Pakistan, Indus River - Day Fourteen

By Darin McQuoid

On our fourteenth day in Pakistan we weren’t too surprised to have more long
scouts of big rapids.

Early on we took a look at an unusual Indus rapid. On most rivers it would
just be a gravel bar riffle. Proportions change on the Indus, we felt like
miniatures, the "gravel bar" was big enough to contain sieves. Eventually a
satisfactory line was found and we all came through
with no problems, to arrive at the lip of the next major rapid only too
soon.

The already tough rapids had looked like nothing from the road, but soon
enough we were perched above a rapid noted during the road-scout . We said
that it looked like an easy move, a consistent mistake for our group.

As each team member ran the drop they would our view would be blocked by a
larger boulder, and each one was upside down when they returned to view. It
was obvious the hole wasn’t retentive, but the hit was more akin to running
a waterfall, cartwheeling everyone on contact. Not quite the big fluffy
thing it looked like.

High above we saw a rapid that looked terrible, and our assumption of a
portage was correct. The river funneled down and cascaded over what was sure
to be a pile of rocks. Phil Boyer in the bottom of the picture helps put it
in perspective, the mighty river narrowed to thirty feet wide while
cascading forty feet over a pile of rocks.

Goliath center holes blocked any direct route, and going down the right
required climbing over a few feet of boils, no easy task. What truly
concerned us about the right side was a possible pocket hole at the bottom.

Phil Boyer proclaimed it safe and probed down the right side with results
that while not exactly inspiring, did prove that the rapid went, but coming
through the bottom without rolling was an unlikely prospect. Chris Korbulic
and I followed with varying degrees of success, each rolling on the frigid
glacial water. Ben Stookesberry had eddied out on the left and found a line
with a beautiful boof perpendicular to the flow.

Past the frightening drop we paddled a quick bit of read and run, glad to
greet Roland Stevenson and our drivers, ready for some Chai and Dahl,
knowing the following days whitewater wouldn’t disappoint.

Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.