Pakistan, Indus River, Day Thirteen.

Looking downstream from camp in the morning.



The team was happy to camp on yet another perfect sandy beach by the Indus. Boulders of large proportions littered all the beaches, offering up snug little alcoves for us to sleep in.

On the water with the whole team again we ran some nice read and run for a short time before arriving at the first considerable rapid which was, rather considerable. The main line ran into an absurdly large backed up hole, and there was a "sneak" that sloped down into the hole too...I wasn't sure what the boils would do.

In the name of keeping our portages down, and just being Ben Stookesberry, he fired away at the big sneak line while we portaged.


Ben Stookesberry finishes the above through the final crashing wave-hole.



Our day went by quickly as we scouted more rapids and made typical big water "stay the hell away from that hole!" moves. The canyon was deep here, blocking out any trace of direct sunlight.

On a rare occasion I probed this rapid because the left line looked really fun, which it proved to be. Too dark to shoot my long lens, so a distant view as Chris Korbulic follows down the left.


Day twelve was a confidence booster for the team, and we were all starting to feel at home in the big water. Deep in the gorge we found some of the most epic waves we had ever seen, all large enough to cause second thoughts. We regressed back to grade school and taunted each other with the immortal "I will if you will" wave surfing challenge.

Eventually we all did, Ben Stookesberry surfing a big wave on the Indus.


Surf session done, Chris Korbulic runs a typical read-n-run rapid on the mighty river.


Day thirteen flew by in a rush of cascades full of waves and holes, many hard earned kilometers were paddled in our push for the confluence with the Gilgit.


The Karakoram gave us gorgeous views every day, and this was no exception.





Look for this trip in Clear H2O Film’s upcoming release: Hotel Charley IV.