Courting the Diamond Sow: A Whitewater Expedition on Tibet's Forbidden River

Anyone interested not only in kayaking, but also in mountain expeditions, exploration and trekking should read this. An account of truly BIG WATER, Tibetan mysteries, individual courage, top-notch kayaking, featuring some of the World's best kayakers.

Great adventure story for the kayaking community

This story expands on the notion that an expedition does not necessarily revolve completely around kayaking on a dangerous river. Instead, it reveals that the arduous trek, diverse people, personal challenges, and team dynamics are what define an expedition. Overcoming that, the challenge of the Tsang Po presents itself as a reward.There's much to ponder about the challenges that contain the certain risk of death. Wick Walker's recount of this expedition helps us remember just what to consider.

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."

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.