Rio Urubamba - Chilca section

Tom and Alby's Grade 5 warm-up

30/07/12

On the advice of local kayakista Julio, the team ventured to the Chilca section of the Urubamba, the river which runs alongside Macchu Picchu and through the Sacred Valley of the Incas. There was no time to admire the ancient archealogy and vistas however as the river promptly served up a rock hard portion of Grade 5. This is without doubt the hardest river we have run so far.

Putting on in the rain, the river rapidly became essentially a single long Grade 5 rapid with small and difficult must-make eddies. We had fun paddling some very hard rapids and stood in awe as Julio ran a very long, very challenging 5+.

Julio shows us why he's the boss

And again

And again

Challenges of all forms struck, as Alex broke his temporary split paddles twice (both times in the midst) and Adam took a refreshing swim. With the odds mounting we were forced to make a heinous, steep portage off the river.

Rio Apurimac - Commercial Section

Alby Paddles 'Purgatory'

Tom paddling 'Moyla'

28/07/12

After a couple of rest days in Cuzco, with some long sleeps and salsa lessons, the team arranged to return to the Apurimac to complete the final section. In trying to find someone capable of removing Derf's boat from the tricky pin we spoke to many of the rafting companies and met Julio, a local kayakista and raft guide, who offered to help us find transport for the run and accompany us down the river. The commercial section is around 40km long and takes most rafting companies 3 days to complete - again we have heard that in a kayak it is more than do-able in a day. 

As arranged, the taxi arrived at the hostel at 3am to pick us up. Unfortunately due to an eventful night of gastric distress neither Tom nor Alex could face the river, leaving Alby, Adam and Julio to tackle the beast alone. Four hours later we arrived back at the river and put on just under the bridge we had taken out from a few days previously.

Adam and Julio at the bottom of "Purgatory"

The river threw us continuous grade 4+ rapids from the start but with Julio to show us the lines made it to the first (aptly) named rapid "portage" in record time. After a swift portage around the grade 5 siphon garden we continued down the river with few inspections and some great lines provided by Julio's boss-like memory. Paddling with such a skilled kayaker who knows the river like the back of his hand was a great experience and meant we finished the section in less than 7 hours! A great days paddling enjoyed by all.

We paddled this section of the Apurimac a total of 3 times on different occasions, joined by the whole team!

Alby and Adam paddle into the canyon

Adam drops into "You first"

Alby enjoying "The last laugh"

Adam punching the same hole

Rio Apurimac - Black Canyon Section

Adam enjoys a dynamic breakfast

23/07/12 - 24/07/12

After a day of rest in Nayhua topping up our food supplies, enjoying an evening beer by the camp fire (the first ever multiday with beer?) and bidding farewell to Derf the remainder of the team embarked on the Black Canyon section of the Apurimac. The canyon owes its name to the dark rock of the surrounding mountains and lack of sunlight the gorge experiences.

This infrequently rafted section starts at Nayhua and follows the river through an amazing gorge for 60km until the get out bridge Puente Hualpachaca. By raft the section takes 3 days however we predicted it should take us no longer than one and a half days in our kayaks. The commercially rafted section of the Apurimac lies directly beneath the Black Canyon section and we planned to continue on the river and paddle the whole lot in one go.

The bustling metropolis of Nayhua

The team puts their degrees to use: Innovative tent solutions due to the loss of poles and pegs

Day 1

The first rapid of the day, dubbed "breakfast rapid" was perhaps one of the best - a clean bouncy grade 4 to get the team buzzing. The rapids (mostly grade 4 read-and-run) continued to provide us with a good amount of entertainment for the first 10km including only one portage which with what Adam could only describe as a "difficult and heroic boof" could be run. The gradient slowly began to level off and with only one stop for lunch we continued to a nice beach about 30km downstream where we set up camp.

Unfortunately due to the loss of the water filter the team were subject to river water boiled in the sardine pan which, when enjoyed luke warm, prompted a disgusting fishy acid reflux.

Tom balls deep

Alex pounding the meat

Day 2 
 
Unfortunately both Tom and Alex had picked up some river bug from the day before and were not feeling their best, the perfect conditions for finishing off a committing grade 4 run. The breakfast rapid today provided us with less amusement than the day before - Adam and Alby reached the eddy at the bottom from where they watched both Tom and Alex drop into a sticky hole following a large pourover. After a couple of back loops and some intense side surfing mania swims ensued and a swift rescue was complete, all that was left to do was find the boats and paddles. An hour of chase boating and Adam and Alby managed to retreive both boats and but only one set of blades. The group was reunited and continued down the river to enjoy (Adam and Alby) and simultaneously paddle and vomit (Alex) down the remainder of the grade 3-4 rapids.

