Long pointed kayaks gave no boof move
PADDLER 81
Long pointed kayaks gave no boof move
2005
7,000-metre peaks and a blanket of stars. It was a moment of solitude and smallness that I’ ll never forget. The camaraderie among our team – Mike Hewlett, Ross Purdy, Mick Hopkinson, Cam McLeay, Dave Allardice, Gerry Moffat and others – was forged in the shared intensity of those rapids. The expedition was immortalised in the documentary Taming the Lion, capturing only a fraction of the river’ s raw power.
Gerry Moffat on Indus 1990
These rivers – the Indus, Sutlej, Karnali, and Brahmaputra – flow in four cardinal directions, carving their way through towering peaks and deep gorges. Kayaking these waters immersed me in the region’ s natural and spiritual essence.
1990: THE INDUS – TAMING THE LION
My journey began with the Indus in 1990. This mighty river cuts through the Karakoram mountains, creating the Rhondu Gorges, a labyrinth of colossal rapids, steep drops, and tumultuous holes. Here, we attempted the first descent as part of an international team. Armed with three-metre-long Pyranha Mountain Bats, we faced rapids that tested our limits. These kayaks did not boof. They went in and down, making running big water an ultimate challenge. Kayaks today have made runs that were previously impossible a reality. Here we have Cam McLeay’ s son, Archer, running the same rapids we ran 35 years earlier.
One unforgettable night, I chose to stay with the kayaks at the bottom of the gorge, surrounded by
2005: THE SUTLEJ – A CANYON ADVENTURE
Fifteen years later, I was in Tibet with Chris Jones of Windhorse. Our journey took us to the upper Sutlej, where the river narrows into a 10-metre-wide canyon with towering walls over 100 metres high. The rapids inside were an unknown challenge, and each turn demanded careful scouting. With little room for error, we cautiously navigated the canyon, constantly aware of the possibility of a boulder choke ahead.
This stretch of the Sutlej was as much a test of mental endurance as it was of physical skill. The experience mirrored the solitude I had felt on the Indus – a profound connection to the raw power of nature and the age of rivers sliced into the rock.
PADDLER 81