
James Thorp (AUS), Leon Bedford (AUS), Santiago Indalecio Lo Greco (ARG) and yours truly, Monica Gokey (USA), touched down into the sauna of Delhi's late September summer. Within a few days the group made it to the Ganges drainage by Rishikesh, with sights set on some feeder valleys of the Alecnanda. Another group of kayakers had been to the region in 2007 and gave us some excellent beta for the trip. Most paddlers frequent the area in the August/September monsoon season to charge the big water goods -- but our later trip coincided with perfect water levels for the style of creeking we sought.
Just downstream of Chamoli, there is a tributary that feeds the Alecnanda from river-right -- the Balikila. It is easy to overlook as the bottom bits appear to be Class II-III rock gardens. But higher up the treasures abound!
It was just after paddling the Balikila that we realized the magnitude of exploration still yet to be done in this area. You know it's going to be a good paddling trip when you're only paddling first descents for the first week. With some invaluable information from Shalabh Gahlaut of Kayak India, we moved on down the valley in search of more goods.
After spending a few days in the Nandakani and Pindar valleys, we headed over to the Mandakani drainage of the Alecnanda. Kayakers of the world -- you must go to this place! Based out of the religious town of Kalimath we found about 6 days of quality paddling -- day trips, my friends -- tainted only by the upstart of several small scale dam projects.
The Kali Ganga branch of the Mandakani was one of the best runs of the trip. It packs two sections worth of steep, continuous [yet manageable] low volume creeking. We left a few drops un-paddled for lack of a little extra 'cushion' -- take it as a challenge, dear readers!
After leaving Kalimath like heroes, we wandered over to the Bhilanga River valley. Shalabh mentioned this area as a potential treasure trove, saying they'd run an excellent section of about 30k two years before starting from the town of Ghutti. To our regret, this section has since been dammed and is now un-runnable about 10k into it. But upstream of Ghutti was fabulous! Yet even here there was another dam in progress, jeopardizing the opportunity other kayakers have to paddle this gem.
Whilst charging hard on one of the bigger rapids on the Upper Bhilanga, Leon dislocated his shoulder, putting him out for the rest of the trip. It was towards the end of our alotted time in India anyway, so we made the decision to head over to Nepal a bit early to catch high water there (late monsoon this year, folks).
Although I think everyone was sorry to see the trip end after so much fruitful exploration in Uttaranchal, we've come away having discovered that India's creeking is definitely on par with its reputation for big water. The season is a bit later, late-September to mid/late-October -- but it is well worth the trip for some kayak adventure slightly off the beaten track.
Signing off for now -- see you there next year! Thorpie, Leon, Santiago and Monica
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