First Descent of the Mekong River by Mick O'Shea on WetDawg.com

A few days of R & R in Zongdjian done wonders for my aching body. It was there that I met up with our new director Brian Eustis. Brian and I had worked together on a tiger tracking survey on the remote Nam Pha River of northern Laos in 2003. On that trip Brian proved his abilities as a solid class 5 kayaker and a team player with a good eye for capturing the essence of an expedition on film. Like me he thrived on the challenges we encountered en route making him the right guy to capture the first ever expedition down the entire Mekong River.

In Zongdjian we located an enthusiastic local lad called "Young" to be our translator through Northern Yunnan and our driver who wore a pair of immaculate white gloves whenever he got into the support vehicle. He became known as "Mr. Hands". Mr. hands was a cool character and possessed the amazing ability to turn any 3-point turn into a 33-point turn. He loved singing and crashed his car twice over the next 10 days while we were with him. Fortunately I was on the river most the time and I had best get back to that side of the story because this entire dispatch could easily end up being devoted to Mr. Hands.

The four of us, and the project coordinator Yutah (Also my beautiful fianc�) squeezed into the Toyota 4x4 and begun the drive back up towards the Tibetan Border. The drive from Zongdjian to the Mekong near Dechin is magnificent. After crossing the Yangtze valley we steadily gained altitude through thick stands of old growth pine in the 3 parallel rivers world heritage site before eventually passing above the tree line and over a 4200 meter pass into the Mekong valley. The snow capped Tibetan spiritual mountain of Melei Xeu Shan could be made out through the clouds on the opposite side of the immense valley and far below the Mekong raged through canyons as deep as 1500 meters.

"...our destination was the exact same place I had taken a life threatening swim only a week before."

We spent the evening in the town of Dechin perched on a steep sided valley carved out by a Mekong tributary. We headed off early the next day, our destination was the exact same place I had taken a life threatening swim only a week before. The first priority before challenging that rapid again was to pop in and give a special thanks to the lovely old couple who had taken me in during my hour of need.

"Amma" (Mother), as the granny preferred to be called, was over the moon to see me safe and sound, and I greeted her with a gift of chocolate bars, something she had never tried before. We had a chat over a pot of Yak butter tea via our translator Mr. Young and eventually I invited her and her husband to come and watch me re-run the rapid.

As we approached the drop I noticed that the river had risen several feet over the course of a week and the hole that had thrashed me almost into oblivion was now semi-flushed out. It was transformed into a huge crashing wave. It could be run right down the middle.

We geared up, Brian in his new Bomber Gear radiator dry suit and me armed with an awesome new "AT IV" bent shaft paddle from AT paddles. In the Himalayas there is no room for equipment failure and we are fortunate enough to be sponsored by some of the best manufacturers in the adventure industry. Special thanks to Bomber Gear and AT paddles!

I had no idea that Amma would be so distraught when I tackled the rapid. She had obviously never seen a human being place himself in such obvious danger and was convinced I would die. Apparently when the crashing wave slammed down on me (flipping my kayak momentarily before I casually rolled up), Amma screamed loudly and started crying. I looked across and spotted her 72-year-old husband running along the bank in an attempt to rescue me. I eddied out and tried to explain that I was fine and there was nothing to worry about. He tried to get me to pull my kayak out and looked baffled when I explained that I wanted to continue down stream to take on the other rapids. They were such a sweet old couple. It is heart warming to experience the genuine kindness and concern displayed towards a stranger who simply turned up on their doorstep one day in need. I felt terrible for making them worry so much and look forward to sending them a copy of the documentary when its finished so that they can rest assured I made it.

Brian and I proceeded to paddle down stream through a succession of class III-IV rapids. We encountered one particularly chunky class V rapid that managed to flip both of us at exactly the same place. We called it "double take". The days paddling were a great introduction to the Mekong for Brian with plenty of action yet nothing too gnarly.

We were now firmly in the 3 parallel rivers world heritage site. This incredible area where the Mekong, Salweeen and the Yangtze flow parallel with each other through some of the deepest gorges on earth is also one of the most diverse bio-regions on the planet. It is estimated that half of the world�s biodiversity can be accounted for in the reserve making it one of the worlds most important in terms of conservation.

