THE YENISEY RIVER FROM SOURCE TO SEA


Ranked as the world’s fifth longest, the Yenisey River begins in central Mongolia, and traverses Siberia, before emptying into the Arctic Ocean.  For so long obscured by the Iron Curtain, the Yenisey remains an unknown quantity to those who live outside the vast steppe and forest lands through which it flows.  In May 2001, two Canadians – Colin Angus and Remy Quinter, and an Australian – Ben Kozel, launch an expedition that will be the first to travel the entire 5,540 kilometre length of the river.

Having solved a string of logistical problems just to get themselves and their equipment to the remote interior of Mongolia, they begin the trek to locate the Yenisey’s ultimate source.  Yet confusion reigns as to its precise whereabouts.  

The three men follow the Yenisey’s uppermost tributary – the Ider River – by foot until it is broad enough to float a raft and two kayaks.  For the majority of Mongolians living along the Ider, Colin, Remy and Ben are more than just the first westerners who’ve come this way, they represent the first people to use boats on the river.   

400 kilometres downstream of its head-waters, the Ider
merges with the Mörön
River to create the Selenga.  Fed by melting snow stocks
from the worst winter the region has seen in 50 years, the Mörön is in major flood.  The Selenga has broken itsbanks.  Frenzied, muddy, debris-laden water now flows through the wooded countryside via a

confusing array of channels. Unwittingly, the men row off the perennial channel and soon find trees and thicket closing in on all sides.  Unable to avoid the tangle of vegetation, and at the mercy of a ferocious current, the inevitable is only a matter of time.  

When the raft snags and flips a host of unsecured equipment sinks, and all four large dry bags (containing money, passports and most of their equipment) float off downstream.  Worse still, the left oar-lock and oar work themselves loose and will never be seen again.  The raft and kayaks are salvaged, and all but one of the dry bags retrieved.  The missing dry bag contains, amongst other things, all the video footage shot up to that point.

Spurred by the significance of the potential loss, Colin proceeds to give chase in one of the kayaks.  Thus begins a 12 day saga of separation and searching, repairs and resourcefulness, anxiety and physical hardship, hope and disappointment.

The three men are re-united at the Mongolia-Russia border.  On the heels of an eye-opening introduction to Russia and its people, the Selenga deposits them into Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake and second largest in terms of area.  So enormous is Lake Baikal that it creates its own weather systems.  The three men row 100 kilometres to reach the outflow of the Yenisey’s next tributary – the Angara River.  And there, Colin, Remy and Ben are joined by the expedition’s fourth member – Australian Tim Cope.  Less than 8 months earlier, Tim finished a 10,000 cycling epic, from Moscow to Beijing.     (Click here to read more).

At this point, a long held plan to switch from the kayaks and raft to a traditional wooden boat is enacted.  Restoration of an ideally proportioned yet decrepit dory specimen takes nearly three weeks, and involves strengthening a semi-rotten hull, building a cabin, and the installation of an Olympics style sliding rowing seat.  Throughout this period, the men nurture Russian friendships and form an intimate bond with the city of Irkutsk.  One of the local volunteer helpers, a 22 year old Russian woman named Olya, is invited aboard for the 500 kilometre row from Irkutsk to Bratsk.

From Irkutsk, the Angara
extends north in the form
of two massive reservoirs.
The five dory occupants
come to terms with the lack
of flow, regular instances of
choppy water, the cramped
living conditions and a 24
hour rowing regime.  
Solidarity, although always having been a very slippery thing up to now, degenerates to a particularly low level.  

An enormous hydroelectric dam at Bratsk bars the way and necessitates the arrangement of overland transportation of the dory.  Throughout the prolonged layover, the team manages to glimpse the beating heart of this otherwise drab looking industrial city.  The show is stolen by an old acquaintance of Tim’s (from his cycling journey), who demonstrates the extravagance and danger associated with life as a wealthy biznisman.    

slide into winter gathers momentum, they meet Siberia’s Amish-like ‘old believers’, nibble smoked pork fat with the residents of post-apocalyptic villages, and take refuge in the tee pees of indigenous reindeer herders.  

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