Hell Or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo River

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The Tsangpo Gorge cuts through the eastern end of the Himalayas to form the deepest, most remote river canyon on earth. It is revered as the last remaining extreme adventure challenge. The most recent, failed attempt in 1998 ended in death for one of the team. In February and March of 2002, seven of the world's top expeditionary kayakers paddled their boats onto the furious currents of Tibet's Tsangpo River and into the throat of the gorge. Led by filmmaker Scott Lindgren, the kayakers launched a grand 19th century-style river expedition on a scale not seen since Lewis and Clark. Supported by an international team of eighty - including Nepali Sherpas, a Buddhist lama, a great Tibetan explorer, and author and adventurer Peter Heller - they were prepared to go fifty days through the Himalayan winter without re-supply. It would become a thirty-seven day epic, taking the paddlers through the most dangerous sustained whitewater ever kayaked - and into the heart of the mythical Shangri-la, an isolated world of dense forests, ancient prayer caves and golden panthers.

Author Bio

Peter Heller, an extreme kayaker himself, was on the expedition's ground support team. He is an author (Set Free in China: Sojourns on the Edge) and a contributor to National Geographic Adventure, Harper's, Men's Journal and National Public Radio USA's All Things Considered.