Liveonce Adventure

I’m just back from a whirlwind tour of Nepal in which we paddled many of the classic Himalayan runs and possibly one of the last descents of the Marsyandi river.

After leaving Kathmandu we started off on the Upper Bhote Kosi as a warm up before heading to do one of the last complete descents of the legendary Marsyandi river, two days of perfect Himalayan whitewater.

The dam looks to be almost 100% complete, and so the middle section will probably be gone within the year. A terrible shame.We spent a day in Paudi hanging out with a local farmer’s family which was a pretty cool experience.

After heading to Pokhara we met our buddy Babu and paddled the Seti. Babu has been paragliding less than a year, and is just back from a ten day solo paragliding mission around the Khumbu glacier ie Everest, which is probably akin to soloing the class 5 Murchison Falls section of the White Nile with less than a years kayaking experience. He wanted us to go paragliding with him. We declined.

We then took a 24 hour bus ride to the wild west of Nepal and the incredible Karnali river, one of the worlds most spectacular and beautiful.

Rosie and I spent four amazing days on the Karnali, far from civilisation with leopards, eagles and monkeys abundant.

We also paddled some awesome whitewater given that we were just two people in heavy boats a long way from the nearest road. At the end of the trip, we paddled into Bardia National Park which is famous for, among other things, its tigers. I stayed very close to the middle of the river. Rosie, whose grandfather was a tiger hunter, seemed much less concerned. Nevertheless, I was relieved when we reached the Tigertops tented camp where we spent the next day on elephant safari.

After an epic journey back to Pokhara, we met Siberian boater Vasiili Porsev and hiked up to the Madi Khola, which we completed in less than three hours from high up due to a very real fear of missing our flight home.

Vasiili is a strong boater who has been pushing hard on the rivers of Siberia, and invited us to come visit. Hopefully we can take him up on that offer in the future. I slept soundly on the roof of a nightbus back to Kathmandu by strapping myself onto the roof rack, and we just made our flight back to London. Arriving home I met some friends in Dublin, turned the big 30, and jumped on a flight to Marrakech for a mission in the Atlas mountains.

Photos by Rosie Cripps and Rob Coffey

Here is a quick low res preview of the Team Palm promo as commissioned by Palm. The profiled Team Palm paddlers are Dave Carroll, Matt Tidy, Simon Hirter, Rosie Cripps, Ed Cornfield and Andrew Holcombe. The full version will be available from the Palm Equipment site shortly.

Team Palm Promo film preview

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Over the past year, Liveoncemedia has been commissioned by Palm Equipment International to produce a promotional film of their pro team in action. Featuring world class paddlers like Andrew Holcombe, Dave Carroll, Ed Cornfield, Matt Tidy, Rosie Cripps and Simon Hirter and filmed in Italy, Norway, France and India in conjuction with Simon Westgarth of Gene 17, we hoped to capture each kayaker’s unique style and motivation, while focusing on the quality and ethos of the Palm brand.

Some photos of the Palm Pro Team in action shot by Deb Pinniger and Sam Hughes:

Green Race winner Andrew Holcombe, Dave Carroll and Paul Cheesy Robertson prepare for some steepness on the Upper Onde Read the rest of this entry »

A few weekends ago we hit the Scottish highlands to attend the West West weekend in memory of the great Andy Jackson. Two awesome days creeking were had, Saturday on the amazing Morriston river, and Sunday on the Etive at a nice medium flow.

It was great to hook up with many old friends and get some world class boating in at the same time.

Rob on the Etive
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September and October are my favourite months in Ireland, when the first of the big swells start brewing mid Atlantic and the surf starts to fire.

Ten days ago, I decided to leave Dublin on a last minute decision to head west for the weekend, hoping to catch some waves.
I ended up in the coastal village of Kilkee with Louis Smith and Triona Price and caught the last acts of the Cois Farriage Music festival.
As there was no surf on Saturday, we spent the day scuba diving with a school of up to forty dolphins. Deep underwater, surrounded by these magnificent animals almost so close you could almost touch them, was a special experience.

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The past few months have followed the familiar pattern: Teva Race in Italy in May, cruising in the french alps in June, then stepping it up in Norway in July.

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Anyone with a passing interest in saving our environment for future generations should watch this incredible film about how private power is raping the natural resources of British Columbia.

