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Project Whitewater Russia / USA

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The X-Stream Team!™ of the X-treme Dream™

And yes it will be extremely costly to undertake! Sponsors, we really do need your support. What makes this group remarkable is that each is willing to contribute to project expenses of such an incredible undertaking. This will also include taking time off from work and business while still incurring expenses at home...

Ask Your Questions of the Extreme Dream™ (FAQ)

It will be extremely costly to support an elite team capable of doing extraordinary things in distant and remote lands and waters...

Frequently Asked Questions

How much are you asking sponsors to provide?

Answer: See our budget page. Any portion of our budget would help, $10,000 would be a major help! Some participants may have or find individual sponsors who will provide some support or they will borrow what is needed. This is a costly expedition to prepare for to a remote corner of the world. Any funding will help to defray costs of staging, transportation, and the execution of each river expedition as well as provide a much needed buffer for any unexpected or hidden costs. We have a large group because of the need for redundancy of skills and because we expect a number of people to drop out due to financial hardship. Some key participants will not be able to go without a subsidy or sponsorship. We will also be indebted to and dependent on local in-country help with logistics and to make sure the group participants are not taken advantage of.

We would appreciate any amount up to $20,000 which would make this effort possible! Team members will have to contribute or borrow funds to completely fund this project. This is a costly project to prepare for to a remote corner of the world. Any funding contributes to the costs of staging, transportation, and the execution of each exploratory effort. We have a large group because of the need for redundancy of skills and because we expect that some people may drop out due to financial hardship. Some key participants will not be able to go without a subsidy or sponsorship. We will be getting local in-country help with logistics to minimize costs. We have received a $50,000 funding commitment from NOVUS, an international finance and development company. We are almost there to make this happen, please help!

What do you propose to do and when? Have you obtained the necessary permits, visas, etc?

Our group has been talking about these trips and planning for the past 4 years. We are planning to undertake several multi-day whitewater river expeditions throughout the former Soviet republics beginning in August, 1998 through Oct., 1998 for this first year. But we also plan several expeditions into subsequent years. Travel visas to Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan will be obtained, and permits where required will be obtained from the equivalent of the local forest services. We are going as long as we can get sufficient funding to get a minimal team, gear, and support in place, otherwise we will again be forced to defer to another year. The 1998 plan will include the Khara-Murin R. or Sneznaya R., and the Kitoy in Southern Siberia, the Kekemeran R., Sandalash R. in Kyrgyzstan, and the Chatkal R. into Uzbekistan, and others that are backup alternates have been decided. Check out the current plan page.

We will attempt the first American descents on rivers in three remote regions of the former Soviet Union. In conjuction with these river expeditions, with time and conditions permitting, we will also attempt some First Descents on a number of inaccessible side canyons which feed the rivers we are attempting. Our journey will take us into Southern Siberia in Russia, Lake Baikal Region, using the city of Irkutsk, on the only outlet river of this worlds’ largest alpine lake, as base city. Here we will do a short 3-4 day trip on the Class IV Khara-Murin or Snezhnaya Rivers which will serve as a trial checkout of the team and the equipment. After this first trip, we plan to run a 12-14 day river expedition on the Class V Kitoy River and the Sayan-Oka R. From here we move south and west into Central Asia, the new republic of Kyrgystan. We will start with a 14-16 day river expedition on the Class V Kekemeren River in the Tien Shan Region. And we will wind up with a 8-12 day river expedition on the Class IV-V Rivers Sandalash and Chatkal, ending up in the new republic of Uzbekistan.

Our group has been training and planning for the past 4 years in preparation for several multi-day whitewater exploratory river expeditions beginning August, 1998 and ending in Oct., 1998. Travel visas to Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan will be obtained, and permits where required will be obtained from the equivalent of the local forest services. We are going as long as we can get sufficient funding to get a minimal team, gear, and support in place, otherwise we will again be forced to defer to another year.

Has anyone gone before you? When? What did they do?

Dr. Gavrilov has run and explored all the rivers we are doing, but not the side canyons. Otherwise these will be the FIRST AMERICAN DESCENTS and any side canyons we attempt will be the FIRST DESCENTS.

There was a Project RAFT expedition to Russia in 1987 which would later start the Project Raft competitions around the world. Our key technical expert, Dr. Vladimir Gavrilov has run many of the rivers we will do in 1998, but we look forward to first descents in future years. Dr. Gavrilov is a native Russian river runner who has run over 100 whitewater rivers in the former Soviet republics using home-made paddle catamarans, Russian-style rafts. He is essential to the team which will undertake some rarely attempted rivers in an unknown land. Dr. Gavrilov is authoring a new authoritative guidebook Rivers of an Unknown Land and the team will be contributing to it.

