Courting the Diamond Sow

by WALKER, WICKLIFFE W.

• ISBN13: 9780792264217
• ISBN10: 0792264215
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: National Geographic

Summary

It has been called the Everest of the whitewater world. However, unlike Everest, the Tsangpo River in Tibet has yet to be explored and charted. No other place in the world possesses more drama than the magnificent series of gorges that house the Tsangpo. Looping around the eastern anchor of the Himalayan Range, cutting the deepest canyon on Earth, and emerging more than nine thousand feet below on the plains of India, the Tsangpo is a geographical riddle that has fascinated Western explorers since 1926 when botanist F. Kingdon Ward described it as one of modern exploration’s greatest challenges. In 1998, a world-class, four-man paddling team attempted to make history by becoming the first to navigate a remote, 140-mile stretch of the river. But when one of the men—renowned chemist and kayak racer Doug Gordon—fell victim to the lethal strength of the river’s current, their expedition was abruptly abandoned. Gordon’s remains were never found, and the mystery of the Tsangpo endures. Here is the complete, never-before-told story of the ill-fated expedition. Wick Walker’s Courting the Diamond Sow is an enthralling epic, featuring the kayakers’ firsthand diary accounts as they passed through the gorges, fascinating insights into this enigmatic corner of the world and the attempts to explore it, and 16 pages of dramatic, full-color photographs.

Table of Contents

Introduction	13	(4)
Prologue	17	(16)
Crossing to Tibet	33	(6)
Long Hard Road	39	(16)
Big Water	55	(22)
Support Systems	77	(24)
Alpine Style	101	(20)
Back in Time	121	(22)
Downstream	143	(14)
Neverland	157	(18)
Tragedy	175	(26)
United	201	(16)
Exit	217	(20)
Epilogue	237	(8)
Notes and Sources	245	(8)
Acknowledgments	253