Best Riverboarding Expedition Destination in the World....

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Yount on October 9, 2009 at 3:47pm

Yunnan province, China is on my list as well as some stuff around Nepal such as India and Pakistan. China would be a few short one-day rivers strung together with a week long trip down the Salween (maybe also an overnight or three day trip doing the Great Bend of the Yangtze just below all of the class VI craziness of Tiger Leaping Gorge). The Indus in Pakistan will probably be one of those multi-week, pinnacle of my career type things. For a lot of cool, short rivers, you can't beat a couple of weeks in Northern California during snow melt runoff either.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Yount on October 13, 2009 at 5:37am

If anyone wants further info on China, contact me personally, I have map books that are marked where the good stuff is. Might be a long time before I can afford the airfare and the month or two of time off to make it happen, but there will definitely be some expeditions in Yunnan province in the future.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Galt on October 10, 2009 at 9:07pm

Norway is mind-blowing in the summer. 2,000foot waterfalls plunging into deep gorges and fjords from everywhere, rivers that will mesmerize you - it's hard to stay on the road there is so much good whitewater just everywhere. Cold as sin though (in my opinion). And there are actually a couple guide companies in Slovenia - it's all over Europe, I wouldn't be surprised if you'd find it in Bosnia.

The RIPH guys have done the Karnali a couple times - there's a lot of video on YouTube about it. They've also done a ton of stuff in Ecuador, have you talked with Raphael? You guys better compare notes on those first descents. ;)

I could go with Kev's - there's gotta be some incredible stuff in China, or Mongolia or something. Peter Cameron got me thinking about creeking in Japan though, that might be cool in the spring, very zennish.

"Hey look, it's cotton!"

But I'd have to say someplace in the Andes - the Fu would be cool to do, to do, but there's commercial trips down there so I would think it more enticing to go find something more hidden and unexplored.

Although who knows, maybe what I think is unexplored is actually a local's after-work run!

Kevin's right too, if you want to hit the US, Northern California has a TON of great rivers that could keep you busy for a couple months.

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Permalink Reply by Rochelle Parry on October 11, 2009 at 11:39pm

After watching 60 minutes, we could go to Norway and get Neil to fly AND riverboard :)

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Permalink Reply by Huw Miles on October 12, 2009 at 1:29pm

Good shout on the Fu, i was gutted to miss it on my way through South America, the Apurimac is another one i'd have loved to have tagged. Be a cool river to follow in the footsteps of that south african fella for went source to sea on the amzon on a hydro speed.

I've seen the Karnali footage, looks pretty cool man. There's a couple of opther rivers in Napal that i thought sounded interesting too. Just seems like there's so much water in such a small country you could spend months there working your way along all the rivers.

I'll have to havea chat with Raph about Ecuador, I'm sure we would have run a couple of the same rivers out there. I'll stick my neck out and say that i'm pretty sure that he wouldn't have done some of the more remote and obscure runs that i did though.

So Norway looks like the front runner for research. Has it got a pretty high concentration of rivers?

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Permalink Reply by Liz Arnold on October 18, 2009 at 3:11pm

I went down to South America the year before last and got on the Colca, Cotahuasi, Apurimac, Mendoza, and Futaleufu. Got a first riverboard descent of the Cotahuasi. Definately my most favorite was the Apurimac. Amazing gorges, awesome rock formations and sick rapids. The Futa is also super amazing. Two different characters of river. Apurimac was more technical, Futa more big water. Definately get on the Apurimac if you are headed to South America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElqjnM06iRo

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Permalink Reply by Ian "Twiggy" Rummer on October 12, 2009 at 7:15pm

I wouldn't mind hitting the Kali, in northern India, Apparently crocodiels are a bit of an issue there, though. I really want to hit Bulgaria with kayaks or boards, or both. I saw loads of rivers worth a go when I was there for other reasons a few years ago. Gotta be done!

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Permalink Reply by Rob Larkham on October 13, 2009 at 11:39am

Ya, I need to take a geography lesson. I don't know where half these places are and I certainly can't afford to fly to any of them. I will have to be happy going 11 miles upstream on the West Branch of the Westfield and taking out in my back yard. Old married and a kid in college does not mesh well with riverboarding the world. I will live it through all of your eyes.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Galt on October 13, 2009 at 12:08pm

I just happened to stumble across this and noticed it because of your post:


Crazy! Although not too surprising, because I remember Face Level had visitors from over 79 countries last year, there's probably an underground culture nearly everywhere there's whitewater! Pretty cool.

So it looks like you've got people you can get on the water with in Bosnia. :)

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Permalink Reply by Huw Miles on October 13, 2009 at 1:57pm

Ah cool! That put in looks a wee bit shallow aye! But the rapid looks cool. I'm always so surprised by the random far reaches of Riverboarding.

Hye Twiggy when you get back to Europe you wanna roadie around with some boards? I might let you bring a boat if you like!

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Permalink Reply by Rochelle Parry on October 13, 2009 at 2:29pm

Hey Huw, don't forget northwest Washington and lower BC. TONS to do around here - all classes - plus one of the best standing waves anywhere (Skookumchuck), some rivers yet to be riverboarded... Just go to americanwhitewater.org and check out Washington. Professorpaddle.com also has listings in BC.

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Permalink Reply by Ian "Twiggy" Rummer on October 13, 2009 at 5:37pm

Hey Rochelle,

There is potential for me to be over that way in about 8-10 months time. When is a good time to be in that area? I have a friend who lives in Tacoma, is that a useful destination? I also have a couple of mates on Vancouver island. Is there anything there?

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