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Waterlevels: Medium volume.
Accessibility: Good quality dirt trakcs over a number of passes to get to the lake, straight forward shuttles on these tracks for the first gorge and the middle section, but a monster shuttle for the lower gorge.
Upper Song-Kol Gorge
A rather gnarly trip, even in the low water levels we had. Four major portages and lots of fun grade 3/4 in between.
Length: 8km
Grade: IV/IV+ (V/VI)
Put in/Get out: Drive west from the Bishkek-Naryn road over the pass and make your way south round the lake. Put-in at the bridge over the river as it leaves the lake. After the bridge turn left and follow the road over another small pass and down a never ending sequence of swithbacks. Take out at the bottom.
Description: The section starts VERY boney and shallow as the river finds its way between round (but not smooth) boulders. This goes on for a few km before the river bends to the right, splits, and you meet the first of the "skeleton cascades", a grade 3 rapid 20m long that is rather boney. Two more similar rapids follow increasing in difficulty. Keep your eyes peeled for a horizon line after the third of these as this marks your first big portage. Carry round the left of this ~10m drop onto rocks, and put on below (or onto?) the steep slide leading out of its mini gorge. The whitewater really picks up from here, with some excellent class 4 rapids, some requiring inspection (and one boulder choke another short portage for us). The next significant rapid, a portage for most, lies on a right hand bend. Portage right through brambles. Nice. More class 4 follows before the third large portage. A tempting line exists down the left hand side of the first section (a slide into a pool, swiftly followed by a 3m boof), but it gets messy after that. Portage right again and put in to run the last part of the rapid for the cameras! Yet more class 4 rapids follow, including a 2m drop which falls mostly onto rocks - boof hard left of the main channel! A tricky grade 5 lies 100m after the next mini canyon. The final major gradient loss in the section comes in the form of a two tiered ~25m fall, get out in plenty of time to inspect horizon lines as there ain't many eddies on the lead-in! A long portage round a steep slope lies to your right. From the bottom of this fall its a short section of easy water to the takeout! Higher water would make lots of this section much less boney, if you aren't scraping the first few km from the bridge you'll be in for quite a ride; at these levels the eddies may well become more scarce above the portages.
Last Paddled:17-Sept-2005
Middle Song-Kol
A nice grade 2 bimble through mountain pastures, with the road running nearby thoroughout.
Length: 10km
Grade: II
Put in/Get out: Put in as per the takeout of the upper gorge, just at the end of the long series of switchbacks. Takeout as far downstream as you can drive.
Description: From the road this appears to be a nice easy section, meandering through mountain pastures and allowing the locals to pop out of their yurts to quizzically watch you pass by. If you succeed in crossing the rickety bridge just downstream of the confluence, the valley sides tighten and you should be treated to some nice class 3 rapids. The gorge opens out after two km or so and enters the final open space before the road stops and the river enters the lower gorge.
Last Paddled: Scouted only.
Lower Song-Kol Gorge
A small volume run, through beautiful scenery with some rather mean portages. Most of the river is class two, with a few nice sections of 3 and 4.
Length: 20km
Grade: II/III (IV + portages)
Put in/Get out: Put in as far down the river you can drive from the lake (i.e. the takeout for the middle section). Takeout at the first barrage you come to. This is accessible by car by driving up river left of the Song-Köl from its confluence with the Naryn to a small village near the end of the road. Turn left just after the village and follow a small track down to a farm next to the river. This is the takeout.
Description: Assuming you managed to drive this far, the river starts by flowing from a wide plain with a farm on the left bank, between two steep cliffs. After approx 2km the river steepens and begins to flow through a long boulder garden. Most is paddleable, save a short section at the levels we had, which required a portage over very loose rocks on the left hand bank. Higher water should make this portage paddleable. Very soon after this section the cliffs close in, forming shoulder canyon - so named as this is the way through. The entry rapid is a nasty boulder choke, the easiest side to portage being on the left, but beware of pebbles falling from above. Another 50m on is a sweet grade 4 rapid, but one which ends in another nasty drop with siphons to catch anyone off line. For us this was also a portage, but higher levels may cover some rocks and open up a nice line through the middle. A tributary joins from the right hand side and a long pleasant section of grade 2 follows. The next significant obstacle is a narrow fissure in the rocks with a 1m high drop just above it. This runs fine through the middle (grade 3) but could cause problems in higher water. Don't catch the last eddy on the right if you think you might want to portage, you can't get out from here! More grade 2, then a steeper section with grade 3/3+ rapids which continues for a few km. Cliffs closing in from the right indicate a nasty boulder choke with few eddies immediately above it. Take out early and portage on the left. 1/2km further on is "The Diggler" - a 50m long fissure in the rocks, 30m deep and less than 1m wide in places. Unless you want to risk the paddle, the portage route on river right will require lots of rope and even more hard work. It took us the best part of 1.5hours to get back down to the water on the downstream side. 100m further on is the "Mini Diggler", 20m long, wider and much easier to inspect - there should be no need to portage this one! More class 2/3 down a spectacularly carved gorge before reaching "Fanny Canyon", a weird ribbed canyon that you will certainly recognise as you see it! It contains only grade 1 water though so venture on in. There is one more similar but smaller canyon further on, before signs of man become evident and you come across the barrage indicating the takeout.
Last Paddled: 15-Sept-2005