FLOWSTATE Issue 1

SIBERIA
RUSSIA
JOURNAL
A journey to the
Kitoi & Biluti Rivers
Derek Murphy on his expedition
to Siberia
In January I got word from my friend Nini that
she was planning a kayaking trip to Siberia
with Two-blades adventures and I was immediately
interested. Having done some
researched on youtube, the Kitoi and Biluti
rivers was the plan for the 9-day expedition. I
had a mixed bag of emotions, I was apprehensive,
nervous, excited and cautious to say the
least.
To sign up for the trip you needed to give a
detailed account of your own paddling experience.
After a few days I got word from Thomas
of Two-blades that I was confirmed to join the
trip in August. And so my training for the trip
began that day. From my winter training in the
gym, to flat water sprints, as well as running
numerous rivers in Voss on a daily basis over
the course of the summer. The training paid
off, as I had my highest ranking finish in an
extreme kayaking race during ekstremsportveko
festival in Voss. I finished 14th and 12th in
the two kayaking events.
Planning:
A good friend and expedition paddler Rob
Wilson gave me a note book to record my
experiences from the trip. I would use this
notebook to log inventory for the trip, what was
needed; gear, clothes, first aid, camera etc.
What was luxury to bring, to do lists, my training
plan, final gear list and also to use this diary to
log my experiences from the trip.
I had a 4 piece breakdown paddle, so I
researched the best way to carry this in my
Toro. I took out my centre pillar and cut in the
form of the paddle in the foam. I hadn't done to
many expeditions so it would certainly be a
learning by doing experience, which I really
enjoyed the idea of. I knew it was going to be a
steep learning curve in boat packing on the
first few days.
The Trip:
I flew out to Irkutsk, Siberia with Aeroflot
airlines. It was expensive flying with my boat so
Egor managed to sell it for me by the end of my
trip there. That would save a lot of hassle but I
would lose a bit money on the boat in the end.
When we landed, Egor and Max (Whom I knew
from a previous paddling experience in Italy,
coincidently enough) picked us up at the
airport. The first night, we went out for dinner
and pre-packed our boats for the next day
departure. Egor took our passports as we then
found out we would be crossing the Mongolian
boarder (which was a bit of an unexpected
surprise).
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