Tress was slowly convincing the group to bungee jump over a 160m gorge and I was pushing for them to go rafting afterwards. I won't write much about the bungee jump because while it was high up, I think a bungee jump goes exactly as you expect it to.
There were some very nervous people, some fearless Israeli girls and some people who would not jump at all and demand their money back.. The suspension bridge was around 50 stories over the gorge and it made some potential people nervous just to walk over the bridge. After minutes clinging to the platform or staff, some people would not jump off.
I remember feeling impatient more than anything as I waited for 10 to people jump ahead of me. I waited and was very ready as I stepped unto the platform. I didn't really imagine what would come once I jumped. It was the feeling of falling headfirst, untethered and unrestricted. The sides of the gorge around me blurred as I quickly fell towards the bottom. My free-fall on this jump was 3-3.5 seconds but it felt much faster to me. It stays as a vivid 1 second video clip in my mind. I understand it more now, the allure of that freedom in the air. However, the real fun and adrenaline was still to come.
We caught a ride down to the Borderlands Resort, where we could camp within meters of the rushing Bhote Kosi. As I understood it, it would be an easy first day to train the rafting crews and then a intense, long second day on a section that had just opened up for rafting.
I talk about rafting because there was no plan for the kayakers, we were just like safety kayakers that didn't pay have to pay attention to the boat.
I was happy when we were gearing up the first day to see 2 other foreign kayakers, both from Great Britain. I admittedly started sizing them up as soon as we got on the water.
The older paddler, named John, was confident, competent and I would learn had lots of experience. He was at the end of a 2 week kayak trip including the Karli Candaki and Bhote Kosi river trips. The younger paddler was a surf kayaker. He could move the kayak and had a solid roll, but had limited practice with river reading.
The first day was nice and relaxing as we cruised down a section of the Bhote Kosi before the dam. The sun was shining and the water was cold. There were a couple of class 3+ rapids but nothing to write home about. I just felt happy and free to be out in a kayak again. The younger kayaker went over a couple times and the rafts just bumped down the rapid. I was joking a lot with the Nepali safety kayaker, he was 22, tall for Nepali rapids, ripped. He was always smiling that first day.
After 4 hours on the water, we took off and headed back to camp. I started talking with John about the next day. He had decided to raft instead of the kayak because of the technical and committing nature of the river. I think he was hesitant about me running the section. We were both sure the surf kayaker was going to be in trouble but he was set on it.
When we started the next day, it was 10m down from our tents. It was directly into consistent Class 3 rapids, which isn't bad but means you need to hit the ground running. I had some nerves but was feeling good and ready to go. I awkwardly got into my boat and was happy when my skirt was on and I was prepped. I peeled out and moved downstream as locals and rafters watched from shore.
There were 2 Nepali safety kayakers, one for each raft. The older one was a great boater and had been working for 12 years. He ran both Class 5's that day, Frog in a Blender and The Wall. I stuck with the 22 year old safety boater, who I would end up rescuing later on.
The surf kayaker had a rough swim within 200m of the put in. He was out of the boat for about 75m of rapid before a raft picked him up. We started to cruise down the river and the rapids were fun and continuous Class 3. Lots of boulders and enough flow, but easy to find clean line down.
Not to much farther down, he had another rough swim down a steep section. The river opened up afterwards, he got out and his boat got pinned. The whole Nepali Ultimate Descents team got to work and I got out to take a quick video. That was the end of the kayaking day for that guy. He made it about 45 minutes of the easiest section of a 5 hour run.
The rest of the day was a most fun and full on kayaking run I've done so far. Just like riding a water roller coaster that doesn't stop. I had it dialled in so I felt confident, capable and aware the whole run.
Some memorable moments included a nasty rapid called, 'Fake left, go right'. Talking it over with the Nepali boater meant yelling the words left and right and gesturing with our hands until I decided to go. I turned left where it looked right to me and came over a cascade off nasty looking rocks I ended up getting spun around on. I bumped down, super scared for a minute but ended up just fine. I was just yelling and swearing as I paddled out of the rapid. The other boater just gave me a thumbs up and a smile, apparently I had taken the right line down.
He warned me about a rapid called 'Midnight Express' and we headed down ahead of the rafts. There was one big, bouncy class 4 and then another even bigger. We eddied out and I asked 'Which one was Midnight Express?', he said 'It's coming.' I just started laughing.
When we put in after the wall, I went over for the only time that day. I blew my first roll in the big water which was not a good feeling. When I came up, I saw the other kayaker was over, he rolled up at a bad spot and went over again. I ended up T-rescuing him and tossing him his paddle just before we headed down the next set of rapids.
We ran ahead of the rafts, so after some big sets I would look back and see John with a huge grin and thumbs up from the raft. He was kayaking vicariously through me. In the end, he says he was happy he didn't run it but wanted to come back. I hope he'll send some footage/photos from the raft that I can put up. Tress, Emily, Paul and Jaume were all fired up and ecstatic from the rafting. I've read Bhote Kosi is considered 1 of the 10 rafting trips in the world and I can imagine it's true.
Before I ever went trekking, I was offered a safety kayaking job with Ultimate Descents for an American school running the Bhote Kosi. In the end however, I'm happy how things worked out. Though I had to pay a good deal for gear rental and accommodation, I got to go down the river with my friends and with another kayaker who knew the river well. I've run into a few young Europeans safety kayaking, earning anywhere from $4-$20 per day, but that is a different story all together.
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