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Dudh Kosi River
Rafting |
A "Steep rock-infested ditch'
with only fame to recommend it?
Or perhaps, in low water, a "cracking kayak
run”?
The River
The Dudh Kosi has been called the "Relentless
river of Everest" because it's on the main
trail to Everest Base Camp and so thousands
of trekkers and mountaineers have walked along
part of it and also of course, because of kayaking
films and books. This is a convenient but misleading
label as it's only one of its tributaries, The
Imja Khola that actually starts from the Khumbu
Glacier. This in itself is only one of four
glaciers that start on the mountain; the other
three drain to tributaries of the Arun, a much
more powerful river, that has a perhaps stronger
claim to be the ever of Everest.
This is steep river: the majority of the upper
river has a gradient of up to 12 m/km (600 ft
a mile) flowing in a deep gorge with the trail
a long way above. Namche Bazar the gradient
is more reasonable and further downstream, south
or the main trekking route, the gradient again
becomes less steep making for some good kayaking
down to near Rasuwa where the river becomes
almost flat for the 32 km to it's confluence
with the Sun Kosi.
The Dudh Kosi has seen several huge floods that
have scoured out the river bed and washed away
the usual rounded, water-worn boulders: leaving
instead jagged social debris all the way down
the river- hence the derogatory but perhaps
apt description 'rock-infested ditch" that
has been coined by those who have kayaked. These
floods have mainly been caused by 'GLOFs' -
glacial lake outburst foods. One in August 1985
had a flow of 11,600 cumecs, 17 times the average
in August. A ten meter high tidal wave of water,
mud and debris crushed homes, swept away bridges,
removed whole fields, and gouged out a new river:
those who had kayaked the river in 1976 didn't
recognize it when they turned ten years later.
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Fact
Box |
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Grade: |
Class
5-(6) |
From: |
Basa
Bridge (Alt. 1460m) |
To: |
Sunkosi
(Alt 330 m) |
Distance: |
68
km (43 miles) |
Days:
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6 |
From
ktm: |
2
days fly & trek |
| Av. Gradient: |
20m/km
(100 ft a mile) |
| Volume in Nov. |
100
cms (3500 cfs.) |
| Best time to run it: |
Nov-Dec,
Mar-Apr. |
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| What's
Included:
- All meals during the rafting period
- Rafting permit transportation going
by tourist or local bus depending upon the mode of transportation
available at put-in and pull-out point rafting, kitchen
and camping equipment experienced Captain
- Cook and other
staffs groupleader will be free over ten pax
What's Included:
- Mineral water,Cold
drinks and Alcohols during whole trip.
- Emergency
evacuation things of personal use member insurance
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