The Thule Bheri River drains Mt. Dhauligiri the seventh highest peak in the world that cuts its way south through west Nepal and joins the Karnali river before entering India.

The river had been kayaked a hand full of times but a raft had never tempted the epic whitewater.

The teams plan was to fly high into the mountains and join the group of porters that had been carrying the raft and kayak for a week through the mountains. But when they reached the airstrip in Nepalganj on the Indian border all planes were grounded in need of repair.

Making a quick decision they hired a four wheel drive jeep and traveled for nine hours on a freshly made road that was etched into the mountains.

At the end of the road the trek began.

Since they had expected to fly the group of rafters had been ready to step out of the plane and walk an hour to the put in. Now they had a five day walk to catch up to their gear and porters.

Making backpacks out of life jackets, drybags, and throw ropes they divided the gear for the days of trail to come.

Here in the wild west of Nepal the team had planned to help educate the local people in the ways of preventing disease. Being so remote the Nepali locals are living a very simple life of subsistence farming. Their practice of open defecation is spreading diseases such as Cholera and Dysentery.

The team hands out cartoon education sheets and provides water filters and rehydration salts.

Walking up river day after day from dawn till dusk the group worked in each village as they went trying to make a difference in the lives of the locals.

Being away from the porters meant that the team had only limited rations. Forced to eat with the locals who were living off just rice spinach and beans, hunger was a ticking time bomb on teams energy level. They would need every calorie to make it down the heavy whitewater of the Thule. Soon, due to the local cooking techniques, the team was sick with stomach issues.

After five days of travel they finally met up with the porter team and had their precious food rations of Cliff bars etc. Deep in the mountains it was time to use the river to return to the lowlands and civilization.

Porters and photographer Ginger would follow down the trail in support of the river team. The Thule Bheri canyon was as beautiful as anyone could have expected with unreal rock formations and deep blue green river water.

The rapids were super challenging with large raft eating holes and congested lines.

Lots of class five with portions of rapids too difficult to raft that were needed to be portaged.

It took just as long to raft down river as it took to walk up the trail.

Stop and scout and then decide to run the rapid or portage the bad parts took time and energy day after day.

With lots of luck and sharped skill after two months of Himalayan river travel the team safely made their way down river rapid to rapid.

After reaching the confluence with the Sano Bheri River the team left the porters and took all the gear and Ginger on board to travel faster now that the rapids were no longer class five.

They still had 130 Km to go before they hit the first road access bridge. After sixteen days in the mountains they finally made the bridge and made contact with the pick up jeep and drove ten hours back to Pokhara in central Nepal finishing all their goals on this trip to the Himalayas.

Lopez Mateo is way off the beaten path, about 4 hours from La Paz, Baja California Sur.

We left Todos Santos at about 4 in the morning to make the 9 am boat.

We sighted our first whale about 100 meters from the dock!

They are CRAZY big. A full size Gray Whale is 16 meters. This place is ultra protected by the Mexican Government, so no swimming or diving with the whales. It was like nothing I've ever seen watching them surface. In this photo notice the tail barely surfaced on the right.

The unique part of Lopez Mateo is the the fact that the female whales go there to have/nurse baby whales. A baby Gray Whale drinks 200 liters of milk per day.

Not to be mistaken for a small island.

KAVU Special Agent Sara Close in whale awe.

Nice Whale Tail. Gotta love Baja and the mountain back drop.

The mangroves host exceptional wild life in that area.

Kites are very common throughout Baja,

and Pelicans...

LOTS of Pelicans.

Super fun crew, many countries represented. Our Perma-Grins were on.

So, the moms and the babies will be here until March. Apparently at the end it is like a giant whale party where they come together to get ready for the caravan north. In the time they are here the young whales grow from 3 meters (when they are born) to 6 meters (when they leave).

My favorite pic of the day! What an amazing KAVU experience.

There are an estimated 20-22,000 Gray whales in the Alaska/Baja caravan. I like the whale lifestyle.

On our way back south we managed to avoid hitting any donkeys.....

and caught the sunset of a lifetime in La Paz along with good friends, an awesome meal, and an epic ice cream cone. KAVU DAY.

Spirit falls may not be giant, but it has always been a right of passage for pro kayakers. There has definitely been some broken backs here.

If I had to guess by his reputation (and these pictures) Tyler stomped the hell out of it.

The thing I love about Tyler is that he always keeps us guessing. Apparently he is getting ready to sail one of these Triaks 400 miles across the sea of cortez eating nothing but the fish he catches....and rumor has it, he somehow has his kite board in there. I guess you don't have to wonder why we are still sponsoring him.

This photo was just posted a few minutes ago. They are on their way to start the adventure. Stay tuned in the next month to see how it turns out!

The booth and product are looking great be sure to stop by and see us if you are around!!

....and the pattern is forecasted to continue for as long as the predictions go.

Cold temperatures with loads of precipitation in the Northwest. Get there quick for some action in KAVU's back yard.

Mount Baker currently has the 3rd deepest snowpack in North America and has received over 250 inches of snowfall this season.

Reports from visitors confirm Mt. Baker has the best conditions in the country!

They traveled from Pokhara into the Annapurna sanctuary to attempt the first raft descent of the Modi Khola.

