Qinghai, China

I haven't boated in Qinghai but there is certainly huge potential and September would be a good time to explore with water levels dropping but "good" summer weather usually still around.

Jed Weingarten

Permits are very confusing - some rivers have no permits whatsoever (but might if you meet the wrong local govt. official) other rivers (especially in Yunnan) have high permit fees. Politics in Tibetan areas of China changes daily! In my opinion the best approach in Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan is light and fast and no permits at all!!

Depending on what you want to do, I'd recommend heading up to Qinghai, Tibet, or Xinjiang at that time of year. As far as permits, qinghai is the easiest, because you don't really need them. You can travel on public buses and move freely around, which is not the case in Tibet and XJ. There are some rivers to run out in XJ, but it has only had limited exploration. Logistics are tough, roads are scarce, but it looks beautiful and amazing. I've never been there, so can't tell you much. Tibet is awesome at that time of year and would probably be my first choice. But you will need permits up there, and it's not a super cheap paddling trip. There is one company up there that can get permits and arrange vehicles and such. they charge pretty reasonable rates.


So, it sort of comes down to what you want to do. There are some sections of the Yellow in Qinghai that haven't been run for 20+years that are supposedly pretty cool. I've never run them, but I've driven out there at that time and levels looked good. There is a lot of pretty cool creekin in Tibet, but we're talking pretty big volume creeking, N. Payette style!!


Let me know your thoughts, what kind of difficulty and style you're after, multi-day vs. day trips, and I can give you more specific information. Talk to you soon,


Jed

Hi Dave,


yes, I do like China. I also speak mandarin, so it's a pretty easy place for me to work and play.


Do you have skype? maybe we could chat that way, it might be the easiest way.


Sounds like you've got a solid crew, which is awesome. Spend some time on google earth and search around Qinghai to see what you can find. W. Tibet would have some cool options, but again, you'd need permits and to hire a vehicle.


Anyhow, let's chat on skype one day. Talk to you soon,


Jed


skype: jedweingarten

Qinghai is pretty much flat – scenic float trips but not a lot of exciting whitewater. In terms of permits, to my knowledge they are presently not a big issue, but I would check with Chen Hao if you decide on Sichuan/Chongqing area - he may have a better line on those things than I do. If you choose Sichuan pay attention to politics before you go – the Tibetan areas there (where the best paddling is) have been shut down periodically over the past few years. I live in China now but I’m pretty busy and don’t know of any guides/translators that could help you out but you might want to email Chen Hao, the organizer of ChinaRaft.com and see if he knows anyone who would be interested in helping you – perhaps in exchange for guide wages and paddling lessons or something like that. It is really tricky to figure things out on your own if you don’t speak Chinese. Chen’s email is <shama_yn@hotmail.com> (he’s ccd here). Make sure it is clear that you would be able to offer compensation to anyone he introduces you to or else a significant amount of instructions/gear/etc – something that would clearly benefit the paddling community here – because I know he gets a lot of requests from boaters looking for expedition paddling and beta who don’t really appreciate how hard it is to handle logistics and get to know the rivers around here.

Hey Dave

Yes where ever you end up going in China/Tibet, you'll need permits and probably a registered vehicle and driver.

It becomes expensive in Tibet because not only do you need to purchase permits but also cannot travel without a guide and a Chinese driver, to be honest Windhorse did us a good deal, compared to sourcing a vehicle etc ourselves, China should be cheaper though.

Summer would be the wrong time to paddle the rivers we did in Eastern Tibet, as you really need low water so October/Nov is better for the bigger rivers, however by the end of Nov the smaller creeks were too low, so these should be good in the summer.

We found most of the rivers in Sichuan province around Chengdu are damned, Yunnan is probably a better bet or maybe Qinghai? I'd love to go explore up there.

Although our paths have never crossed I hear the man with the knowledge of kayaking in China is Jed Weingarten his website is here http://www.jedweingarten.com/

Good luck, let me know what you find if you end up in Qinghai

Matt

think I got some old russian air charts from http://www.themapshop.co.uk/

We did a weeks mission in Sichuan province from Chengdu after Tibet. That would have been about November time, and despite the fact the rivers were empty, they were still huge. There is a lot of water in that area. They are damning the shit out of it, and fast too, but I can't believe it has all gone just yet. I imagine it would all be a bit too high in July, August, but I am not a reliable source for that.

He didn't talk about it directly but he definitely talked about doing sections on the upper mekong which is sourced there. There will be loads there, but again its whether its been dammed yet.

There was a blog on the astral news section, if you scroll through their news pages there will be four posts
http://www.astralbuoyancy.com/news/expedition/yalong-river-world-class-whitewater-faces-a-bleak-future/

This is the third, the first two aren't so good. Check out the Yangste one too,

I'll look into Qinghai some more, we all want to go back to China... and it's not necessarally a winter destination.... It was really cold when we were there. April could be good and March.