Riding a Tibet flood

A contributor to Outside magazine, Peter Heller accompanies a ground crew supporting seven of the world’s best river kayakers on a first-ever descent of Tibet’s Tsangpo River, a frothing torrent with man-eating holes and diagonal waves. Heller has his hands full even on shore. The paddlers feel exploited by the author, leading to a confrontation (“Nobody trusts you, dude”) and a promise by Heller to cough up 10% of the book’s proceeds. This, shortly before porters rebel and rob the expedition leaders.

As the crow flies, the trip is less than 100 miles, but in the raging S-turns of the Tsangpo, the kayakers face the toughest conditions in their lives. The river is so big that a wet exit (pulling the sprayskirt to get out of the kayak) would lead to almost certain death because of the speed of the current and massive boulders. On several occasions, paddlers are swept out of sight upside-down in huge water. Parts of the Upper Gorge of the Tsangpo can’t be run, requiring portages that in themselves are hairy.

My kudos to Heller, though, for writing through his own missteps. He does not ruin it as some of the paddlers feared. His book is readable and engaging even for non-paddlers.

-- Emmett Berg