The Himalayan Tri - Descent
Article by Dr Biala on our record breaking River Rafting expedition in Ladakh Himalayas which was also a first descent of that river by any expedition team. This article was published in the Journal of Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in 1996
After hearing an encouraging and inspiring talk from Col. Prem Chand, a great mountaineer, in the early hours of 7th July, 1993 at WHMI campus, Manali, the expedition was on its way to Sarchu, a place 14000ft high on Manali-Leh road. Every member of the Doon School Rafting Expedition was full of enthusiasm, because before the take off, the river was rated as one of the simplest river ever to be run and its going to be joy’s ride.
Mighty Rohtang-pass (3974M) was under heavy clouds, but immediately after that, not only clouds but greenery also disappeared and we were amidst the cold desert.
On 8th July around 12 noon, we were very close to Bara Lachha Pass and the unnamed peaks were visible on both the sides close by. From this pass one can find river Chandra flowing towards south, river Bhaga towards west and river Tsarp towards north. We had to concentrate on river Tsarp as that was going to be our closest associate and savior during our journey of next fifteen-sixteen days.
Trans Himalayan Expedition, under the expert guidance of Col Prem Chand and Capt. Alok Chandola had already established their camp, almost 20-25kms after Bara-lachha pass. So we were lucky to have Col Prem as the finest guide and the host. Another adventurer of great repute, Capt. Alok Chandola had to go back the next day to Delhi, so it was decided to recce the river and select a suitable put in point today itself.
Alok and I, both were on the Sarchu-Leh highway for another 10-15kms. Almost 6-7kms after Sarchu, river Lingti-chu joins Tsarp a little before Brandinala. We were happy to find a decent put in point, which was a part of Himank workshop at Brandinala.
Unlike previous years, on 10th and 11th July, there had been showers disrupting road traffic because Bara Lachha pass was closed, resulted in a big crowd got struck at Brandinala Transit Camp and Sarchu,. We were lucky to find Mr. MK Gupta (Magistrate J &K High Court, Srinagar) waiting for the pass to give him way for his onward journey. He flagged off the rafting expedition on 12th July at 11.50am amidst an unexpected crowd wishing us a safe journey.
Considering topography of this area, said our expert, it’s going to be a ‘joy ride’. It was really a joys ride with no rapid of even grade II till around 2pm when suddenly a signal and a big shout from Partho, our Kayaker ‘Eddy out’. The first narrow gorge wasn’t very long which we managed without much of a problem, but immediately after the gorge was a turn to the north and first rapid of grade III.
A second long narrow gorge with much faster current was encountered the next day which must have been almost an hour after the first. This gorge must have been almost a kilometer long and it was so sudden that it hardly gave us any time to prepare for it mentally. After the gorge, was the first grade IV rapid with pour over and holes around. We were surprised to find white water throughout and some more gorges.
Here came Sutak, the first village on the right side of the river which had some wonderful green fields. It became very difficult to move ahead without proper recce, because there was a clear revolt amongst the members who had never expected such a bad patch as today. So it was decided to inspect the river first till the next camp and then move ahead.
We were just half a kilometer from our camp when we found a big constriction with a massive rock blocking the river and then converting into a fall, and presenting itself a rapid of grade VI. It looked difficult fort Kayak to get through, so we had no option except to wait for yaks and local porters for our first portage at Sutak.
Second constriction came an hour after the first, when at one point width of the river was less than the width of raft. The water current here was unimaginable. We were cautious.
After this there was a real fun of rafting for almost 7-8 hours till Phuktal Gompa(monastery), but it was a complete white water section afterwards. Almost a kilometer before Phuktal, it was such an enjoyable rapid that our rafts were dancing like the swans on the waves. We found some of the fresh marks of a leopard here and the members named this rapid as the ‘Leopard Leave’.