We pulled up for the day in a small village above a gorge containing ferocious class V compression rapid. As we scouted the run from above the landslide to river right began periodically slipping into the violence. Although it looked a bit sketchy we decided that a tricky line that skirted below the avalanche would be runnable (As long as the avalanche did not slip as we passed underneath), but it would have to wait until after our detour to the glaciers of Melei Xue Shan.

Melei Xeu Shan is comprised of a magnificent set of peaks above 5000 meters running north south along river right of the Mekong. Huge glaciers feed steep creeks in the area, which in turn carve, out steep sided valleys and the occasional piece of flat land inhabited by Tibetan and Naxi villagers. We decided to inspect one of the glaciers called Minyong.

When we approached Minyong glacier on foot the next day we were surprised to see just how fast it was melting. Like a block of ice in the desert the glacier dripped and dribbled from every corner as shades of ice could be heard snapping off and falling into the many crevasses. As we looked on two avalanches took place only a couple of hundred meters from where we stood. Was this just part of the annual cycle of are the glaciers of Melei Xue Shan in the process of disappearing forever as global warming persists?

That night when some locals heard that we were making a documentary on the Mekong Valley they offered to put on a performance of song and dance in our honor. Six beautifully dressed Tibetan girls entranced us with a wonderful display, which was made even more enjoyable due to the fact that they were having such a good time themselves. It was great to see a group of locals enjoying their traditional heritage so much and it is certainly something they can be very proud of. Tibetan culture is so rich and unique, it amazes me that some people can claim that the lands of Tibet have always just been another part of China. After 3 days of exploring the forests, glaciers and temples of Melei Xue Shan snow mountain we returned to the Mekong to take on the threatening gorge rapid.

Again the water level had risen significantly and this time it made the rapid even more treacherous. A long class IV bend followed by a lead in of boils made the only potential line into the class V rapid extremely difficult to hit. The line we had chosen previously had disappeared completely and the only option left was to attempt to bash through a massive "flushing" hole that took up half of the river. Although from our vantage some 60 meters directly above the rapid the hole appeared to flush the water through it was impossible to accurately gauge whether or not a kayak could bash through it. If not the kayaker would be re-circulated until he bailed out and then there would be a long, long swim to shore with little chance of rescue.

After analyzing it for a long time, and considering the long swim I had taken just two weeks previously I decided not to run the drop, as did Brian. It was the only full rapid we were forced to portage in Yunnan. We drove several kilometers around the rapid to the nearest put in. There were loads of fun but manageable runs along the way until we came to the most violent rapid yet in Yunnan we called "full stop". As with many of the other more difficult rapids full stop was located in a sheer sided gorge, was caused by an avalanche and could not be scouted properly.

Negotiating the main drop consisted of a risky class V move from right to left above a particularly violent set of holes, surges and boils that extended for hundreds of meters. One mistake would end in an ugly scene with little chance of rescue. But this was only half of the rapid. The second half was so messy that we decided to chicken run it on river left between a huge surging eddy and the violent main stream.

I successfully run the first half of the rapid catching the eddy before attempting to run the lower half as Brian filmed. I tried six times to paddle along the line we chose but the eddy was just too powerful. Eventually Brian also tried for 30 minutes to no avail. After scouting the rapid from every accessible angle we both decided it was too dangerous to run down the middle so the only option left was to portage it.

For 3 hrs we searched for alternative routes out of the near sheer sided canyon. Eventually we spotted an avalanche about 600 meters up stream and by pure chance a succession of eddies on river left allowed us to paddle and portage upstream until we could ferry across to it. It was a lucky break. We could find no other way out and if the eddies did not provide a pathway upstream against the swift waters, or if the avalanche was not in that particular spot we would have been forced to leave our kayaks there and make a dangerous climb out that would have taken 2 - 3 days. A grueling 2 hr climb up the avalanche ensued as we hauled the kayaks up one by one with our throw bags.

"As I encountered the big bends I immediately had flashbacks to the hellacious gorges of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Again I was about to enter a point of no return on my own, not knowing what lay around the next corner."

We checked out the maps while we caught our breath and noted that we were about to enter another significant stretch of gorges even less accessible than where we were. Brian decided not to continue on this stretch due to the risk of encountering an unportagable class VI rapid in one of the gorges. I decided to push on alone.

