"The overriding principle of a British Universities Kayaking Expedition is for a team of the UK's best student kayakers to undertake an exploratory trip in search of some of the worlds finest white water."

 

Northern Pakistan is one of the most mountainous regions in the world containing 5 of the 14 peaks over 8000m. As such it is the most heavily glaciated region in the world outside of the poles. We believe Northern Pakistan to contain hundreds of rivers of serious interest to whitewater paddlers which have remained largely unexplored, especially in recent years, due to the negative image and dangerous nature of Pakistan.



There have been a number of previous Kayak Expeditions to Pakistan, mostly in the 70's and 80's but since Pakistan's political strife in recent decades there have been only a handful of trips. Most previous expeditions have explored the rivers in the lower levels of Autumn, Winter and Spring. Arriving in mid July and paddling until the end of September we will be the second group to tackle the rivers at their full summer flows. While this will render some sections of the previously documented class 4/5 rivers unrunnable, high flows open up opportunities for paddling countless minor tributaries, the vast majority of which appear so far unexplored by kayakers. We hope as levels drop throughout the summer we will be able to tackle steeper and more committing sections of river.

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