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Kyrgyzstan
Day Eleven: the Greater Naryn
David Lew walks across a tributary to the Naryn.
The team scouts from a convenient bridge.
Lower part of the gorges is washed out at our high flows, but look at that boil!
Rok Sribar goes first, epic surf wave up top on the rapid.
Egor Voskoboynikov lining up the main move.
David Lew with Egor Voskoboynikov and Rok Sribar downstream
It's on a few kilometers between the second and third, largest gorge of the run. We scout on the left.
The broken bridge and massive eddy before the final gorge.
Rok Sribar takes an up close look.
Egor Voskoboynikov working to stay right on the gorge entrance.
David Lew heads into the heart of the gorge.
The rapids are big, smiles ear to ear, we stop to have lunch and make some tea as a tributary cascades down the cliff walls into the river.
Michal Kuthan
Some places are beyond words, David Lew heads into the last portion of the gorge where we have one more scout and a few more exciting rapids before the exit.
Just over seven hours and 60km later, we're at take out for the Greater Naryn. As always Gimi [Дмитрий Погорелов] is waiting for us at take out, something that is exceptionally nice not to worry about.
A nice sunset view before heading to bed.
On to Day Nine, The Kokomerin
Day Eleven: the Greater Naryn
David Lew walks across a tributary to the Naryn.
After
a week ablove 7,000' we're now around 5,000' and 150km west of the
Little Naryn confluence. The scenery has changed dramaticly as is
obvious in the above image, it looks remarkadly similar to the American
Southwest, yet we still get the occasional glimpse of a glacier. You
could call it the Lower Naryn, but with a tributary like the Little
Naryn, calling it the Greater Naryn is a lot more fun and descriptive,
because it's a big river at this point, big enough to be in that weird
volume zone that is hard to guess, 10,000cfs or 20,000cfs? You bet.
It's a ~60km section with three distinct gorges. I'm not a marathon
paddler and never have loved long days, and am skeptical that we're
doing this 37 mile section as a day trip, without a particularly early
start.
We put on a murky tributary and at 1.7km merge into the less silty water of the Naryn proper, and once we hit that flow it's fast moving and I quickly loose concern about this as a day trip. About 6.5km and forty five minutes into the section we enter a scenic gorge with some pleasant big water II-III rapids, and 4km later are out on our first scout, the exit rapid of the first gorge.
It's hard to get a grasp on feature size, we all agree a far right line looks like the best choice.
Rok Sribar makes the ferry across to run the right side.
Michal Kuthan runs the entrance move of the first big rapid.
David Lew on the same beautiful move.
Rok Sribar after the first big wave, it's a bit of a fight to stay right.
Gorge walls open up and we are treated to more southwest scenery as we continue another hour and ~10km to the next gorge and scout.
David Lew excited about some big splashes in the second gorge.
We put on a murky tributary and at 1.7km merge into the less silty water of the Naryn proper, and once we hit that flow it's fast moving and I quickly loose concern about this as a day trip. About 6.5km and forty five minutes into the section we enter a scenic gorge with some pleasant big water II-III rapids, and 4km later are out on our first scout, the exit rapid of the first gorge.
It's hard to get a grasp on feature size, we all agree a far right line looks like the best choice.
Rok Sribar makes the ferry across to run the right side.
Michal Kuthan runs the entrance move of the first big rapid.
David Lew on the same beautiful move.
Rok Sribar after the first big wave, it's a bit of a fight to stay right.
David Lew, the drive right to avoid the big hole on the other side of the hump.
Gorge walls open up and we are treated to more southwest scenery as we continue another hour and ~10km to the next gorge and scout.
David Lew excited about some big splashes in the second gorge.
The team scouts from a convenient bridge.
Lower part of the gorges is washed out at our high flows, but look at that boil!
Rok Sribar goes first, epic surf wave up top on the rapid.
Egor Voskoboynikov lining up the main move.
David Lew with Egor Voskoboynikov and Rok Sribar downstream
One last picture of the rapid, Michal Kuthan enters the second gorge
It's on a few kilometers between the second and third, largest gorge of the run. We scout on the left.
The broken bridge and massive eddy before the final gorge.
Rok Sribar takes an up close look.
The
final gorge is the gem of the run, it'll be about 6km of big rapids
until the canyon opens up. The high flow has washed out some rapids and
made others extra large. The boils are not to be trifled with and it's
a no swim zone, thankfully the lines are decently wide open.
Egor Voskoboynikov working to stay right on the gorge entrance.
David Lew heads into the heart of the gorge.
The rapids are big, smiles ear to ear, we stop to have lunch and make some tea as a tributary cascades down the cliff walls into the river.
Michal Kuthan
Some places are beyond words, David Lew heads into the last portion of the gorge where we have one more scout and a few more exciting rapids before the exit.
Just over seven hours and 60km later, we're at take out for the Greater Naryn. As always Gimi [Дмитрий Погорелов] is waiting for us at take out, something that is exceptionally nice not to worry about.
What
a mix of scenery and whitewater, I think the Greater Naryn or Lower
Naryn is one of the finest combinations of scenery and whitewater
available. Hard to believe it's road to road, and it could make a very
nice multi day trip as well. We camp at take out, happy to see the
weather clearing.
long dEgor on food prep, Michal and David filtering water and Rok doing Rok stuff.
long dEgor on food prep, Michal and David filtering water and Rok doing Rok stuff.
A nice sunset view before heading to bed.
On to Day Nine, The Kokomerin