Black canyon

On reaching the Puente Hualpachaca, the get out for the Black Canyon section, we decided to abandon our plan to continue down the Apurimac due to episodes of violent vomitting and the lack of toilet páper. A rough night camping by the bridge later and we managed to catch a cattle truck back to Cusco - a mixed 6 hour journey across an amazing Andean landscape.

Grim return journey in a cattle truck

Rio Apurimac - Upper Section

Adam leading the charge down one of the first rapids of the section

20/07/12 - 22/07/12

The Upper Apurimac is an intense 7km section of grade 5 that is paddled from the villages of Tincoc to Nayhua. The trip took us two days and to say that our descent was an epic would be an understatement!

Day 1

From Tincoc, the river is initially flat before rounding a bend where the gradient rises sharply. Rapids are formed around and over huge boulders, with long and complex lines and the constant hazard of siphons- we inspected every rapid and set safety, our efforts were rewarded with some amazing lines and aesthetic moves in this kayaking game of chess.

A clean boof move

Tom lining up

Adam

 At the end of day 1 we were buzzing. We had paddled a series of great grade 5 rapids with no portages. The final rapid of the day stands out as particularly rewarding. A long 300-400 metres grade 5 with a complex set of moves around huge boulders. We have some good video of this rapid which we will put together back in the UK.

Camp

Day 2

Day 2 was to turn out to be a more nerve-racking affair to say the least. We began by making a grueling portage around a messy bouldery rapid, which is possibly paddleable, but non of us fancied it. Unfortunately on the next rapid Derf swam, and despite being quickly rescued her boat sailed off to be pinned 500 metres downstream. The extraction of the boat involved Derf live baiting to a rock in the centre of the river and then hauling the boat out from the pin. Some photos below show the difficulty of the boat extraction.

Derf being live baited to her boat

Many ropes!

We continued down the river with several more good rapids, but with two more portages that were physically very demanding. By this point the team was very tired, even though the end was almost in sight only 2 km away. Sadly Derf had another swim, and whilst she made it to the bank safely, we chased her boat for about a km down some read and run grade 4 / 4+ but we couldn´t retrieve the boat before it became pinned in the middle of the river above a grade 5 drop. At this point the river was 60-70 metres wide. With the boat in the middle of the river, there was no easy way for us to get to it. We decided to set up camp and have another look in the morning. 

The tricky pin

Day 3

Due to the width of the river at this point it was not possible to live bait a person to the boat. The only option was a tricky break-out and ferry glide above the main drop to get to a small rock where one could potentially clamber onto the rock and try to attach a line to the pinned boat. We elected to leave the boat and Derf made her way back to Cusco, in the hope that we might come back to retrieve it some time soon! 

Rio Velille

18/07/12 - 19/07/12

It took us two days to make the long trip from the Pozuzo valley back to Lima in what was quite an efficient journey. Once in Lima phase two of our trip was put into action as we booked tickets for the bus to Cusco and got all the maps we needed from the Instituto Geographico Nacional in Lima. The bus took 22 hours and we were soon in Cusco for the second leg of our trip.

Put on bridge at Occotuna

The Velille is a tributary of the Apurimac and to our knowledge only several kilometres of the upper stretches had been previously paddled. The information we had suggested that the part of the river that had been previously paddled was similar in nature to the Apurimac, but at lower volume. Fresh from the success of our first descent on the Mallampampa our plan was to run the 15 km stretch from the village of Occatuna to the confluence with Apurimac, completing this first descent. From here we would continue down the Apurimac.

Looking down into the canyon of the Velille

Day 1

After studying the map we calculated that the river dropped 20 m/km over the 15 km. One 4 hour bus ride from Cusco to Accha and a half hour taxi ride to the river and we daringly put on. The first couple of km were read and run grade 4, but soon enough we encountered a large landlslide that had fallen into the river. Several hours of walking over huge boulders revealed half a km of unpaddleable boulder chokes and siphons. Before attempting this mammoth portage we decided to scout a further km or so down the river to see what was in store. Suddenly the river chaged character and entered an almost sheer sided gorge. This posed a real problem for us as we did not know what rapids lay down stream within the gorge. Once in, there would be little chance of walking out of the gorge if we came to an unpaddleable rapid. It appears that the gorge lasts for above 7 km before opening back out again. Due to the landslides that we encountered before the gorge and the possibility of further unknown landslides within the gorge we decided not to carry on with the river and turn back. This was to be an arduous task in its own right.

Entrance to the 7km gorge

Alex walking back after the landslide rapid inspection

Alby paddling back up river to exit the canyon!

