|
WHY FIRST DESCENTS ARE SPECIAL
Why would anyone do a trip like this? There was a time in human history
when everywhere anyone went was unexplored, dangerous territory. Those
who went first made it easier for all who followed. Explorers who returned
let the rest know it could be done. Those who didn't return caused the
next to be cautious, to be better prepared. Just knowing someone had climbed
a mountain, run a river, or traversed a continent gave confidence to those
who followed.
Being the first into the unknown is missing from our lives today. It
is an urge most people never get to play against. The Yangtze River Expedition
gave some of us a chance to get back to our roots and push against fear
with confidence and courage. Attempting a first descent of a major river
gave us a chance to see how deep were our roots. When the white water
appears, when scouting is impossible, when stopping is out of the question,
that is when I saw the essence of living. There on the cusp of death was
the peace of existence so deep, so exciting that it could become addictive.
Mountain climbers face it. Soldiers in battle are changed by it. It is
on the extreme edge of life.
DEATH ON THE YANGTZE
Before we left the United States, Ken asked us all if we could deal with
the unknown. We all thought we could, but events proved differently. Stories
of an all-Chinese river team ahead of us added fuel to the fires of fear.
Three or four of the Chinese team had been killed in a waterfall somewhere
ahead. Others were missing further down river. All this zinged in the
back of our heads as our four rafts left Yushu. Left behind were those
who questioned their ability to follow Ken into the unknown,  and
one at least who blamed Ken for not saving Dave Shippee from death by
some combination of asthma, altitude and pneumonia. Dave, the team photographer,
became ill before we went to the Yangtze's source at 17,600 feet on the
north side of Tanggula Mountain where it flows from the Jianggendiru Glacier
at the foot of the Geladan-dong Peak. He had to return to Golmud,
at 9,000', to recover while the expedition covered the first 200 miles
of river from the source back to basecamp, at 12,000'.That portion took
two weeks, traveling there by truck and yak and hiking, then using inflatable
kayaks for the return by river, which was shallow in places, without whitewater.
By the time we returned to base camp, Dave was apparently well, and Ken
allowed him to join the expedition for the 550-mile float to Yushu. Two
days out, Dave got ill and the doctor did all he could to bring him around.
By the end of the fourth day he was dead. We were only 100 miles down
river from base at Tuotuohoyen, but there was no way we could return.
The river had been shallow in several sections, forcing us to drag the
two-ton, 18-foot long rafts over sand bars.
 Earlier,
while in his tent at base
camp, Dave told me he was going on the river no matter what. Meaning
that he was going to go, well or not. It was his choice. We all knew there
would be no means of rescue. We were totally on our own until the city
of Yushu, more than 500 miles down river. We had a radio but the support
team would be far away, following the roads overland to Yushu. No one
had expected any trouble on this section of the river above Yushu, and
no one heard our calls.
|
"In my 30-plus years of expeditions I can’t recall a
single trip of that magnitude," says Wilcox, now an adventure
filmmaker in Aspen, Colorado. "I always said the Yangtze was
an expedition with a capital ‘E’. There were no fly-over
capabilities and there was no safety net." In May of 1987,
Outside magazine ran a story on the trip by Michael McRae called
"Mutiny on the Yangtze," describing how four members of
the team left the expedition at Yushu, taking a bus to Chengdu.
But Wilcox disagrees with the assessment. "The whole mutiny
story was total bullshit," Wilcox says. "The only ‘mutiny’
was the doctor getting the hell out of Dodge."
read more in Paddler Magazine
|
|
Continued
|