A paddling trip to Georgia (the country) has been on my radar for a long time, so when some friends went out there a few years ago I was interested to hear their tales upon their return about some great rivers with easy logistics and largely road-side paddling.
Further information from a German friend who is becoming somewhat of an expert on the area (now running commercial trips out there) and I was sold.
Big moves on the Tskhenistskali
No need for a lengthy expedition to capitalise on this destination, a quick-fire 2 week trip would be ample time to get in the classics and possibly even explore some undocumented runs!
Rivers in the east of the country were first on the agenda, a particular highlight being the Tergi river in chunky flows.
A box canyon on the Tergi – no way to scout this drop unless you’re told it’s in there before you drop in – it’s not too bad, but is just a horizon line from upstream! – pic by Misha Mindiashvili
Further west we ticked off descents of pushy big water on the Rioni and Tskhenistskali rivers (don’t try to say that one after a few of the local vodkas), along with lower volume creeky runs of the Tekhuri and Kheledura.
Rioni – dropping into the first gorge – pic by Misha Mindiashvili
Rioni River – The river notes we had for this section from previous trips said “Not paddled, only checked. Flat at the beginning, then an extreme gorge follows (WW V-X), at least at summer water levels. Check well before attempting, there have purportedly been deaths among rafting aspirants.“
Not very confidence inspiring.
Big flare on the Tekhuri – pic by Dave Burne
Rob dodging pourovers – Tskhenistskali River
A broken boat (unluckily impaled on some ironwork), saw a change of plans to get it fixed, which left us staying only a few kilometers from a waterfall I’d found on google earth that looked like it had potential. Some rainfall overnight raised hopes that there would be enough water and we struck lucky! The main waterfall I’d seen on Google Earth turned out to be ~20 metres high and although it looked eminently runnable, on this occasion none of us stepped up. However, below was a stunning limestone gorge containing a series of runnable bedrock falls including one clean ~10 metre drop. Amazing!
Reaping the rewards of the search string “waterfalls” on google earth – pic by Rob Tuley
The 10m drop from above – pic by Rob Tuley
The bedrock drops continue!
An unexpected highlight of the trip was the Nenskra. Cited in our river notes as 7km of class 3/4, we capitalised on the bright sunshine and high glacial meltwaters by continuing a further 12km upstream, finding miles of stunning alpine grade 4/4+ as a reward.
In the middle of the one 18km long rapid that is the Nenskra river
Massive thanks to Misha for driving us round, providing river information, finding quality acomodation and food, and of course facilitating the consumption of plenty of Georgian wine wherever we went!
The 1983 Soviet-Georgian Friendship Memorial: an impressive viewing
platform on the road to the Russian border
Wild camping in the stunningly alpine Nenskra valley
A cruisy section on the Rioni River – pic by Misha Mindiashvili
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Mexico for mere mortals » Team Pyranha Blog says:
February 3, 2015 at 12:41 pm (UTC 1 )
[…] pretty lucky to get good leave allowance where I work, so can usually get away for one foreign “lads” boating trip a year on harder rivers, plus one holiday with my better half which (due to her understanding my […]