1998 (B): Po Tsangpo, Southeast Tibet

In 1993 an attempt to run the last 100 yards of the Po and then continue down the lower half of the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo resulted in the death of a Japanese kayaker, Yoshitaka Takei. He drowned in the rapid at the confluence.

In 1998, Steve Currey arranged permits for a team of two kayakers, Scott Lindgren and Charlie Munsey, for a first descent of the Great Bend of the Yarlung Tsangpo. Upon arrival a week or so before the Walker team, they decided the river was too high for the gradient and decided to run the Po (put-in at 30 08 01N, 95 03 52E), a large tributary to the Tsangpo which drains from the north into the northern part of the Great Bend.

This river was also very high, but they tried anyway. The entire stretch is about 40 miles, but they gave up after about 10 miles. It was just too hairy. They put-in at about 9,000' on a flow of about 20,000 - 30,000 cfs. The average gradient was about 40' per mile, resulting in nearly continuous Class 5+ bigwater rapids.

The aborted Great Bend trip and their one day on the Po are included in the video "Thirst" by Driftwood Productions. Lindgren returned in winter 2002 with an expanded team to complete both stretches (see 2002a).