Sickline Team searches for The Book Of Legends
In the Bashkaus River Canyon in Siberia there is a book waiting in a metal box for all those kayakers who are not too scared to run one of Russia’s toughest rapids. In 1972, Bashkaus River Canyon saw its first descent. Forty years later, the team want to perpetuate their names in the mystic book, which cannot be accessed from land. Legend has it that once your name is written in the book your are immortal…
Ten kayakers – Olaf Obsommer (GER), Tomass Marnics (LAT), Florian Dillier (SUI), Jared Meehan (NZL), Bernhard Mauracher (AUT), Sam Sutton (NZL), Stephan Pion (FRA), Thilo Schmitt (GER), Timo Köster (GER) and Philip Baues (GER) — aim to master the challenging Bashkaus River and find The Book of Legends.
The expedition takes the kayakers to Siberia’s highest mountain range, the Altai Mountains, where Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Mongolia all come together. The range extends some 300 km from the West to the East and from the South to the North, the highest summit being Mt. Belukha (4,506m/ 14,783ft) at the Kazakhstan border.
Apart from surviving the Bashkaus Canyon and writing their names into the legendary book, the team plans a first descent of the 25m high Kurkure waterfalls and a first descent of the remote Edygem Canyon, a 4-day adventure in itself. Big volume rivers and roaring waterfalls embedded in untouched wilderness will not only demand technical excellence of the ten kayakers, but also adventure spirit, stamina and a high tolerance for suffering, as conditions will require long self-sustaining river runs and ample hikes.