Day 2

We camped the night at the entrance to the gorge and the next morning began hauling the boats 2km back upstream over huge boudlers and constantly ferrying to the other side of the river to continue our journey. It was hard going but we completed the portage in half a day. Once back in Accha we chartered a cattle truck to take us to Tincoc that evening, the put on for the radical upper stretch of the Apurimac!

Travelling in style to Tincoc

Rio Huancabamba - Upper Section

Alby picks his way through a boulder garden

11/07/12

Leaving camp at the confluence of the Huancabamba and Mallampampa, we paddled this 10km stretch to the national park at the Quebrada Honda which turned out to provide some glorious class 4 rapids. No portages, great kayaking... ’nuff said.

Alex pícks his line on a meaty rapid

Adam winds up for a sweet boof

Derf tackles some read and run boulder garden fun

Rio Mallampampa - First Descent

Alex enjoying the run down

10/07/2012

Some research before our trip lead Adam to discovering what looked like a great possible first descent of a large tributary to the Rio Huancabamba. The Rio Mallampampa (or Huaylamayo as it is marked on some maps) winds its way down from the town of Mallampampa some 15km before it enters the Rio Huancabamba. We paddled this section in one day, camping that night at the confluence.

Derf tackles a drop on the first descent

Alex 

The river begins with several km of low volume bouldery grade 3-4 rapids before easing off to mellow grade 2 rapids set in a beautiful valley. The river continues in this way for 10 km or so until the final grade 4 gorge is reached. The beginning of the gorge is marked by a road bridge crossing the river. Below here the river flows between huge boulders with numerous grade 4 drops. That night we camped before heading further down stream to paddle the upper Huancabamba the next day.

Adam in the mix

Rio Pozuzo

Alex powering down

07/07/2012 – 08/07/2012

Having run the Huancabamba a few days before we were keen to experience how the river developed further down the valley. The 50km stretch of the Rio Pozuzo (the Rio Huancabamba changes its name as it passes the town of Pozuzo) proved to be a great warm up multiday for the team. 

Day 1

We rolled out of our hostel and got on the river at Pozuzo enjoying 15km of large volume grade 3 water in relatively open jungle. After a bite for lunch we entered what was to be a stunning 20km long grade 4 jungle corridor, reminiscent of the Sun Kosi in Nepal, until we emerged finding a perfect beach to set up camp on at about 3.30pm. Large cat prints in the sand and the sight of a couple of Macaws were enjoyed by all.

Alex and Tom 

The river gorges up a little

We devoured a dinner of sardines and spaghetti and spent some time stargazing by the camp fire before hunkering down in tents pitched under the watchful eye of a huge Tepui – a sharp mountain which protrudes the surrounding flat jungle. 

Day 2

One Thunderstorm and a somewhat soggy night´s sleep later we rose to a breakfast of porridge and Manjar and got on river again. Within an hour of similarly friendly whitewater the river flattened out completely and we had arrived at Codo del Pozuzo – the elbow of Pozuzo – where the river does a 180 degree bend and continues to meander towards the Amazon.

A happy team at the end of day one

The camp under the watchful Tepui

 We were met at the river bank by a friendly restaurant owner and his family who fed us our first Cuy (guinea pig) and kindly arranged a collectivo for our return to Pozuzo.

Our first taste of Cuy

The return journey was an epic undertaking in itself. The thunderstorm the night before had caused all of the tributaries of the Pozuzo to flash and much of the road seemed near impassable. Three hours of nail biting ferry glides in the collective across brown torrents covering the road and driving across some questionable ´pedestrian´ bridges we arrived back at the hostel glad to be home.

Crossing one of the swollen tributaries after the heavy night of rain

Rio Santa Cruz

Adam at the top of the Santa Cruz

05/07/2012

The Rio Santa Cruz is a tributary to the Rio Pozuzo. We paddled this 10km section in about 3 hours, putting on in a village called Tingo del Paso and taking out at the confluence with the Rio Huancabamba. We believe we made the second descent of this river. The river was a similar volume to the Huancabamba, but paddled at a grade or so lower at grade 3-4. The character of the valley was quite different to the Huancabamba, being slightly more open and less jungle, with large gravel banks. Again we managed to hitch a lift back to Pozuzo in a pick-up truck after walking for an hour to find transport. Derf saw a snake on this run, which was the first dangerous animal we have seen on the trip so far!

We thought it best to celebrate the beginning of some fantastic Peruvian boating with customary expedition haircuts. Fair to say we provided much entertainment for our hairdresser as we tried to describe the ridiculous looks we were inflicting on each member of the group. Alex has been dubbed the new Richard Branson.

Alex and his glorious mullet