Water Words: “Hell or High Water”

A Carolina Paddler Book Report

“Hell or High Water”

By Peter Heller

Rodale, 2004, 231 pages

Report by Jeffrey Hatcher

Peter Heller’s book “Hell or High Water” is a fabulous account of a Scott Lindgren-led team’s 2002 attempt to run China’s Tsangpo Gorge.  It also serves as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong on a trip. From a revolt of his porters (who essentially hold the trip hostage for more money), to the breakdown of the team, and finally to rapids so dangerous they are unrunnable.

The team he brings together reads as a “who’s who” of kayaking at the time:  Scott Lindgren, Wille and Johnnie Kern, Dustin Knapp, Allan Ellard, Mike Abbott and Steve Fisher.

Peter Heller is along with the expedition as a writer for Outside magazine and the story reads like one of their articles- bits of history sprinkled in, lots of hyperbolic interpersonal drama and a risk of death. He spends the first part of the book describing the intense logistics of setting up a massive trip- hiring sherpas to carry their food and gear, collecting the boaters at specified points, obtaining visas from the Chinese government, negotiating roads closed due to snowfall, and making their own maps. He details Lindgren’s intensity and his desire to protect his investment in the trip as well as his distrust of journalists.

The trip quickly gets off the rails as the government aide assigned to the expedition forces the team to hire more sherpas and pay them two and half times the originally bargained rate. And the paddling also feels like it could go off the rails at any time.  The boaters are immersed in big water that is freezing cold and aren’t acclimatized to the thin air they are breathing.

Despite my personal biases against Outside, the writing here is excellent. The details of the history of the region are outstanding and the descriptions of the environment make you feel as if you are there, immersed in the adventure. The paddling accounts and characterizations of the paddlers seem to be spot-on as well.

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say I enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it.   (Rating:  5/5 paddles)

The original Outdoor magazine article is called “Liquid Thunder.”

And if reading books is not for you, the trip was also made into a great documentary by National Geographic:  “Into the Tsangpo Gorge”