Bryan Smith’s 49 Megawatts

The Coruh, Zanskar, Arandal Pradesh, White Nile, Baktiari……all will be gone as we know them in ten years.

Thoroughly depressing that through short sightedness and greed we will be the last generation to enjoy many of the world’s last untouched places. It makes me so mad.

The past five weeks have been pretty hectic. At the start of April Rosie and I visited Morocco to spend five days on the stunning Ahensal river in the Atlas Mountains working for kiwi rafting company Water by Nature.

Posted by Sam Hughes- Across the Himalaya with a Kayak

Matt Tidy, Babu Sunuwar and Shalabh in the Zanskar Gorge.

The Tsarap Chu and Zanskar rivers flow through the remote, relatively untouched heart of Ladakh, and offer an impressive 5 to 8 day wilderness kayak experience through breath taking scenery, and gives a unique access to a fascinating ancient culture.
Through the winter months these rivers form the major trade routes for the region when the turbulent waters freeze, and they form a natural highway through the otherwise impenetrable mountains. Due to this, a large number of villages, towns and ancient fortresses and monasteries are still able to flourish, in much the same way they have done for centuries.

The trip starts with a 2 day drive to the high altitude put in point at Sarchu, before passing 180km on the Tsarap Chu to join the Zanskar river at Padum. From hear the Zanskar flows 120km through one of the most impressive gorges in the world, before it finally joins with the Indus just west of Leh.

Fresh water pours from a natural spring high up a cliff wall, Zanskar River.

Children in Purne village, Tsarap Chu River.

Monestary outside Leh

In August last year, while on our first attempt of the Tsarap Chu river, myself (Sam Hughes UK), Ali Donald (Ire), Dave Carroll (Ire), Rosie Cripps (Scot) and Rob Coffey (Ire) were hit by the biggest flood in the region for 30 years.

We came to the conclusion that with the knowledge we had at hand, it was best to abandon our equipment in a cave, and with the bare essentials make the 3 day trek, over several passes higher than 4600m (15 000ft), back to the road. Through a harsh mountain landscape, at high altitude, and with no trails to follow, this turned out to be a more challenging adventure than we could have expected.

Dave Carroll navigates his way through the turbulent flood waters.

The team inspect one of the narrows, where the swollen
river is compressed through a 3 meter gap.

After an exhausting day of portaging loaded boats, the team stop to discuss the options.

Rosie, Rob and Dave pack what they can carry, and stash the rest in boats at the back of a cave.

Rob Coffey and Rosie Cripps carrying what they can.

Dave Carroll takes a break to absorb the scenery, on the 1000m climb from Satok village to cross a 4800m pass.

Ali Donald contemplates what is safer. Cross the
bridge, or get back in the boat?

Ali Donald and Rob Coffey discuss the possibility of having our equipment retrieved with a local monk.

One of the local monks that covered the distance it had taken us 3 days
to do, 4 time in 5 days to retrieve our equipment. Respect!

Sarchu, the tented village at the put in for the Tsarap, where we waited for our boats.

6 days later we got our boats back, and proceeded to re-pack our equipment into them and get back onto the river, which by this time had dropped in level considerably. This was much to the amusement of the five monks who had just spend 4 days retrieving our kit after our first failed attempt!

Ali Donald makes his way back to the put in.

Matt Tidy makes his way through the first narrows, Tsarap Chu.

Babu and Shalabh prepare dinner over the camp fire, Tsarap Chu.

Roll out of bed and into your boat!

Phuktal Gompa seems to grow out of the jagged cliff face.

Posted by Sam Hughes- Across the Himalaya with a kayak Keep up to date with Sam’s recent travels as he recounts his epic Lhasa- Chengdu expedition over the next few weeks.

I love Ryanair. The next time I hear someone giving out about the Irish low fares airline, I will remind them that Ryanair has opened up all of Europe as our back yard. Based in Dublin, I often jump on a plane to Corsica, Slovenia, Italy or Norway and will frequently be ready to hit the river sooner that I would be at the far side of the country. So this New Year we arrived in Porto (flights from Dublin, London and Frankfurt), kayaks in tow, with mixed expectations of what we would find.

I need not of worried. Portugal is one of the very best places to go boating in Europe.
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