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

A History of WHY?

So imagine my surprise, when, about 4 years ago I decided that i needed an adventure. I was surprised because my life already was an adventure.
A couple of years before I had quit a really good job, as a social care officer in Scotland (I was working with great people, in a great project, feeling as though I was helping people, and making some cash, and even better was I had most weekends off to do what i really wanted), and headed to Canada to be a whitewater raft guide in British Columbia. I had just finished 18 months of guiding rafts on some of the best rivers on 3 continents (at one point I worked on all 3 continents in 2 weeks: The Nile in Uganda, The orchy in Scotland,that may be a bit of an exaggeration. Then back in BC on the Kicking Horse River). I was fit as fiddle and about to start work as a ski instructor in Vancouver, the best city in the world for rivers and snow.
So let me repeat. Imagine my surprise.......!
However there is a little more to go which requires me to slip a bit further back into the past, and some family and personal history.
I had spent most of my adult llife floating around, trying to find my place in life....what i wanted to do, and a place I wanted to do it in.
I found I was a practical, and pohysical person. I wanted to ski, paddle, hike, climb, camp. I wanted these things in the best places to do it. I narrowed all these down to 2....paddling and skiing (when i say paddling, for me that is firstly whitewater kayaking, and canoeing. Ilove those things for myself, then for work i love to guide rafts on rivers. I am so fortunate tohave discovered my passions and then be employed to make money from them)
Then i wanted to "put something back".after those 18 months of unadulterated, selfish, fun, I found I need to do something more. From fairly early on in my "adult" life (my mother would argue about how much of an adult I am) I have gained a lot of personal satisfaction, self worth, and achievement, out of being involved in "helping" people. I just fell into teaching outdoor activities, and discovered that.
Then, aboyt 8 years ago (it feels longer in some ways, as so much hasa been packed in since then) both my parents suffer from cancer of one type or another. My fathers started earlier than that. Lung cancer. Then after had been treated for that for about 3 years (2 operations later, and 1 lung less, and new case of diabetes) my mother is rushed into hospital with Leukemia. 5 months later she's finally out of hospital. Then my dear old dad decides he had enough fighting and gives in to the disease.
Now mother is 7 years in remission, and volunteers for the charity that helped her regain the strength she had before leukemia.

At this point I must thank daphne, my mothers sister, and my aunt for the amazing support she gave to us by keeping our house, and my father in line, so my mother didn't worry about him, and the 3 of us.

So there I was thinking "what adventure can I come up with". Finally after a couple of other ideas, and new baby son (who's now 1 year old), I have this "Top to Bottom, Source to Sea"
I can use my skills and experience of the outdoors, to test myself as much as I can. To see if I have the strength of character that my parents had to keep going during the toughest of times of intense personal pain and physical hardship. Using my mental skills and determination to focus on a goal and see it through to the end, knowing how physically and mentally demanding it is going to be.
But also I can use this journey as a vehicle to raise some cash to put back into organisations that have the ability and knowledge to support individuals and families who don't have a choice about what pain and suffering they are going through, and so deserve as much support as they can get.

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