Kiwi kayakers to explore white-water in Papua New Guinea

1 May 2013

Kiwi kayakers to descend unexplored canyons and white-water in Papua New Guinea

The fourth 2013 Sport New Zealand Hillary Expedition, Gradient and Water, will leave on Friday morning for Papua New Guinea to take on the unpaddled canyons of the Chimbu River – one of the more challenging wilderness kayaking runs in the world.

Following a successful white-water kayaking expedition to Papua New Guinea in 2011, which included eight ‘first descents’, the team will return to the Chimbu province to push further down the river canyons.

Team leaders Jordan Searle and Barny Young tried to tack the Chimbu Canyons onto the end of their 2011 trip as an extra, but they lost Young’s kayak when it was sucked into a waterfall. Young managed to escape, but by the time his kayak was spat out and returned by locals, the team was short on time and had to depart. They’ve since wanted to return and claim the first kayak descent of the Chimbu for themselves.

Searle and Young will be joined by new members Matt Coles and Ari Walker during the 23 day expedition. They hope to access the headwaters of the river near Gembogl Station and travel down a series of canyons to where it meets the Wahgi River.

Searle says some significant sections of the river would qualify as first descents, but the challenging white-water and waterfall conditions aren’t their only test, they’ll also have to overcome the challenge of Papua New Guinea itself.

“For the first couple of days after arriving we’ll need to organise transportation. Internet and phone access in PNG is unreliable, so we will have to wait until we are there to do this.

“We’ll tell locals to spread the news of our plans, so we do not intrude on people’s land. That will be done via the bush-telegraph, which we think is the most reliable and effective form of communication in the area,” says Searle.

All of the members of this expedition have paddled with each other numerous times. Searle says it’s helped the team develop a sense of each other’s abilities and an understanding of how each other describes rapids.

“When paddling we 'read and run' any rapids that we can see the bottom of or have a very good idea of what is coming. In the many instances this isn't possible, one member will get out of his kayak and describe the rapid for the other paddlers to paddle. With the knowledge of one another's ability, we will sometimes prompt the other paddlers to gauge the rapid for themselves if there isn’t an obvious line, or if the rapid is particularly difficult. This would usually be a solid class V rapid,” says Searle.

Sport NZ Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin says this is the second Sport NZ Hillary Expedition grant the team has received and they deserve it, given the way they devote themselves to the sport and promote it in the way they do.

“One of the reasons the Sport NZ Hillary Expeditions exist is because we want these adventures to inspire Kiwis to get out there. The Gradient and Water guys are brilliant at pushing their sport to its extreme and their enthusiasm for it is unyielding. They’re great Kiwis who have done us proud overseas before and I’m sure they will again. I hope they continue to inspire young Kiwis to get into the outdoors and discover New Zealand for themselves, as Jordan and Barny have done,” said Miskimmin.

This first descent of the Grand Canyons of the Chimbu is not only motivated by the team’s passion for the sport, but also the sense of unfinished business.

“After the 2011 expedition to Papua New Guinea our team came away astounded by what we had achieved,” says Searle.

“We had set an almost insurmountable goal of 10 first descents and had come away with eight, in a much more hostile environment than we had imagined. Even with this, there was still a feeling of unfinished business as although we had successfully paddled a section of the Chimbu, we had been beaten by it. Two years have passed and our mutual desire to get back to PNG is stronger than ever. Armed with two more years’ experience in our kayaks and the in-country knowledge from our last expedition to PNG, we are as ready as ever to get back and finish what we started. Bagging this would further prove that Kiwis are on top of the world in another realm of adventure recreation.”

A short fly-over of the expedition is available on YouTube for embedding in articles or for broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6hDbNEglPU&hd=1

For more information on the Sport New Zealand Hillary Expeditions, go to www.hillaryexpeditions.org.nz

ENDS

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