Rising early we made our way upstream to Darcha, our put-in point. Aiming to get to Tandi, the confluence of the Chandra and Bhaga Rivers, in a day we were treated to fun boulder garden style rapids that were all manageable. Eventually things started to get a little more intense as the gradient picked up and the gorge started to get deeper. Just above Keylong, where we had spent the previous night, we came to an amazing bedrock gorge that we had spotted the night before. Some cool drops and an easy portage around a hideous looking slot of death and before we knew it we had arrived at Tandi and the confluence just on sunset.
We woke to an amazing day and put on the river under blue bird skies. I was stoked to finally be on the Chenab after all the planning. A lot of flat water and mellow rapids filled the day. I was blown away by how cold the water was and was envious of the boys who had brought their gloves along. My Macpac thermals were working great and I was stoked to have gear that was keeping me warm and dry. It was a long day traveling through some solid bedrock gorges with amazing rock sculptures.
Eventually we spotted a radio mast and radioed Prakesh our driver who was involved in his own expedition, negotiating the wild windy roads high above the gorge. We made contact and he picked us up and drove us into Udaipur to warm beds and food. This expedition thing seemed pretty damn comfy!
That night we discovered that we were actually missing 50kms from our map, so for the next while we were on our own. That didn't really matter anyway as all the info we received from locals varied so considerably that we just had to make it up as we went along!
We encountered more of the same the next day as we made our way down river, aiming to get to a town called 'Shor'. The rapids were starting to get steeper and ledgier and the river started to feel a lot more powerful. Maybe this had something to do with the effects of altitude taking its toll as we started at around 3,500 meters.
"Not too long into the morning we arrived at our first series of chunky rapids, really narrow bedrock gullies with the whole river charging through."
After an awesome night courtesy of a super cool Nepali woman we put back on the river and floated off downstream. Not too long into the morning we arrived at our first series of chunky rapids, really narrow bedrock gullies with the whole river charging through. The pace picked up and got the boys' heart rate thumping. We found ourselves portaging a couple and Benji took the initiative running a staunch class 5 drop that the rest of us shied away from. This set the pace for the rest of the day as we paddled more good rapids, a lot of awesome boat scoutable paddling put smiles on our faces. Eventually as the day wore on we found ourselves getting exhausted and fatigued, not a good frame of mind to be in when you know you need to maintain concentration and a clear head. After a mellow section we arrived at a bridge under construction, the bridge workers were blown away by the sight of five colorful 'Kishtis' ( boats) and the strange looking people that paddled them, we must have looked like creatures from out of space with our dry suits, helmets, PFDs and equipment!
They made us a cup of Chai (local tea) and told us that we had about seven more kms to go before we reached our planned destination 'Killar'. That didn't sound too bad but once back on the river things got interesting as we were straight into full on drops and rapids, which took a lot of scouting and sometimes portaging. At around 5 pm with the sun dropping and a long way to go we put or heads down and charged as hard and fast as we could downstream, finally making the exit bridge we were hoping for just on dark. With no sign of Prakesh we had an excellent adventure India style, involving all manner of transport including an epic ride on the back of a tractor up to the town. Eventually we made it to a place to stay, and totally exhausted threw our gear on the ground and crashed after what had been a huge day.
We spent the next day resting in Killar, buying more food and supplies to overnight the next phase of the trip, and enjoying the sights and sounds of one of the many festivals that happened to be on at the time.
With a good day's rest behind us we were recharged and ready for what lay downstream. After scouting the first rapid of the day and deciding it was good to go we walked back up, climbed into our boats and went for it. With wide eyes and terrified looks on our faces we all regrouped in an eddy below the rapid swearing and cursing at our loaded boats and ourselves. With sleeping, cooking and eating gear, along with cameras, split paddles and various other rescue gear on board our boats felt like slugs in the pushy water and we were all feeling a bit wobbly to say the least.
A morning of paddling some great whitewater saw us arrive at the Himachal Pradesh and Jammu/Kashmir border. Expecting loads of questions and hassles we were surprised instead to be offered another cup of Chain, and a few handshakes and smiles later we were on our way, remarkably easy and stress free when we had been getting used to haggling and bartering for everything.
