Article #1

Himalayan hijinks

by Maximilian Kniewasser

Rating ****

This is a truly captivating article that goes step by step about new and old friends on a multi-day white water kayaking trip in the Himalayas.

  

Within JJ Sheperds entire kayaking career, he's never had the opportunity to assemble a group of buddies to celebrate 20 years of successful rafting in the Himalayas. They called it The Sun Kosi trip, "a grueling 300 km, multi-day beauty," as described by JJ himself. With only a kayak and a paddle strapped to their backs, they sent off to Thule Behri, some intense class IV rapids in the canyons of the remote Dolpa region. While only this was their second day, they still snapped some great pics and moved onto their next day with a great story to tell. Their last day was truly one to wait for in the upcoming hours, their final torture was a 6 hour bus ride to the Annapurna Conservation Area from where they hiked one and a half days from the Annapurna Sanctuary trailhead up to the Modi Khola valley. With many 7,000 m plus peaks around them, the class IV to V rapids were truly worth that extra mile.

Overall I found this article very intriguing as I'm very interested in white water kayaking and the story some extreme kayakers tell. I learned many things in this article about the dangers and precautions about kayaking, going with a buddy or even a friend of a friend really makes it worthwhile,  I'd strongly recommend this article to anyone interested in the white-water outdoors. The next time I go on any white water trip in the near future, this article will stick in the back of my head and give me a little push if I need it.

Kniewasser, Maximilian. 'Himilayan Hijinks'. Rapid The White-water Magazine Spring 2010 12.1 (2010): 3. Print.