Phuktal to Pune was approximately 4kms and was pretty bad because there were rocks amidst the river, strong boils, pour-over, holes and what not. We were forced to have our second portage here. We lost our Kayak in a rapid of grade IV, as around 2kms short of Purne, Partho went into a hole and tried desperatly to come out of that. Finally he decided to leave the Kayak and catch it latter on, but couldn’t get any success. We tried vainly to chase down our Kayak, which had a non stop run. We camped near the bridge connecting both side villages.
Here came the third portage. We took 45minutes from the bridge to reach a safer point for put in which was immediate after the massive fall combined with a hole. We were busy shifting our stuff the whole day. Phuktal to Padum is full of big rapids. Raru rapid was the most tedious, challenging and the dangerous one. The members named this rapid as ‘Maut Ka Kuan’.
Almost an hour latter when left side trek going to Padam, came very close to the river and the river took a turn towards north, there was another massive rapid which carried on and on for many kilometers. We took more than two hours to decide on the safer route. Our first raft led by Rajeev Thapa couldn’t go all that safely as was planned by the experts and leader of the expedition. Zafar, Shuchi and I were the ones who tasted some mouthfull water of the river for quite some time, but that was part of this adventure sport.
Finally we were successful in reaching Padam which was almost 150kms from Brandinala. We were the most satisfied lot as the first phase of the expedition was over and the record established. Ours was the first and the only expedition to raft down on river Tsarp.
Now no body was worried as we will be on Zanskar which has been run by many rafting expeditions. Rafting from Padam to Nimu was on river Zanskar which has high volume of water, many boils and never ending gorge section. We had to look for a camping place.
Rafting from Nimu to Khaltse on Indus was full of fun and enjoyment because there were big rapids and the volume and current of the river was much faster. We were at Khaltse on 28th July after 17days of strenuous rafting and covering approximately 350kms. It was a unique feat.
We were probably the first ever rafting expedition to start from 14000ft high. Though it was a Doon School Boys Expedition, we also had two full fledged girl members. We were the first to run on Tsarp, Zanskar and Indus and covered approx. 350kms in 17days of rafting.
Team:
(i) Staff: Dr SC Biala (Leader), Mr. RP Devgan, Mr. Sheel Sharma, Winsten Gomez, Kailash Maurya, Prartho Saha(Kayaker), Rajeev Thapa & Mr. Shaukat Sikand(both experts).
(ii) Students: Shuchi Biala, Zulia Fenn, Zaffar Baig, Anupam Chandola, Dhananjaya Singh and Bharat Halwasia
Mighty Rohtang-pass (3974M) was under heavy clouds, but immediately after that, not only clouds but greenery also disappeared and we were amidst the cold desert.
On 8th July around 12 noon, we were very close to Bara Lachha Pass and the unnamed peaks were visible on both the sides close by. From this pass one can find river Chandra flowing towards south, river Bhaga towards west and river Tsarp towards north. We had to concentrate on river Tsarp as that was going to be our closest associate and savior during our journey of next fifteen-sixteen days.
Trans Himalayan Expedition, under the expert guidance of Col Prem Chand and Capt. Alok Chandola had already established their camp, almost 20-25kms after Bara-lachha pass. So we were lucky to have Col Prem as the finest guide and the host. Another adventurer of great repute, Capt. Alok Chandola had to go back the next day to Delhi, so it was decided to recce the river and select a suitable put in point today itself.
Alok and I, both were on the Sarchu-Leh highway for another 10-15kms. Almost 6-7kms after Sarchu, river Lingti-chu joins Tsarp a little before Brandinala. We were happy to find a decent put in point, which was a part of Himank workshop at Brandinala.
Unlike previous years, on 10th and 11th July, there had been showers disrupting road traffic because Bara Lachha pass was closed, resulted in a big crowd got struck at Brandinala Transit Camp and Sarchu,. We were lucky to find Mr. MK Gupta (Magistrate J &K High Court, Srinagar) waiting for the pass to give him way for his onward journey. He flagged off the rafting expedition on 12th July at 11.50am amidst an unexpected crowd wishing us a safe journey.
