What are whitewater's greatest first Descents?

[davebrads]

The one that hooked me in was the Dudh Kosi. I've no idea how important it was on the world stage, but in the UK it introduced the concept of expedition whitewater kayaking to the public at large, and even within the paddling community it changed perceptions of what was possible in the sport. The explosion of whitewater kayaking can be traced back to the film, fuelled shortly afterwards by the introduction of plastic boats.

[Poke]

Closer to home,

Andy Jackson, Fred Wondre, Loel Collins, Piers Nesbitt, Shaun Baker, Phil Blain, Nick Doll, Ray Goodwin, Dave Luke, Tom Hughes etc

Haha, better..

Too many great British runs to name. People sometimes forget how good some of the UK runs are!

Really? How many of these first descents in the UK really deserve to be classed amongst "whitewaters greatest first descents"?

For me, the greatest whitewater first descents of the last five years (assuming that the Tsangpo was more than 5 years ago) have been Hendri's solo effort on the Congo and some of the huge waterfalls that have been run recently...

[Dave Manby]

Meredith and co who did the complete descent of the Nile should be at the top of the list but that too might be more than five years ago. How time flies.

[Tom McLay]

A complete descent of any major drainage is remarkable. I really liked reading about Aussie paddler Mick O'shea's solo source to sea paddle of the Mekong, big trip!

[Lowri Davies]

Meredith and co who did the complete descent of the Nile should be at the top of the list but that too might be more than five years ago. How time flies.

Might be?? They've been running package kayaking holidays there longer than that!!

[Dave Manby]

Meredith and co who did the complete descent of the Nile should be at the top of the list but that too might be more than five years ago. How time flies.

Might be?? They've been running package kayaking holidays there longer than that!!

Not through the Murchiston section nor across the Sudan I suspect!

[Lowri Davies]

Ah yeah, true so.

[andrew butler 101]

Meredith and co who did the complete descent of the Nile should be at the top of the list but that too might be more than five years ago. How time flies.

Might be?? They've been running package kayaking holidays there longer than that!!

Not through the Murchiston section nor across the Sudan I suspect!

Yep, They are running commercial rafting in South Sudan.

[morsey]

I like the development that shows up in several of the 2nd and more recent descents. The Dudh Kosi first descent was amazing and then the re run showed the development of more modern boats and some top notch skills. The one day of the Stikine, just blows the whole concept of speedlining gorges wide open. If I was going to narrow it down to one descent, I would put it on just one fall, Tyler Bradt Pallouse. That moved the goal posts of what is feasible in a kayak by almost doubling the vertical height that a kayaker can withstand. And, it is such a landmark that I doubt that record will be beaten for fifty years.

The other observation of the great descents is the soulfulness of the adventures and the adventurers. I'm not Talking Fisher here, he is an amazing paddler but he is gun ho and seeking to find more testing challenges, where as others are truly immersing themselves in the journey and delivering words that capture the spirit of the rivers and the holistic positioning of the river in the world and of the paddler within the river. Hendri talked softly with total confirmation of his affinity with rivers, without tag lines and marketing hype. And, the rivers of the Congo appear massively more scary and awe inspiring than the Stikine. The Stikine is all about the rapids, other rivers are about the boldness to commit to remoteness on a scale that truly isolates humans as being just a tiny speck in the vastness of the globe. Not saying the Stikine is not remote, but it is on a continent where helicopters and assistance can be given despite the remoteness.

Is the Stikine the "Everest" of the paddling world? I am not so sure that the greatest peak has been fully conquered yet.

[Slime]

My vote would be for one of the great gorges of the World - somewhere that you could not explore by any other vehicle than a ww kayak. The Tsangpo I reckon was a true Everest and the Stikine is of course on the wrong continent.

In terms of commitment then from what I hear, the Upper Humla Gorges upstream of Simikot were right up there and also the Zara Chu. The problem with more modern descents is that we just have so much information and back up available compared with even 30 years ago. I admire the two guys from Alaska who did the first descent of the Alsek in a Klepper Kayak in I think the 1960s - knowing almost nothing of the 100 miles of river ahead of them except that it was complete wilderness with gorges, glaciers and grizzly bears - and not a single human for 50 miles. That is what I call commitment.