Expedition leader Sean Glaccum had kayaked the river from its glacier source at 14,000ft in 1998 and thought the lower section was raftable.

Kayakers have made the Modi a hot spot for visiting boaters due to its continuous whitewater and steep gradient.

But no rafters had tried their skills against the tricky technical Modi rapids.

Hiring two porters to carry the raft and kayak up the Annapurna trail, the team trekked uphill only as fast as the porters could move with the gear on their backs.

The plan was to put in where the river became large enough to navigate the boulder infested Modi.

The crew unloaded and got geared up just below the Naya Pul bridge. A heavy rain event had added extra flow and turned the river brown with mud runoff.

Day one the team worked rapid to rapid going down river running every bend with caution waiting for an impassable section.

The Modi Khola is mainly continuous technical class 4+ with a few class 5 sections.

One difficult section the team nicknamed Salt Pillar falls. It had large vertical stone pillars that pinched the main channel to the left side and over large holes.

The right was a massive undercut rock that would have swallowed the entire raft and crew. The lead in to the rapid pushed the raft river right, just above the undercut.

The team had to fight hard to make the river left slot and squeeze through the tight constriction.

After rolling with the punches, the team reached the half way point just before dark.

From the bridge the river spread out a bit, but did not let up at all.

Rapid after rapid full of rocks and holes kept the team moving hard.

Left back-right back-all forward- stop – go go go were non-stop calls.

The team was paddling like animals trying to stay out of trouble.

According to the National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center only 16% of the US has snow on ground as of January 6, 2012. On this same date last year (January 6, 2011) 45% of the nation had snow on the ground.

A huge storm named ‘Andrea’ swept through the Alps the other day bringing high winds and crazy amounts of snow to French ski resorts.

There is more heavy snowfall in the forecast for The Alps over the coming week, with a metre + of powder set to fall in Austria and Switzerland.

The Alaska National Guard reported that more than 18 feet of snow has fallen on Cordova in the past weeks.

(Photo Mac Skapoc) One thing is for sure: All this snow is making for some serious KAVU days in the Alps. This might be the year to make the journey.

The Team -Sean Glaccum, expedition leader, Ginger Glaccum, photographer -Matt Jost, rafter -Patt Riffe, safety kayaker all from Idaho, Dak Helentjaris, rafter from Ohio, and Tim Ball, rafter from Australia packed the raft, one kayak, and all the gear into a small plane flying into the high mountain airstrip at Lukla sitting at 9,000ft.

Flying into Lukla saves one week of walking over mountain after mountain.

In Lukla they hired five porters to carry the heavy loads high up into the Himalayas.

They hiked nearly the whole time right under the massive peak of Mount Everest.

As the team traveled along the steep mountain trail they scouted the river for difficult rapids and possible portages. Other trekkers and climbers heading up to Everest base camp wondered why anyone would want to attempt the raging waters of the Dudh Kosi.

Yaks and porters carrying climbing gear and supplies had their curiosity sparked by the whitewater team and the out of place river equipment.

After two days of tough trail the rafters see their first views of Mt Everest and the other glacier clad peaks that make up the highest peaks in the world. It took four days scouting the river above 12,000ft, and the team decided the upper river was too creeky and boulder choked to attempt rafting. The put in would be at the Dudh Kosi and Cho Oyu Bhote confluence at 12,000ft.

On put in day the groups nerves were racing due to late monsoon rain that had the Dudh Kosi running high with glacier silt filled whitewater.

The rapids were nonstop with very few eddies.

It was a wild ride for the rafters, having to dive to shore holding onto rocks to make sure they wouldn’t go into a rapid they had not scouted.

The first section was around two hundred yards long filled with holes, waves, and boulders.

There was plenty of carnage! On one rapid they made multiple moves to avoid getting stomped by the river. The altitude was taking its toll on the teams strength and they did not make it to river right as planned. They dropped into a massive hole which stopped the boat in its tracks.

Glaccum was ejected out of the boat. Holding on the side of the raft Dak pulled him in. Luckily, after another few moves they made it to shore safely.

After getting a feel for the river the rafters started the hard work of going downriver stopping to scout and then running the planned line.

They always set up safety with kayaker Pat Riffe running ahead.

At one point in the day there was a rapid that was extra large rapid that was too difficult to attempt. The team had to carry the raft through the thick trees and brush that lined the bank which at altitude was an energy draining task. Right before dark after countless heavy rapids the porters and ground crew met the team at the lip of a large falls and they called it a day.

Day two started below the falls and was right back to business with relentless whitewater and rapids that lasted for hundreds of yards and only slightly let up giving the rafters time to get to shore and scout the next section.

Locals Nepali Sherpas ran along the trail and bank to watch and see what would happen to the adventurous rafters. Drop after drop the team descended the river making move after move feeling their energy slowly decreasing from paddling above most North American ski resorts.

The team reached the bridge below Lukla late in the afternoon exhausted and overjoyed with their accomplishment. Rolling the raft and strapping gear together to help the porters, the team got out of the rafting gear and picked up their packs to hike up to the air strip at Lukla. It soon became dark and the group had to finish the final two hours with head lamps guessing which trail was the right one.