Considering topography of this area, said our expert, it’s going to be a ‘joy ride’. It was really a joys ride with no rapid of even grade II till around 2pm when suddenly a signal and a big shout from Partho, our Kayaker ‘Eddy out’. The first narrow gorge wasn’t very long which we managed without much of a problem, but immediately after the gorge was a turn to the north and first rapid of grade III.
A second long narrow gorge with much faster current was encountered the next day which must have been almost an hour after the first. This gorge must have been almost a kilometer long and it was so sudden that it hardly gave us any time to prepare for it mentally. After the gorge, was the first grade IV rapid with pour over and holes around. We were surprised to find white water throughout and some more gorges.
Here came Sutak, the first village on the right side of the river which had some wonderful green fields. It became very difficult to move ahead without proper recce, because there was a clear revolt amongst the members who had never expected such a bad patch as today. So it was decided to inspect the river first till the next camp and then move ahead.
We were just half a kilometer from our camp when we found a big constriction with a massive rock blocking the river and then converting into a fall, and presenting itself a rapid of grade VI. It looked difficult fort Kayak to get through, so we had no option except to wait for yaks and local porters for our first portage at Sutak.
Second constriction came an hour after the first, when at one point width of the river was less than the width of raft. The water current here was unimaginable. We were cautious.
After this there was a real fun of rafting for almost 7-8 hours till Phuktal Gompa(monastery), but it was a complete white water section afterwards. Almost a kilometer before Phuktal, it was such an enjoyable rapid that our rafts were dancing like the swans on the waves. We found some of the fresh marks of a leopard here and the members named this rapid as the ‘Leopard Leave’.
Phuktal to Pune was approximately 4kms and was pretty bad because there were rocks amidst the river, strong boils, pour-over, holes and what not. We were forced to have our second portage here. We lost our Kayak in a rapid of grade IV, as around 2kms short of Purne, Partho went into a hole and tried desperatly to come out of that. Finally he decided to leave the Kayak and catch it latter on, but couldn’t get any success. We tried vainly to chase down our Kayak, which had a non stop run. We camped near the bridge connecting both side villages.
Here came the third portage. We took 45minutes from the bridge to reach a safer point for put in which was immediate after the massive fall combined with a hole. We were busy shifting our stuff the whole day. Phuktal to Padum is full of big rapids. Raru rapid was the most tedious, challenging and the dangerous one. The members named this rapid as ‘Maut Ka Kuan’.
Almost an hour latter when left side trek going to Padam, came very close to the river and the river took a turn towards north, there was another massive rapid which carried on and on for many kilometers. We took more than two hours to decide on the safer route. Our first raft led by Rajeev Thapa couldn’t go all that safely as was planned by the experts and leader of the expedition. Zafar, Shuchi and I were the ones who tasted some mouthfull water of the river for quite some time, but that was part of this adventure sport.
Finally we were successful in reaching Padam which was almost 150kms from Brandinala. We were the most satisfied lot as the first phase of the expedition was over and the record established. Ours was the first and the only expedition to raft down on river Tsarp.
Now no body was worried as we will be on Zanskar which has been run by many rafting expeditions. Rafting from Padam to Nimu was on river Zanskar which has high volume of water, many boils and never ending gorge section. We had to look for a camping place.
Rafting from Nimu to Khaltse on Indus was full of fun and enjoyment because there were big rapids and the volume and current of the river was much faster. We were at Khaltse on 28th July after 17days of strenuous rafting and covering approximately 350kms. It was a unique feat.
We were probably the first ever rafting expedition to start from 14000ft high. Though it was a Doon School Boys Expedition, we also had two full fledged girl members. We were the first to run on Tsarp, Zanskar and Indus and covered approx. 350kms in 17days of rafting.
Team:
(i) Staff: Dr SC Biala (Leader), Mr. RP Devgan, Mr. Sheel Sharma, Winsten Gomez, Kailash Maurya, Prartho Saha(Kayaker), Rajeev Thapa & Mr. Shaukat Sikand(both experts).
(ii) Students: Shuchi Biala, Zulia Fenn, Zaffar Baig, Anupam Chandola, Dhananjaya Singh and Bharat Halwasia
