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Hi,
I am planning a trip for this summer to raft the Vitim river in Siberia with a friend. We both have very little experience with kayaks but between us a ton of experience in other extreme outdoor sports, certified wilderness first aide, etc. Basically very comfortable outdoors and in extreme conditions…new to rafting.
We plan to do a two day crash course in the Pyrenees (where we live) with a professional using whatever boat we choose to learn some basics.
The lowdown on the trip involves a 30k hike in with all our gear to the start point of the river. We would not hit a chance to properly resupply until 9 days on the river….so basically yes, we will need a craft that has storage capacity and is very light weight because we will be carrying it and tons of gear for a couple days on our backs. Our budget between the two us us is about $1000
The river is mostly benign. There are class II/II+ rapids here and there and one part that is class III (although we might choose to jump out before that). Basically, not a very technical river, but not devoid of white water.
We are trying to choose our boat now. We were considering a two person kayak style such as this. But we have also been told to consider a packraft and were thinking of taking two Voyager 2’s.
Being new to all this we have some questions…
Firstly, would a Voyager Two be suitable for a trip like this? Class II+ rapids, long distance, etc.
And being new to this, would we find it much more difficult to handle two packrafts vs. one kayak?
And what about comfort…its gonna be a lot of days on the river. Is there a big difference in comfort?
And lastly, I imagine a packraft would be quite a bit slower than the kayak style no?
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Sounds awesome,
I have had similar plans for northern Scandinavia that never left the drawing board (but not in the pile of lost dreams either :)).
I would absolutely go for packrafts and two boats. Using two boats will in my opinion add alto of safety. If one totally breaks down or is lost with combined injury, you can take what is absolutely necessary and continue to safety in one boat and on land, or in worst case leave injured person in a camp and head for help in the remaining boat.
Two boats in the water also means you can give some rescue if one flips, lose his paddle down the stream etc.
I’m quite small and should have taken a single packraft but in greater size for squeezing two persons in if it comes to that and have more room/buoyancy for equipment.
I would only consider kayaks or canoe for flat water were you expect alot of paddling on flat water.
If so, these boats are a bit of a classic choice here in the north https://www.bergans.com/catalog/gear/ally-canoe/allround? , look at the videos of Norwegian adventurer Lars Monsen for inspiration and what the canoe can handle. (He did however go over to packrafts on some of his later hikes and seemed very pleased with them)
/G
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Hi Jordan,
That sounds like an epic adventure, and that’s the type of trip packrafts are made for! I’d use single-person packrafts with airtight zippers for internal storage… However, I strongly urge you to gain lots of moving-water experience and take a swift-water rescue course before venturing out on a remote, multi-day river trip. There’s no room for mistakes when help is many hours or days away.
On most rivers, paddling speed is largely determined by the current, so I would concentrate on other factors when choosing a boat.
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