Courting the Diamond Sow: Kayaking Tibet's Forbidden Tsangpo River (Adventure Press) [Paperback]

Wickliffe W. Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2001 | Series: Adventure Press

The harrowing account of the pioneering descent of Tibets Tsangpo River one of modern explorations greatest challenges which ended in tragedy with the death of Olympic Paddler Doug Gordon. A COMPELLING AND DRAMATIC EXPEDITION ACCOUNT set in one of the worlds most beautiful and remote regions. The Tsangpo is "one of the last great uncharted rivers in the world. It's the Everest of whitewater, except unlike Everest, it's never been done." -- Arlene Burns, the Washington Post ROMANCE OF THE WORLD'S FORBIDDEN AND SECRET PLACES: Mysterious and sacred, Tibet has fascinated explorers for more than a century. The stretch of the Tsangpo attempted by Walker and his team is the source of the legend of Shangri-la, and the model for James Hiltons novel, Lost Horizons. CONTROVERSY OVER THE 'DISCOVERY' OF TSANGPO'S HIDDEN FALLS: In 1924 British explorer Frank Kingdon-Ward observed what he believed to be the highest waterfall on the Tsangpo, a waterfall to rival Niagra. His observations led to a race to document these falls, which has attracted generations of explorers. FILM TIE-IN: The Walker expedition is the subject of a National Geographic Explorer special that will re-air at the time of publication. In 1926 botanist F. Kingdon Ward described one of modern explorationIs greatest challengesUtracking the course of the Tsangpo River of Tibet. In a mysterious region called Pemako, the Land of Flowers, the mighty Tsangpo loops around the eastern anchor of the Himalayan Range, cutting the deepest canyon on earth and emerging more than nine thousand feet lower on the plains of Assam, India, renamed the Brahmaputra. He and others added pieces to the puzzle he called Ithe riddle of the Tsangpo gorges, O but no one has yet followed the river throughout its course. For almost four decades on several continents, a small group of American companionsUWick Walker, Tom and Jamie McEwan, and Doug Gordon were privileged to participate in the emergence of a new and thrilling sport, whitewater racing. Moving from World Cup and Olympic levels to expeditions around the globe, Wick Walker and his companions were drawn to an area of Tibet where the highest and deepest of the EarthIs recesses come together. Perhaps no place in the world is more dramatic (or less known and explored) than the magnificent series of gorges that lie in far southeastern Tibet. In late September 1998, after years of planning, including a month-long reconnaissance into the gorge in 1997, and garnering support from the National Geographic Society, Malden Mills Industries, and a host of other sponsors, the expedition finally launched into the treacherous gorges for a first descent. Four whitewater paddlers, perhaps the best possible team in the world, would descend the Tsangpo, supported and resupplied at intervals by a team of four trekkers accompanied by two sherpas, local guides and porters, and a videographer from National Geographic. The descent, which began with difficultiesUa huge river swollen by a season of Ififty-year floodsO ended in tragedy with the death of renowned chemist and Olympian, Doug Gordon, who perished on October 16th while running a small put powerful waterfall. Although his teammates searched for his body for four days, his remains were never found, vanishing into the treacherous waters. The expedition was immediately abandoned. Courting the Diamond Sow is a compelling expedition account shaped by the first-hand diary accounts of the kayackers as they passed through the gorges; the history of this mysterious corner of the world some refer to as Shangri La and the attempts to explore it; and a cultural profile of this remote Tibetan region.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Perhaps most appealing,...Walker's book is imbued with the excitement and wonder of discovery in a wild, exotic landscape. -- The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, OH, September 24, 2000 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic (November 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792264215
• ISBN-13: 978-0792264217
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 0.6 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,573,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite a Story, November 8, 2000

By 

Alden (VT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting the Diamond Sow : A Whitewater Expedition on Tibet's Forbidden River (Hardcover)

This is a pretty good book, all in all. Of course, it's not too hard to produce something good when one has such a powerful story, but Wick is able to maintain both stories -- that of the support team (their tense dealings with the natives, their desperate race to find Doug Gordon's body, and later their difficult trek back to civilization) and that of the paddlers (especially through Jamie McEwan's journal entries). My favorite parts are actually these entries, actually, vivid and powerful.

