When we approached Minyong glacier on foot the next day we were surprised to see just how fast it was melting. Like a block of ice in the desert the glacier dripped and dribbled from every corner as shades of ice could be heard snapping off and falling into the many crevasses. As we looked on two avalanches took place only a couple of hundred meters from where we stood. Was this just part of the annual cycle of are the glaciers of Melei Xue Shan in the process of disappearing forever as global warming persists?

That night when some locals heard that we were making a documentary on the Mekong Valley they offered to put on a performance of song and dance in our honor. Six beautifully dressed Tibetan girls entranced us with a wonderful display, which was made even more enjoyable due to the fact that they were having such a good time themselves. It was great to see a group of locals enjoying their traditional heritage so much and it is certainly something they can be very proud of. Tibetan culture is so rich and unique, it amazes me that some people can claim that the lands of Tibet have always just been another part of China. After 3 days of exploring the forests, glaciers and temples of Melei Xue Shan snow mountain we returned to the Mekong to take on the threatening gorge rapid.

Again the water level had risen significantly and this time it made the rapid even more treacherous. A long class IV bend followed by a lead in of boils made the only potential line into the class V rapid extremely difficult to hit. The line we had chosen previously had disappeared completely and the only option left was to attempt to bash through a massive “flushing” hole that took up half of the river. Although from our vantage some 60 meters directly above the rapid the hole appeared to flush the water through it was impossible to accurately gauge whether or not a kayak could bash through it. If not the kayaker would be re-circulated until he bailed out and then there would be a long, long swim to shore with little chance of rescue.

After analyzing it for a long time, and considering the long swim I had taken just two weeks previously I decided not to run the drop, as did Brian. It was the only full rapid we were forced to portage in Yunnan. We drove several kilometers around the rapid to the nearest put in. There were loads of fun but manageable runs along the way until we came to the most violent rapid yet in Yunnan we called “full stop”. As with many of the other more difficult rapids full stop was located in a sheer sided gorge, was caused by an avalanche and could not be scouted properly.

Negotiating the main drop consisted of a risky class V move from right to left above a particularly violent set of holes, surges and boils that extended for hundreds of meters. One mistake would end in an ugly scene with little chance of rescue. But this was only half of the rapid. The second half was so messy that we decided to chicken run it on river left between a huge surging eddy and the violent main stream.

I successfully run the first half of the rapid catching the eddy before attempting to run the lower half as Brian filmed. I tried six times to paddle along the line we chose but the eddy was just too powerful. Eventually Brian also tried for 30 minutes to no avail. After scouting the rapid from every accessible angle we both decided it was too dangerous to run down the middle so the only option left was to portage it.

For 3 hrs we searched for alternative routes out of the near sheer sided canyon. Eventually we spotted an avalanche about 600 meters up stream and by pure chance a succession of eddies on river left allowed us to paddle and portage upstream until we could ferry across to it. It was a lucky break. We could find no other way out and if the eddies did not provide a pathway upstream against the swift waters, or if the avalanche was not in that particular spot we would have been forced to leave our kayaks there and make a dangerous climb out that would have taken 2 – 3 days. A grueling 2 hr climb up the avalanche ensued as we hauled the kayaks up one by one with our throw bags.