An Application for a Grant Project Whitewater Russia / USA You may Contact US directly to ask any question! The Extreme Team!™ of the Extreme Dream™
Please give us details of your budget. How much are you asking the Grant to provide. Here's a sample of a small team budget: R/T Airfare $3200 per person x 11 $35,200 Equipment Transport from USA (Group and personal gear) 4,500 In Country Transport, people and gear, helicopters 6,000 Group Equipment Expense 5,000 Food and Water ($15 per day per person): 9,900 Passports, Travel Visas, Photos, Permits 500 Hotel stays, Russian standard hotels (for off-river days, cleanup, preparation & staging) 2,000 Film, video, batteries 3,000 Contingency/Emergency Fund 5,000 BUDGET TOTAL =$71,100 TOTAL How much are you asking the Grant to provide. Provide your total budget. How much are you asking the Grant to provide? Where is the balance of the money coming from? i.e savings, T-Shirt sales, wealthy friend, etc. How far along are you in meeting your budgetary objectives? 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! Please be a sponsor! What do you propose to do and when? Have you obtained the necessary permits, visas, etc.? Concisely tell us what you are planning on doing, and when. Please note that the grant doesn't support fund raising expeditions or expeditions promoting a "cause". Can't award a grant without permits and visas, tell the status of permit application. How committed are you to this expedition? Are you going no matter what? Even if not funded by the Grant? 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? It is important for you to be resourceful and do your homework prior to applying for a Grant. Why should this project be awarded? How does it embody the Grant Namesake's "spirit of adventure"? Why are you doing this? Ethics and style are important aspects of any endeavor. Expeditions that are for the profit of an individual or team members are not looked favorably upon. 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. Why should this project be awarded? How does it embody the Grant Namesake's "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.... Provide us with some background about yourself and companions; who are you, what are your capabilities, what have you done before? The experience of the team is important. Do the team members have the skills necessary to attain the objective? The team is multi-national, talented, adventurers and explorers averaging 14 years boating experience in each of their specialities, all with extended multi-day expedition and travel experience. It includes World Class boaters, Class IV-V boaters, and former Olympians with specialized skill sets and should be more than capable to handle most any situation and whitewater conditions we expect to encounter! Many are involved in commercial rafting in the US, and many are trainers involved in instructing others in river guiding, river rescue, and wilderness first aid. We know each other well and have been working together on several preparatory Class V training trips. We work well together, have our signalling protocals established, and have familiarity with all manner of craft including the Russian paddle catamarrans which we will be using. All are extremely earnest in wanting to take on successfully, some of the best whitewater rivers in 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 and is writing the authoritative river guidebook for whitewater rivers in the former Soviet Union, "Rivers of an Unknown Land" which our team will be contributing to it as well. Anything beyond what is needed for efficiency and safety is worse than useless -Tilman Catalog of bold and inspirational acheivements, inspired many to act on their own dreams. Style and Philosophy unique at the time, strong advocates of travelling in small compact teams, staying nimble, unburdened by numbers of proters and excessive tonnage. The selection of the team was paramount; closely knit friends with mutual respect and trust for one another. Lastly, they loathed bloat and waste, seemingly getting an extra thrill out of getting by on the barest minimum required to achieve the goal. Gore - small teams of associates have freedom to explore new technologies and to create innovative products for mankind. Grant - small unencumbered teams of friends with bold and imaginative goals, who plan to accomplish them in a self-propelled, environmentally-sound, and cost effective manner. Endeavors where the overall adventure is more valued than one specific adventure, and that will: encompass a wide range of experiences and skills, have cultural interactions, explore remote areas, not be contrived or commercialized, be non-competitive, be resourceful, and be environmentally sound. [ The TEAM ] [ Our Sponsors ] [ Equipment Requirements ] [ Equipment Available ] [ Food on Trip ] [ Training Schedule ] [ Project Pictures ] [ Media Involvement ] [ Grant Application ] [ Contact Us ] Comments/Suggestions to WebMaestro @ RAFTWEB, Martin Wong. Copyright © 1997-98 by Project Whitewater Russia/USA, All Rights Reserved.
R/T Airfare $3200 per person x 11 $35,200 Equipment Transport from USA (Group and personal gear) 4,500 In Country Transport, people and gear, helicopters 6,000 Group Equipment Expense 5,000 Food and Water ($15 per day per person): 9,900 Passports, Travel Visas, Photos, Permits 500 Hotel stays, Russian standard hotels (for off-river days, cleanup, preparation & staging) 2,000 Film, video, batteries 3,000 Contingency/Emergency Fund 5,000 BUDGET TOTAL =$71,100 TOTAL
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! Please be a sponsor!
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.
Why should this project be awarded? How does it embody the Grant Namesake's "spirit of adventure"? Why are you doing this?
Ethics and style are important aspects of any endeavor.
Expeditions that are for the profit of an individual or team members are not looked favorably upon.
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.
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....
The team is multi-national, talented, adventurers and explorers averaging 14 years boating experience in each of their specialities, all with extended multi-day expedition and travel experience. It includes World Class boaters, Class IV-V boaters, and former Olympians with specialized skill sets and should be more than capable to handle most any situation and whitewater conditions we expect to encounter! Many are involved in commercial rafting in the US, and many are trainers involved in instructing others in river guiding, river rescue, and wilderness first aid. We know each other well and have been working together on several preparatory Class V training trips. We work well together, have our signalling protocals established, and have familiarity with all manner of craft including the Russian paddle catamarrans which we will be using. All are extremely earnest in wanting to take on successfully, some of the best whitewater rivers in 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 and is writing the authoritative river guidebook for whitewater rivers in the former Soviet Union, "Rivers of an Unknown Land" which our team will be contributing to it as well.
directly to ask any question!