TIBET - MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
 
Only sky is the limit - that was the motto of a glories European team for their summer plans in 2019. It turned out in a mission impossible to kayak on the roof of the world in the Monsun season. The kayakers had to struggle with blocked roads, endless landslides and countless stops at police stations and checkpoints. The high altitude over 4000m (>13100ft ) makes even getting dressed up hard work and on top of that major mondo fluted rivers cooled down the exhibitations of the group. Nevertheless they managed in-between all the challenging circumstances to kayak some impressive monstrous rapids. After 3,5 weeks the team left China with filled up hard drives and unforgettable memories of excitement for Chinese police and the perfect symbiosis of a capitalistic-socialistic-stasi-nazi- dictatorship .

The funny gang was an interesting conglomerate and mixture of 9 kayakers from Germany, Italy, France, England and Austria. Grande names like Nouria Newman, Bren Orton, Adrian Mattern and Andi Brunner showed their extraordinary paddling skills on big water. As well the age different from the 19 year old Giordano to the 50 year old olympic Slalom legend Jochen Lettmann was a Garant for excellent entertainment.

For their project they have written to whitewater professionals from all over the world. And the response is enormous. Understandable! Because Tibet is still completely untapped, because the autonomous region of China was long inaccessible to tourists. In addition to the language barrier, the two face special challenges in their plannings. In Tibet nothing works without Chinese permits and their application is difficult and the costs are expensive. In addition there is only little information about the local waters. Together with locals from Tibet and Nepal and the use of satellite images from google maps Olaf and Thilo have to check the accessibility and the infrastructure in advance. Nevertheless, they do not shy away from the effort. Because the reward is worth it! They are looking for first descents, mind blowing scenery and impressive images of a still unknown culture. However one thing everyone has respect for: the altitude. Lhasa, the capital of Tibet and the starting point of the expedition, is located at 3660m (12007ft ) . The planned rivers in northeastern Tibet are even higher. Almost all planned journeys are over 4000m (>13100ft ). This makes it a special challenge for everyone and all the participants know that without special preparation it will be difficult to survive on the heavy whitewater.