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In June 2019 seven university kayakers set off to explore the rivers of far east Russia, amongst the wilderness of the Sayan Mountains and areas around Lake Baikal. The team: Jamie Peden, Joe Fender, Harry Turner, Adam Francis, Duncan Stewart, Cara Lee, Elliot Goddard. Words: Cara Lee and Jamie Peden Photos: Joe Fender and Harry Turner WHAT IS BUKE?
The British Universities Kayaking Expeditions have been running every other year since 2005. University kayakers from across the UK send in applications; a successful 20 paddlers are invited to a selection weekend in north Wales the December before the trip. Throughout the weekend (rain-dependent) multiple rivers are paddled, and potential destinations for trips are discussed before a team of seven are selected by the group. The selected team are responsible for researching their chosen destination looking into costs, logistics, river difficulty and access. Previous trips have included locations such as the Philippines,Venezuela and Madagascar. For 2019 we decided to go somewhere equally as remote and adventurous: far east Russia.
PLANNING The original destination set out was the Sikhote-Alin Mountains - as far east you can get in Russia, however, after some local knowledge we realised the scope for paddling that far east wasn’t entirely worth an expedition. We decided to visit our second intended location – Lake Baikal and the surrounding mountains, a slightly more explored area, with the security of classic sections accessible to paddle if things didn’t go to plan. Despite trips being run in the area, there was still plenty of scope for exploration and possible first descents given the right conditions. We went in early season (trips usually run in August) to make use of the high water to explore smaller rivers and tributaries. Over the seven weeks, we completed four multi-days ranging from three days to 11 days.
