Rio Paucartambo Wrapup

The Rio Paucartambo is a real gem of a river, and it has only been run in completion a handful of times. Andy Round, Todd Collins, Scott Baker, Ben West, and I were fortunate enough to complete a full decent from 11/2-11/6, logging one of the fastest decents known to date. The river requires huge versatility, starting high in the mountains with an estimted 750cfs, ending 250km later at the confluence with the Urubamba River, at nearly 5000cfs. The rapids are in the hundreds with many Class IV-V and a few mandatory portages. We completed the canyon section of the river in 3 days, ending our third day camping below the final canyon. The last two days are more than 120km of bigwater jungle boating with one steep secton and a lot of Class III-IV and a lot of flatwater. The Paucartombo is amazing.

Deep in the canyon we often found ourselves dumbstruck at the beauty of the place with its huge orange boulders in Orange Canyon, and Indiana Jones-like limestone cliffs and traces of the Inca Civilizations that have inhabited the canyon for thousands of years.

Our team was excellent, and that contributed hugely to the success of our mission. As a group we have a ton of river experience in diverse areas. Andy is the main man, leading the trip, probing everything, dropping into stuff that left us wondering, 'Did he really just drop that?' His lines were almost always good, and if they weren´t he pointed us in the right direction. Todd has tons of experience kayaking all over the world as well, including the US, Costa Rica and lots in Ecuador. Ben is from Colorado and knows how to run the mank, which was great for the first day or two before the volume kicked up. He was also a great tent partner when it started to drizzle each night around 2am. Baker has fired up all sorts of stuff from Ecuador to BC, and all over the US. He and Andy knew each other from Ecuador, I know Baker through Ben, and Ben, Todd, Andy and I work together at Wet Planet 7 months a year. We had a very strong team with no reservations.

Our trip was graced with both excellent weather and water levels. The levels were a bit low, but that made it posibble to boat scout a lot more and keep the group moving. The group of 5 was a good size to have, both for division of food, group gear, and stuff, but also to break into teams of 2 and 3, as well as running down rapids together. It was pretty ideal. We didn´t get any rain while we were in the canyon, and the water level we marked each night seemed to drop a bit by each morning. We had a bit of rain in the jungle section of the canyon, but not enough to force a hike out or portage of rapids. November is the edge of rainy season here, so we were hoping for no rain, and we got very lucky. Being in the canyon with heavy rain would be terrifying, as the numerous Class IV rapids accelerated into one giant Class V mele.

We moved through the canyon quickly as a result of fast motivation in the AM (on the river 8:30 or earlier every day), as well as our teamwork scouting and probing rapids. Although Andy did most of the probing, we were all waiting in the next eddy to drop as soon as he signaled clear. It was a smooth dance by day 3. We were well prepared with decent beta, positive attitude and provisions to spend 8 days out. We only eneded up spending 5 days on the river, but it is easy to see how it could take 7-9 days if you swam, it rained, injuries, hike outs, or any sort of mishap. We also are a lot of chocolate. That helps.