´Upper´ Urubamba, The Andes, Peru
Staying in Cuzco, 3500M in the Andes theres loads of companies offering rafting down the many local rivers. I persuaded one of them that they wanted to hire me a kayak and kit to go along with one of the raft tours.
I went for a one day trip (we need to get to Bolivia) down the ´upper´ Urubamba, the sacred river of theIncas, although just about everythings sacred, sacred river, sacred valley, sacred off-license etc.
I got presented with my boat, a full-on liquid logic creek boat, ideal for monster grade five, not so much fun on the 3/3+ which I was doing. The paddle and deck were not to bad although everything else was crap, still good enough I suppose. Paddling the creek boat felt like a tank after my Jackson.
The river was indeed 3/3+ with a few reasonable rapids.I managed to run the first 3+ rapid backwards which I put down to the tank I was paddling and also not actually doing any down-river for over a year (oh, the curse of Hurley). It´s funny how you get used to paddling your own boat and it was strange to adapt to a different (much bigger) one.
On the water for about three hours most of the stuff was just big and bouncy which would be great fun in a playboat. There were two or three rapids where you actually had to do something to get through including one with a rather nasty siphon. All the guys in the raft walked it but the two(!) safety kayakers and I ran it. Just a bit of a slide and then round a rock, you´d need to be quite a spastic to get into the siphon but if you did it´d probably be terminal.
Boshed on down, had a play in a few waves and holes, doing pop-outs in a creek is quite funny, get massive height.
No pictures unfortunately but I got this off the Internet.
All-in-all not at all challenging (once I´d got used to putting strokes in much earlier than in my Jackson) but was still really good to actually get in a boat and paddle down a river. Hopefully might get some more action in Bolivia and I know a couple of people in NZ who have promised to take me.
Thought for the week:The Andes are the longest mountain chain the world and there are hundreds, probably thousands or grade 4/5 rivers to be done. You can go at any time of the year and find water, depending on where you go. An idea to keep on the back-burner for the next few years, a one month, six week kayak tour of South America? Ship the boats over, hire a couple of cars and bosh round the mountains.
I went for a one day trip (we need to get to Bolivia) down the ´upper´ Urubamba, the sacred river of theIncas, although just about everythings sacred, sacred river, sacred valley, sacred off-license etc.
I got presented with my boat, a full-on liquid logic creek boat, ideal for monster grade five, not so much fun on the 3/3+ which I was doing. The paddle and deck were not to bad although everything else was crap, still good enough I suppose. Paddling the creek boat felt like a tank after my Jackson.
The river was indeed 3/3+ with a few reasonable rapids.I managed to run the first 3+ rapid backwards which I put down to the tank I was paddling and also not actually doing any down-river for over a year (oh, the curse of Hurley). It´s funny how you get used to paddling your own boat and it was strange to adapt to a different (much bigger) one.
On the water for about three hours most of the stuff was just big and bouncy which would be great fun in a playboat. There were two or three rapids where you actually had to do something to get through including one with a rather nasty siphon. All the guys in the raft walked it but the two(!) safety kayakers and I ran it. Just a bit of a slide and then round a rock, you´d need to be quite a spastic to get into the siphon but if you did it´d probably be terminal.
Boshed on down, had a play in a few waves and holes, doing pop-outs in a creek is quite funny, get massive height.
No pictures unfortunately but I got this off the Internet.
All-in-all not at all challenging (once I´d got used to putting strokes in much earlier than in my Jackson) but was still really good to actually get in a boat and paddle down a river. Hopefully might get some more action in Bolivia and I know a couple of people in NZ who have promised to take me.
Thought for the week:The Andes are the longest mountain chain the world and there are hundreds, probably thousands or grade 4/5 rivers to be done. You can go at any time of the year and find water, depending on where you go. An idea to keep on the back-burner for the next few years, a one month, six week kayak tour of South America? Ship the boats over, hire a couple of cars and bosh round the mountains.
posted by Ex Aston Canoe Collective at
12:20 PM
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