The Paddler ezine WW kayak collection 2013 | Page 169

Engulfed in the Abyss Shangrala
Photo: Evan Ross Photo: Evan Ross

Our plan

With a budget that wouldn’t allow a flight over the canyon, and
topography maps that actually showed the river going uphill in the
crux of the canyon, all we could do was plan for the absolute worst.
I took solace in the fact that we had the most experienced and
talented team possible for the task at hand. Ryan, Evan and I had
faced these particular circumstances during our 2004 first descent
of the Chebdar River in Russia.

While the heart of the Huallaga had not been explored, we did have
the advantage of a video from The Rang Life (the previous team to
attempt the descent), documenting the river’s character up to the
Chockstone Gorge.When the team members had arrived at this
gorge, they only had four days of provisions remaining, which
subsequently was a major factor in their decision to hike out.

A low volume of water within the river would be the most critical
aspect for a successful descent. If the water came up on us in within
the gorge, it could be deadly. Prior to our departure for Peru, we
had received reports that the Amazon was at a record low level due
to draught and receding glaciers in the Andes.The dry year had left
certain towns stranded from the outside world since the only
means of transportation and delivery of goods is via the river.While
this low-water season had a negative affect on tens of thousands of
people in the Amazon Basin, this unusually low water level boded
well for our expedition.

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