The power of the Tsangpo River is hard to imagine. These were some of the best paddlers in the world. Roger Zbel ("King of the Portages" on the Tsangpo . . .) was locally famous back in the States for his still-unmatched descents of massive, flood-swollen rivers. Tom McEwan (and Wick Walker, at that) were the first to run Great Falls, back in 1976, and that run is still perhaps the most famous extreme run in the East. Since then he has spent his life charging down dangerous rivers, leading trips for his paddling school. Jamie McEwan is a two-time Olympian, a bronze medalist, and Doug Gordon was apparently the best of them all . . .

Why buy this book over Balf's "The Last River", also about this trip? I asked Jamie, and he said, "Well, Wick's book has pictures . . ." I've never read Balf's book, but I do know that the paddlers themselves had much more imput into Wick's book. I don't even think Balf's was authorized. This book was written by a team member, and it shows. There are details, anecdotes, lots of quotes. All in all, it's a fascinating story of four men -- not the type of crazy adrenaline-junkies one might imagine, but middle-aged Ivy League types, who left their domestic lives for a while to take on "The Everest of Whitewater."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Diamond Sow or Last River??, January 19, 2004

By 

West Coast Paddler (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting the Diamond Sow: Kayaking Tibet's Forbidden Tsangpo River (Adventure Press) (Paperback)

My comments come after finishing the books "The Last River" and "Courting the Diamond Sow", both of which I read over the last 2 weeks, and was provoked to write by a couple of factors. Reading the existing reviews for "The Last River" particularly, I was struck by the number of people who felt it necessary to slam the book.

First, after reading these books I have a better appreciation for the writing skill needed to write a book that is entirely engaging, brings the personalities to life, allows the reader to become part of the adventure, all the while being true to its subject.

Second, I appreciate that the writers made the story available so that we could learn about this trip and I don't mean to suggest that either effort was a waste of time and that the writers should hang up their quills.

Sadly, in my opinion neither of the books written about the same 1998 Tsangpo journey is terribly engaging. Last River is an easier read while I found the first half, particularly, of Sow a literary slog. Not sure if it was bogged down in description or what; I just found it slow going.

Neither book had much of an ebb and flow in the narrative. Even as the tragic events of Doug Gordon's death neared, there was nothing to indicate that one's blood should be heating up and that now was not the time to put the book down. They were very flat in that regard. I differentiate between sensationalism and a literary tidal cycle; perhaps the authors were extremely cognizant of avoiding the former.

The Last River spends a greater percentage of ink relating the experiences of the 4 paddlers on the river and off while Sow balances more equally the stories of both paddlers and support team. Also, Wickliffe Walker in Sow deals with the `fallout' from Gordon's death much more comprehensively than does Todd Balf; Walker spends several pages relating the effort needed to battle rumours and judgments that were circulating at home half-way around the world.

While the actual journey and the salient events I expect to remember, these books I expect to forget quickly (but then, I forgot Into Thin Air fairly quickly also). If there are poignant moments from the tale and thoughts to come away with, the one I recall most easily is the second-guessing of Gordon's paddling buddies as described most clearly in The Last Rivers account of Roger Zbel's "What if" self-flagellation. As a paddler, I pray that I am never faced with that.
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It was disappointing that The Last River did not have any photos at all of the area and only a minimalist map. On the other hand, Sow's small collection of photos was hardly comprehensive though the satellite photo was helpful in placing the story.

Nether book rates more than a 2.5 - 3, in my mind, nor does one stand head and shoulders above the other.

My context: Canadian class IV kayaker; 3 Himalayan river trips in Nepal (in fact and unbeknownst, I was on the Tamur River at exactly the time this group was on the Tsangpo); read years ago the American Whitewater article of the Gordon/McEwan trip down the Homothko in BC.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riviting adventure, October 20, 2000

By 

Vince Grlovich (Pittsburgh PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Courting the Diamond Sow : A Whitewater Expedition on Tibet's Forbidden River (Hardcover)

If you like truly wild places and adventures, this is the book to read. This book was one of those gems that you do not want to put down until you finish. The goal of kayaking the forbidden river hooked me. The stories used in the book about the history and culture of Tibet and the people, put the magnitude of the expedition in perfect focus. The story that the author, Wick Walker tells is one that will interest you and keep you in awe of the power and grandeur of nature and mans place in this world.