The Beas Gorge and getting to Manali...

After a successful Tsarap Chu and Zanskar Gorge expedition the next day I headed from Leh, Ladakh to Manali, Himachal Pradesh on one of the worlds best drives.  We were in a Suzuki Gypsy and about to head over 5000m passes, crossing high altitude desert plains and heading down the switchbacks towards the green of Manali.

We were told of a possible storm approaching from Pakistan and the clouds looked full of snow. However we were at the end of the Mori Plains and heading to Sarchu and the notorious Baralacha La Pass. The sun had disappeared on the way up to the pass and by the time we reached the top the light was fading fast.  We got to Upper Zing Zing Bar and not wanting to test our nerves any longer we decided to stay the night in a dhaba.

This is what we woke up to!  It had started to snow in the night and now the road had been closed to traffic.  We had to wait up in the cold dhaba drinking sweet chai (tea).

With this amount of snow, it was just a matter of waiting for the first vehicle to arrive to get a report on the road conditions.  We got a report and were good to go, however, Bob's Gypsy was slightly less willing to move as the battery had lost all its power.  What ensued was a bump start from hell.  It took us some 8km of pushing both down and uphill in altitudes in excess of 4600m.  

On the final attempt it started, I had no more energy and by the time I got to the jeep the engine was running and Bob had the heater on!  Manali was not far, well we hoped.

It took us another 10 hours to reach Manali and we were only the 10th vehicle to get there that day and that was after I let about 6 crazy taxi drivers overtake on a wacky racers race down the Rohtang Pass. 

Now it was time for another adventure on the river.

The plan was to head down some 3 hours south of Manali to the town of Mandi and go run the Beas Gorge.  This section of river had been on my radar for a while, however with rumours of continuous class V rapids and with very little information on the section I only wanted to head in there the first time when the river ran clear - which meant the main monsoon madness had finished.

We put on just below Mandi, avoiding any sort of official, government agency that would try and stop us kayaking or make us pay a "one time fee" to actually get on.

It was warm and so was the water temperature!

Up to now it had been class III read and run, now we came to our first major rapid.  Henry dropping in on river left.

Lisa coming in from river right, the polished granite rocks were amazing.

The next day saw us run some classic whitewater, all pool drop with some really sweet lines.

Henry was in his element making my life a lot easier as a camera man!

Lisa was also providing me with some action shots

Lisa and Kelly talking about their runs!

Once we came out of the gorge, we hit the Lower Beas.  A mellow paddle down through some lush, jungle scenery.

With no bugs at the camps we were loving the tropical style kayaking that is just a few hours drive from the mountain town of Manali.

The following morning saw us getting up early to meet up with our taxi, the light at 6am is well worth the early rise.

We had completed another river section and it has been such a long time since anyone has run the gorge.  What the locals have told me is that it had been over 15 years since they last saw someone come through the Beas Gorge.  The wait will not be nowhere as long the next time.  Why?  Because I am planning on running a couple of tributaries above and below the Beas Gorge.
Not only are they first descents but I plan to kayak everything alone....

A big thank you goes out to Bob for the epic drive and also to Chris the fisherman for all the river information, without which the journey would have been a lot harder!!