FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Elaine Brosnan Garza
Outside Magazine
Communications Director
(212) 972-4650
Egarza@Outsidemag.com
THE Outside TSANGPO EXPEDITION TRIUMPHS ON "THE EVEREST OF RIVERS" — TIBET'S LEGENDARY TSANGPO
Expedition Kayaker Scott Lindgren and a Team of 87 Conquers One of the Last Great Adventure Prizes on the Planet
New York, NY (April 2, 2002) - Outside Magazine, America's leading active lifestyle and adventure magazine, announced today that the Outside Tsangpo Expedition Team has successfully accomplished the first whitewater descent of Tibet's Tsangpo Gorge. The Tsangpo Gorge
is the highest river in the world and it has stood as one of the last unattained adventure prizes left on earth, until now.
Sponsored by Outside Magazine and Chevy Avalanche, a team of the world's best expeditionary kayakers joined forces to attempt the historic first descent of the Tsangpo Gorge. The last attempt to conquer the river was in 1998; that National Geographic Society-sponsored kayaking expedition trip ended tragically when a member of
the team drowned near the entrance to the Gorge and the expedition was called off.
Scott Lindgren, a 29-year-old world-class kayaker and Emmy-award winning cameraman led the Outside Tsangpo Expedition, supported by an international team of kayakers. The expedition members represent seven different countries including England, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, China, Nepal and the United States. Lindgren and
his team, in conjunction with Outside Television, filmed the dramatic expedition for an upcoming network special in May.
It took the expedition only two weeks to kayak through the Upper Gorge, the world's deepest gorge, through the most feared whitewater on the planet (it has been measured at 18,000 ft. deep, three times the depth of the Grand Canyon.) Satellite images provided by Space Imaging gave the group a close-up view of the entire gorge in advance of the trip and
proved essential to the success of the expedition. In the gorge, the river drops up to 250 ft. per mile, compared with eight feet per mile in the Grand Canyon. Along the way the team experienced mile long drops that took them down 200 plus feet of the river.
When the water was impossible to pass, the team spent four days hiking to the lower gorge of the Tsangpo. Expedition member Allan Ellard says of the hike, "The trek over the mountains was a long and testing one. Each kayaker carried his own boat up and over the 12,400-foot pass from around 7,200 feet. The kaykers were definitely wondering what they were
doing with kayaks on their back at that altitude. It was personally the hardest thing I have ever done."
"In my opinion, we have just pulled off the greatest whitewater challenge in history. And not one person was injured, it is quite an accomplishment," said expedition leader Scott Lindgren.
The Tsangpo River runs east through Tibet along the northern slope of the Himalayas, then takes an abrupt hairpin turn near the eastern edge and flows south and then west into India (where it is called Brahmaputra). The Tsangpo roars into an 18,000-foot-cleft between two 25,000 and 23,000 ft peaks, whose summits are separated by only 13 miles. Within the
40-mile upper gorge the Himalayas squeeze the river like a vice, forcing it through passages where cliffs plunge thousands of feet straight into the water.
The Tsangpo Region is one of the most isolated places in the world. The Tsangpo Gorge in southeastern Tibet has lured explorers and adventurers for over a century, and until the Outside Tsangpo Expedition, has resisted every attempt to traverse its length via water. The Gorge is sacred to Buddhists, a ruined monastery at the
Gorge's entrance, Pemakochung, is one of the three most holy pilgrimage sites for a Tibetan Buddhist seeking enlightenment.
News agencies can contact Elaine Garza (egarza@Outsidemag.com) for photos. Outside Tsanpgo Expedition dispatches from the Gorge, an interactive map, and team bios are available at Outside Online http://www.Outsidemag.com.
THE TEAM
- SCOTT LINDGREN is an Emmy Award winning cinematographer from Auburn California. He has spent the last 10 years traveling the world documenting the sport of kayaking. Lindgren has over 35 major expeditions in the Himalayas. He is best known for his first descents of three extreme Himalayan Rivers: the Karnali, the Sutlej
and the Kauriala. Lindgren has been recognized by Outside Magazine as one of the top 20 athletes in the world.
- KEN STORM, JR. is one of the world's leading authorities on Tibet's Tsangpo Gorge and on the geography, culture, and wildlife of southeastern Tibet. He is one of the co-authors of the 2001 edition of Riddle of the Tsangpo Gorges.
- JOHNNIE KERN is a 27 year old from Stowe, Vermont. A professional kayaker/boat designer, Kern, is an elite member of Team Teva and has spent the last 6 years traveling the planet with his kayak. Kern is an accomplished photographer and skier. Kern specializes in big expeditions and hard river running.
- WILLIE KERN is the twin brother of Johnnie Kern. Kern is an expedition kayaker and has traveled extensively in search of hard white water. He was on the first descent of the Upper Karnali, a 300-mile river journey through Tibet and Nepal. He has completed over 50 first descents all over the world.
- STEVE FISHER was born on February 1976 in Estcourt-Natal, South Africa. Fisher learned to kayak from a friend of the family at the age of nine and spent his formative years on the Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. Fisher is a big water specialist, he placed third in the 1999 World freestyle championship.
- CHARLIE MUNSEY has been a world-class kayaker for 15 years. Munsey calls Eugene, Oregon home but spends the larger part of his time traveling the world using his extraordinary photographic skills to capture the singular beauty and magic of whitewater kayaking. Munsey has gone down over 150 rivers worldwide from the
Himalayas to Northern Canada to the tip of South America and to many exotic locals including Nepal, Tibet, China, Chile, and Alaska. Munsey has an impressive list of first descents including the Thule Bheri River in 1995, the Po Tsang Po River in 1998, and the Karnali River from Tibet in 1999.
- MIKE ABBOT is a veteran of numerous Himalayan expeditions and a former raft guide. Abbot is the expedition co-leader marshaling the Chinese side of the logistics.
- ALLEN ELLARD was raised in Rugbe, England. A member of the Swiss freestyle team, he is known throughout the world as an expedition kayaker and traveler.
- DUSTIN KNAPP is from Jacksonville Oregon and at 25 he is the youngest member of the expedition. Knapp is an accomplished cinematographer as well as professional kayaker and has traveled the world for the last 8 years running one difficult river after another.
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