‘Below the powerhouse’

Our little team of 4 strapped our kayaks to the top of a minibus, and settled in for the 2 hour drive to the put-in of the Modi Khola section we wanted to paddle. (‘Below the powerhouse’).

The Modi is one of the increasing number of rivers in Nepal which has had the kayaking landscape changed significantly by the construction of a hydro-electric dam. Although Becky had kayaked this section before, we had been told we would need to get on a bit further down the river than she had previously, due to further construction.

The guidebook grades this section as class 4/4+ which made it on-paper the hardest river we intended to paddle without guides. Logistically it made sense, as the take-out put us within reach of the Kali Gandaki river, but it was an intimidating prospect to us as our first river of the trip, and our ‘warm-up’ river!

We arrived at the put-in (after a stop for our driver to ask for directions!), and to my eyes it looked pretty hard. It’s fair to say we were all pretty nervy, and during the first few rapids our paddling suffered as a result. A lot of ‘defensive’ strokes (generally considered poor technique) were deployed and one particular rapid caused some upset with the group. (2 rolls, and a big ‘high recovery’ stroke between the 4 of us!).

However, some great leading from Becky and we settled into a rhythm, working as a team to scout as needed or ‘read-and-run’ the rapids, which did seem (perhaps due to our growing confidence) to gradually get easier as we approached the bottom of the valley.

With no clear knowledge of where to get out, we were somewhat jumpy about missing our stop and facing a long walk back to the road to meet our driver and his minibus. However, just as we were approaching another rapid, Becky spotted something up high on the bank, there he was! We quickly pulled into an eddy and scrambled up the steep and slippy bank. We’d survived our first river of the trip. Great going team!