In the South Western corner of Peru, the Rio Cotahuasi carves the deepest canyon in the whole of the Americas, through the Andean Mountains, and the Atacama desert, and into the Pacific Ocean.
In order to raise money for charity I am going to solo-paddle as much of the river as possible.
I will be paddling a catraft as it is the best vessel for transporting myself and all my gear for a 2-3 week river trip.
The river has a commercial rafting section( which is 6 days on the river), but this is such a remote canyon that it is run very rarely.
My plan is to run the river from above the commercial put-in, through some long stretches of class 4 and 5 (there are a couple of canyons which I may portage), and 1 definate portage around Sipia Falls (60m waterfall, and cataract). Then raft through the commercial section and on down to the Pacific Ocean at Ocona.
Thats the "plan" (for want of a better word).
The trip is about challenge.....my skills and experince agains the environment.
The image below is taken from space, of the Rio Cotahuasi,and its neighbour The Colca Canyon (the 2nd deepest in the Americas). The Cotahuasi is the gorge on the left. The snow covered peaks are 2 volcanoes (from left to right); Solimana 6,093m, and Coropuna 6,425m. These mountains are the highest points of the plateau which the Cotahuasi has cut its way through. At the deepest point in the valley the river is 3,354m below the summit of Nevado Coropuna (over twice as deep as the Grand Canyon). This was once thought to be the deepest in the world (that was recently changed to the Yarlung Tsango in the Himalayas).
The Rio is still one of the deepest and remote places on the planet, at over 2 miles deep, on the Southern end of the Atacama desert (the driest place on earth).


The white in the bottom left corner is low level cloud on the Pacific Ocean coastline

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

HOW LONG TO GO?

THREE DAYS.....3 sleeps left....NOT LONG!
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