We agreed to meet the next day at a specified bridge down stream where Mr. hands and Young would already be waiting. I arrived there late that same afternoon after an uneventful run through several gorges that did not contain large rapids. Mr. hands and Young were nowhere to be seen and the village, which on our map should have been down by the river, was actually high up on a ridge. Assuming that they would be waiting in the village, I trekked up to it. Avalanches blocked my path several times and I was forced to backtrack twice to find alternative routes. Four hours later I reached the village to find that the road marked on my map did not actually exist and my friends weren�t there. I tried to call the guys by Sat phone many times to no avail, and by 10.00 am the next morning I decided to push on into a dangerous section of gorges called "the big bends".

As I encountered the big bends I immediately had flashbacks to the hellacious gorges of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Again I was about to enter a point of no return on my own, not knowing what lay around the next corner. There was no way to trek out once the big bends had been entered. The only consolation was that they only extended for a few kilometers. I proceeded as cautiously as possible down a succession of class III rapids until I could see the water building up at the first corner. I simultaneously spotted an eddy on river right and made for it to inspect what was to come.

I dragged my kayak up onto a jagged boulder and proceeded to take a look. "Nothing too difficult" I thought to myself and just then I heard two "plops" in the river and then a rock the size of a yo yo bounced heavily off a boulder and into the river just seven meters from where I stood. They were falling from far above. The gorge was so steep and sheer sided that I could not tell from which side they fell but it didn't matter. It was time to get out of there. I quickly climbed into my kayak and seal launched half sideways into the river. As I paddled away I felt my legs getting wet. My first thought was that my spray skirt was not clipped on properly but it was. With each stroke through the next class III rapid the boat became heavier with water and I made my way to the nearest eddy. I inspected the boat to find a gash some 12 centimeters long had been torn into the hull of the boat by the jagged boulder. I looked up and down the gorge for a way to trek out, no chance!

I had to mend it as best I could inside the gorge. Using duck tape (Thanks Wick!!) and a dry bag I managed to plug the hole significantly enough to continue although water seeped in. On the 3rd day on my own and with a badly leaking boat under my arm I finally met the guys. They had been waiting at a village called "Lancang Jiang" rather than "Latsaa Jiang". Using 16 tubes of epoxy resin, 36 screws, a length of truck inner tube and a piece of scrap metal we found on the road we managed to plug the hole. To our utter surprise when we filled the kayak with water to test the seal, nothing leaked out!. With only 14 days of white water left in Yunnan and insufficient funds to get the spare kayak sent up in time I decided to put my handy man skills to the test and paddle the ailing kayak through the rest of China.

With each passing day the waters of the Mekong rose significantly. We paddled past the snow-capped mountains of Melei Xue Shan for another 3 days and as suddenly as one can change a TV channel we entered a new climatic realm. One moment a brisk temperate breeze of the high Himalaya chilled our faces and hands the next a humid and significantly heavier type of warm air engulfed us. The temperature rose by 10 degrees Celsius and from that day forth we could wear shorts and T-shirts instead of thermal underwear and layers.

That same afternoon, for the first time in many weeks I saw a significant horizon line come into view instead of another string of mountain peaks. I yelled out to Brian "say goodbye to the Himalaya" and that we did. We proceeded to cross into a bizarre bio realm where the pine trees were interspersed with banana palms and tropical birds could be heard.

Most of Southern Yunnan has been run by 3 previous expeditions organized by Shangrila River Expeditions, yet with the water rising by as much as a foot per day we estimate that by the time we return from a brief side trip to the Zongdian horse racing festival the river will be approaching peak rainy season flows. It is unclear exactly how difficult this will make the dozens of class IV and V rapids reported by previous expeditions but what we do know is that we will be running the same rapids with at least 3 times more water volume than was reported previously.

To give an idea of the scale of rapids we expect to encounter: All members of a previous expedition through the area who had paddled the grand canyon claimed that the white water encountered was bigger than anything that could be found on the Colorado which is widely accepted as the biggest volume whitewater run to be found in the USA. Times the volume of water they paddled in the Mekong x 3 and one can logically expect a style of white water that can only be found at a select few locations on earth.

Stay tuned to see how we fare in runs that theoretically should dwarf those found in the Grand Canyon.