As experienced boaters, the group will know to scout all the difficult rapids before deciding whether or not to run them. Each team member participant always has the option to portage(walk around) any rapid they do not feel comfortable with running, no questions asked. This is the protocol all the experienced boaters are used to on Grand Canyon expeditions or Class V rivers.

Why should this project be awarded? How does it embody the "Spirit of Adventure"? Why are you doing this?

All of the rivers we will attempt have rarely been done by local expert river runners and these will be the First Descents by Americans. Therefore these rivers will be seen and documented for the first time by Americans and attempted for the first time with Western and American equipment.

The access and logistics are difficult and we expect that much has changed on these rivers from season to season. Therefore we will proceed as if these rivers have never before been run, using maximum caution, but with the eagerness of pioneering explorers and adventurers eager to see around the next turn in the river or past the next incredible rapid. Our team enjoys the challenges of running such unseen rivers. We expect to venture out, explore cautiously, re-map, record and tackle some great rivers in an unknown land with breathtaking and dangerous canyons. Along the way we will collect awesome and unique memories and experiences while we journey as a multi-national team of adventurers promoting international goodwill and cooperation with the teaming up of Russia, German, British, and American river runners, some of the best in the world making up the Xtreme Dream Team of whitewater boating! These series of expeditions are being done in the total "spirit of adventure", venturing into the remotest areas on Earth where experience, relationships, coordination, courage, confidence, communication, teamwork, and pragmatism are all so essential! This will also serve as an interesting statement of international teamwork with the goal of forging through dangerous, isolated country as a self-contained, minimally equipped expedition which will be totally self-reliant on all of its expert team members in the ultimate of cooperative adventures.

The team endeavors to challenge these wild and scenic, pristine rivers together, cautiously and safely, in that true spirit of adventure, as explorers, and just doing it because "they are there", with probably never another opportunity to do so... The selected rivers for the initial 1998 trips will allow participants to reach out to some of the most sparsely populated regions in the world, to ancient 3000 year old cities and cultures where there has virtually been no contact with Americans or Westerners. The expeditions are designed to foster working together, building international adventurism, relationships and goodwill. Another goal is to be able to team up with local people, Russians, and take them with us on the easier river trips to introduce them to the sport of rafting. Most local people there and Russians in general do not have the opportunity or affordability to partake in such trips, so we hope to have local people, press (US & Russian), as our guests. Sharing an exciting and rare river adventure with a daring young team from the West, will develop a special bonding between participants and bring about some lifelong friendships and lasting memories, which likely will prepare us for future endeavors together....

All of the rivers we will attempt have rarely been done by local expert river runners and may not have been done by foreignors. The access and logistics are difficult and much may have changed on these rivers from season to season. We enjoy the challenges of running such rivers. We expect to explore and remap them, and document them as part of an international goodwill tour with the teaming up of Russian, German, British, and American river runners, some of the best in the world making up the Xtreme Dream Team™! These series of expeditions are being done in the total spirit of adventure into remote areas, where experience, communication, teamwork, and pragmatism are essential! These trips will also serve as an interesting statement of international cooperation with the goal of forging through dangerous, isolated country as a self-contained expedition which will be self-reliant on all of its team members only in the ultimate of cooperative adventures.

The team endeavors to challenge these wild and scenic, pristine rivers together, cautiously and safely, in that true spirit of adventure, as explorers, and just doing it because "they are there", with probably never another opportunity to do so... The selected rivers for the preliminary 1998 trips will allow participants to reach out to ancient 3000 year old cities and cultures where there has virtually been no contact with Americans or westerners. The expeditions are designed to foster working together, building international relationships and goodwill. Another goal is to be able to team up with local people, Russians, and take them with us on river trips to introduce some to the sport of rafting. Most local people there and Russians in general do not have the opportunity or affordability to partake in such trips, so we hope to have local people, press (US & Russian), as our guests. Sharing an exciting and rare river adventure will develop a special bonding between participants and bring about some lifelong friendships and lasting memories, butr also to prepare for future endeavors together....

Provide us with some background about yourself and companions; who are you, what are your capabilities, what have you done before?

The team is very multi-national, talented, adventurers and explorers, Class V boaters, and Olympians! Please see individual team member bios here.

What if someone gets hurt?

We must be totally self-contained. Our group has medical specialists including an ER Surgeon, several EMT's, and all must be trained in Basic First Aid and CPR. We cannot rely on rescue help or MediVac, these do not exist in the areas we are venturing into. We cannot rely on medical facilities in the former Soviet Republics. Also we cannot just let an injured person stop and exit the trip, this will not be possible. All must continue, although cautiously, onward down the river until we can get to an evacuation or take-out point.

Are the natives friendly?

Yes, we expect they will be more than hospitable to us, especially seeing their first Westerners and Americans. A recent American balloon expedition that downed in Russia was met with many helpful and friendly smiles, as well as much fanfare...

Criteria for selection of participants on the Training Trips and Expeditions.

