Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork
Basically, river trekking is a blend of a plethora of outdoor activities, including hiking, rock climbing, camping, swimming, rope skills, wilderness survival, orienteering, and bird watching. The varying topographies of different waterways call for different equipment, techniques, and strategies for advancing, so that no two challenges are ever alike.
At the same time, close cooperation among team members is vital when facing river trekking's tougher obstacles. At 11 in the morning on 27 August, Saatchi and Saatchi's design team was making its way up a stream when it found itself going head-to-head against its first real hurdle--the two-story high Takui Waterfall. Dwarfed by the falls, the spirit of cooperation and teamwork, which defines the sport, served to take the edge off their nerves.
Chang Li-jen and two partners were spearheading the advance. They were charged with the vital mission of fixing into place the main rope, rated to bear 1,500 kilograms in weight. With hammers dangling from their belts, they inched their way up the steep face as they searched for suitable places in which to drive in rock bolts. Other team members, nervous but confident, made their way up the rope one at a time. Avoiding head-on collisions with the falling water, they surmounted the dangerous obstacle through team leadership and individual perseverance.
"This is a team activity--you go out together and you come back together. Nobody gets left behind," confides He Tzung-kun, who has many years of experience in technical river trekking. Problems pop up when you least expect it, but when a team focuses on helping each other, a waterfall that might normally take 15 minutes to climb might take only 15 seconds. By going with the shape of the rock and following in the steps of the person in front, you leave your anxieties behind to be replaced by self-confidence and a sense of accomplishment. This is the allure of river trekking.
Growing popularity
A tenuous line separates success and failure in this sport. River trekking is much more dangerous than other extreme sports, like rock climbing and bungee jumping.
"On one trip, we were descending a waterfall, but it was too steep and jagged and the water was crashing down too fast. Somebody slid down the precipice and received a ten-centimeter-long gash in his thigh," recalls Li Chien-mou. Safe river trekking requires much more specialized knowledge and better skills, that you be in good shape physically, and that you keep yourself sharp both physically and mentally throughout the trip. Above all, you need a healthy respect for nature.
Despite this, "Every space on every trek between June and September was filled," relates Taiwan Four Seasons Stream Tracing Association director Ku Chia-hui as she describes the huge growth in numbers that river trekking has experienced this year. In recent years, driven by the Ministry of Education's School Holiday Policies as well as enthusiastic promotion in the private sector, river trekking has been enjoying explosive growth.
"No stream is unconquerable; the real obstacle is the fear within," calls out Changko, a river trekker since 1992, to a team member in the process of rappelling down a waterfall face. While striving to explore the water's source in any stream, river trekkers, too, seek the source of their own lives. Personal experience is the only way to witness the great marvel that is nature, in whose presence we become aware of our own insignificance and of the possibility of surpassing ourselves.
If you haven't experienced the tranquility and adventure of Taiwan's streams, why not join the ranks of the river trekkers?
River Trekking Organizations in Taiwan
Taiwan Four Seasons Stream Tracing Association
(a section of the ROC Alpine Association)
Website: www.4season.org.tw
Tel.: (02) 2308-3282
Taipei Up Stream Club
Website: www.tusclub.org/