First Descent of the Sutlej in Tibet

<html> <head><script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/bundle-playback.js?v=HxkREWBo" charset="utf-8"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/wombat.js?v=txqj7nKC" charset="utf-8"></script> <script>window.RufflePlayer=window.RufflePlayer||{};window.RufflePlayer.config={"autoplay":"on","unmuteOverlay":"hidden"};</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/_static/js/ruffle/ruffle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> __wm.init("https://web.archive.org/web"); __wm.wombat("http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/1stdes/indus/sutlej2004b.html","20150405045600","https://web.archive.org/","web","/_static/", "1428209760"); </script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/banner-styles.css?v=S1zqJCYt" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_static/css/iconochive.css?v=3PDvdIFv" />  <title>First Descent of the Sutlej in Tibet</title> <meta name="description" content="Sutlej River (Xianquan He) in Tibet"> <meta name="keywords" content="Rafting and Kayaking the Sutlej River, China rivers, kayaking China, rafting China, whitewater China, First Descents of the Indus River, Xiangquan, Xianquan"> <meta author="author" content="Pete Winn, structural geologist and whitewater rafter and kayaker, with the assistance of Allen Wilson, professional web designer and whitewater rafter and kayaker"> </head> <body bgcolor="#ddffff" vlink="#FF0000"> <table width="620" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" align="center"> <tr> <td> <p><center> <img src="/web/20150405045600im_/http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/1stdes/indus/lowersutlej.jpg" width="500" height="375"> <p><b> Lower Sutlej (Xianquan) in Tibet, 2004</b></center> <p> Trip leader Alexander Selvachev of the Russian Adventure and Travel Team (www.ratt.ru) led the first descent of the lower Sutlej in the fall of 2006 (Tsada, 31 29 57N 79 29 23a, to Sybgyi, 31 47 04N, 78 51 45E), a few months after a German team completed a first descent of the upper Sutlej (see 2004a). They also ran a second descent of the upper Sutlej and claim to have run a short (10 mile) canyon the German team portaged in this section. The scenery is unreal, and they saw several ancient cave towns, cut into the soft shales. There were no roads or inhabitants in this extremely dry region. <p> The lower section contained several Class 6 rapids (rock sieves) that required portaging (see photo above); otherwise the river was Class 3-4 at the 1000 cfs late fall flow. Average gradient was about 18' per mile for the 60 mile section. The 9 member team used two catarafts for the 11 day trip. Due to the portages and extreme remoteness, this is probably not a good repeat run. <p> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150405045600/http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/1stdes/indus/indus.html">Return to First Descents of the Indus</a> <br> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150405045600/http://www.shangri-la-river-expeditions.com/">More info about rivers in China</a> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>

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First Descent of the Sutlej in Tibet