For Training Trips, participation is and has always been open to everyone. We encourage participants to the sport and want to make it possible for as many people as possible who want to participate to have the opportunity. We have introduced thousand to the sport over the last 20 years and they learn about teamwork and alignment concepts, supporting each other, river skills and safety. A special bond and comaraderie always develops. Over the years we have taken kids as young as 3 years old to a seniors group of ladies who averaged 85 years old. We have and continue to take people who are of varying abilities, specially disadvantaged, sight-impaired, hearing impaired, paraplegics, hemiplegics, quadriplegics, weight disadvantaged, HIV+, or at-risk youth and troubled teens. Open participation is of course, on appropriate difficulty level rivers, usually no more than Class III. Although we have taken specially disadvantaged on expedition Class V rivers. Our guide/boating group is quite skilled. Most did not come up from the commercial rafting ranks, but instead private boaters and non-profit groups such as UCSF/Outdoors Unlimited (http://www.cas.ucsf.edu/ou/), Cal Adventures, Environmental Traveling Companions (http://www.etctrips.org), and Inner City Outings, the adventure wing of the Sierra Club. We have a passion for the sport and enjoy sharing it with others, rookies, newbies, non-swimmers, and the like. We do not take unnecessary risks either. Most enjoy just staying on Class III and join us again and again. Those that show the interest and aptitude for the water, we teach to be guide level paddlers and grow them to more exciting river adventures on Class IV and Class V. So for the more dangerous rivers, trips cannot be open. It is risky to the participant and the team to take a participant on a river above their ability, that they are not ready for. Yet because we have a very strong boating group, we can grow people to the advanced levels more quickly by surrounding them with some of the best boaters in the world. We truly have a Dream Team of whitewater boaters if you explored the plaudits, accomplishments, and experience of the team members. Participation therefore on Class IV and V rivers and expeditions is based on interest, aptitude, skills, demonstrated capability, and growing with and into the team. Those that participate more can integrate into the team faster and are given more opportunities. Participation in the more difficult and strenuous international expeditions is further limited to availability, those that have the time off from work and other commitments and can contribute to the team with their skills and talent. In Russia we hope to do goodwill trips on Class III and IV rivers, especially being able to integrate with locals who may never have done rafting before. This will allow us to get to know the more experienced boaters at the same time and learn to work together. In advanced boating we must become teams that know each other well enough that we can anticipate and know each others moves so that we can successfully tackle some of the most difficult & remote rivers in the world (http://www.raft.org/row.html) and to attempt some dangerous First Descents. Class V and VI boating requires extreme precision, must make moves, and little room for error. Mistakes and mishaps can have deadly consequencies and affects not just raft teams, but the entire group and the success of the trip. See Classes of Paddlers (at http://www.raft.org/classes.html).

Description of methods utilized on the Expeditions to enhance group cohesion and optimum interaction.

Advanced boaters on the more difficult runs know to share and rotate roles and responsibilities. This includes setup, staging, meals, teardown, shuttle and transport, entertaining each other and sharing experiences off river as well as changing and rotating crews and craft on the river. Additionally for the easier Class III and IV trips we have safety talks, discussions, scouting, portaging, training and sharing, and of course, some waterfights. Everyone participates and helps out, thats the common culture of boaters around the world, no matter where they come from. But the greatest bond is tackling the rivers together, surviving hazards from holes, rocks, strainers, unplanned swims, rescuing each other, and the common goal of challenging the river successfully (expert and non-expert, advanced and beginner) without any major injury or loss of equipment and just having a great time.

I would assume that the program would request feedback from participants, possibly at the one, three, or ten years post. I would be interested to learn how this feedback is incorporated in the expeditions to keep the program vital.

Generally we have a feedback form following each trip so that we can learn from what happened, good and bad, what went well and what could be improved. The idea is to continually improve the process. We also want to log the trip in writing and keep a story and photo database. We will be much better in documenting and recording our trips and making the histories we create accessible to all. You can see a sample of what we are capable of throughout the website now with over 50,000 river photos online. We dont really expect to do formal feedback years after the trip, however we do expect that we will be able to keep track of each other and report in more often thanks to the the Internet and our websites. We expect too that the cohesion which forms will enable and encourage us to continue more actively to do boating trips not only in the former Soviet republics but throughout the world. Our favorite saying is so many rivers, so little time. The prior RAFT expeditions did not have the advantage of todays technology for communications, digital recording, and boating technology so participants had trouble staying in touch and went on with their lives. We hope the new expedition series will correct that and serve to foster greater goodwill and teamwork as the internet & technology brings us all closer together. Will you be able to participate with us across satellite uplink on a virtual river ride down the first descent of a never run Class V river through your browser at home? We hope to make that possible! From our site we hope you can tell that were a very active and proactive group that is very good at what we do! The river is our common bond and our passion

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Page update: 03/07/2008 18:16:40

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