A half way point for most of the team-home for the others.

The Pindar River was undoubtedly the highlight of the India adventure, and as we were now close to the Nepal border, plus the driver (and van) was beginning to show signs of breaking down, we opted to call an end to the India leg and move on to Nepal. JJ, Toby, Will, Isaac and Cooper would jump on a bus to Pokhara, Nepal, and Kev would travel with the van back to Haridwar and then on to Delhi and home.
We had finally figured out the best camp cooking arrangements with the limited food available, and everyone was on form. It felt like a real shame to be leaving the team, but commitments to various time consuming matters at home, and a flight booking meant that departure time was nearing. We had time for one more run...The Gauri Ganga, which JJ had paddled before was situated on the way(ish) to the border town of Tannackpur, where the boys would catch a bus to Pokhara.
Photo: JJ Shepherd
Photo: JJ Shepherd
After dealing with a driver mutiny and some more scary landslide crossings we drove up the Gauri Ganga valley, late at night, slightly boozed, and eager to find a camp site.
We stopped at a disused looking building (much the same look as the other buildings), and decided that the bus stop was a good spot to lay down for the night. In the morning we discovered that the bus stop was there for a reason-a hot/warm spring spilled out of the road cutting through a religious shrine right next to our glamorous abode.
Photo: Will Stubblefield
Photo: Will Stubblefield
It felt only right to do a cheesy team photo at the put-in for our last run, the Gauri Ganga! As you can see, we all got a bit of a head-start on Movember this year...
Photo: Will Stubblefield
The Gauri Ganga turned out to be another classic piece of Himalayan whitewater. Continuous, big, bouncy rapids with a cheeky steeper section every now and again just to keep you on your toes. We spent most of the day chasing Toby the blind bomber down read and run class 4, or surfing on sweet wavetrains.
Isaac, looking stylish as ever, enjoying the sweet lines of the Gauri Ganga. Moustache glistening.
Cooper's scary cave eddy 1.
Cooper's scary cave eddy 2.
Cooper's scary cave eddy 3.
Coop had one scary moment, when a powerful pressure wave kicked him in an unpredictable manner into a small undercut cave-eddy...fortunately he came firing out of there as quickly as he'd been pushed in there, with a sweet looking power carve back into the main flow. Moustache shimmering.

The run was spectacular-long rapids with just the right gradient, scattered with large boulders, forming hundreds of perfect boof-pourovers, and fast chutes. We were cruising down the valley at high speed, with only 2 or 3 stops to bank scout in over 25km of class 3+ to 4+ whitewater, soaking up the last of the delights the Indian whitewater was going to give us on this trip.
Our planned take-out and rendezvous with our Van was the town close to the confluence of the Gauri Ganga and the Kali River (which forms the border with Nepal), but as Toby pointed out, we had got ourselves in a bit of trouble with the Police for taking out in town before, so we carried out through the rice terraces just downstream of the hotspring.
The warm spring, under our camp-spot, cascading into the glacial water of the Gauri Ganga. Photo, JJ.
JJ getting the mo shaped at the mo-stylist.

So, hopefully we'll hear soon from the rest of the team and I'll post some pics from their Nepal leg when I get the chance.