For the week of January 2 - 8, 2002

Kayakers skirt turmoil on subcontinent

Adventurers rewrite Himalayan itinerary after Sept. 11

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"We had to pull out of our plans, obviously a smart thing to do."

Sean Glaccum, Ketchum kayaker and adventure photographer

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By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer

Kayaking in northern India and Pakistan held the promise of great adventures last fall for Ketchum resident Sean Glaccum and three companions, Mitch Wood, Chad Fugeron and Russell Kelly.

Mitch Wood kayaking in India this fall. Photo by Sean Glaccum

 

But the team came rather close to more than they’d bargained for when they left Idaho in early September.

When terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime attacked New York and Washington, D.C., Sept. 11, Glaccum and his colleagues were only 20 miles from the Pakistan border in Manikaran, a small town in the province of Himachal Pradesh. That night a Frenchman pulled them into a shop to view a small black and white television flickering soundlessly on a shelf in the store. And at that moment the four adventurers first learned of the terrorist attacks on American soil.

Their plans had been to fly to Islamabad, Pakistan, four days later to continue their journey to kayak in the Himalayas.

These mountainous rivers are ideal for kayaking. Glaccum says that kayaking off the slopes of the three highest peaks in the world, Everest, K2 and Kanchanjunga, is the pinnacle of kayaking.

Last year, in a first leg of a quest to kayak each of these, he kayaked down the Dudh Kosi River on the slopes of Mount Everest.

But after Sept. 11, he and his companions had to change their itinerary.

"We had to pull out of our plans, obviously a smart thing to do,"

Attempting to retrench, the travelers then planned to go by train from Rishikesh, a small nearby town, to Delhi.

Even in regrouping, it seemed there was danger around each corner. A day before they were to catch the train to Delhi, it was blown up. Eight people died. But who did this?

"We didn’t stick around to find out," Glaccum said. Instead, they took a six-hour taxi ride to Delhi. Then they even had to abandon one of their cohorts when he tried to persuade them to run a river that flows into the disputed region of Kashmir.

Sean Glaccum returned home last week to Ketchum from India, where he had been since early September. Express photo by David N. Seelig

 

Along with the proximity of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the region has lately grown increasingly hostile. Tensions between Pakistan and India, both of whom have nuclear weapons, have escalated since a Dec. 13 suicide attack on parliament in Delhi that left 14 dead.

India asserts Pakistan incited the attack. So, while the two countries have fought for decades over Kashmir, India’s northern province, this attack has sparked a renewed bout of border conflicts.

Not content to sit idle while surrounded by strife, Glaccum’s group attended a service in Dharmsala given by the Dalai Lama, and went to Agar to experience the Taj Mahal.

Glaccum, 24, who is an aspiring adventure photographer, said there were almost no Westerner travelers about. Instead, the majority of visitors were Israeli and Indian tourists. Also, after Sept. 11, many people, realizing he and his friends are Americans, approached them, saying, "You’re American? We are so sorry."

Dodging other close calls, riots, and frantic e-mails from home—including one from Glaccum’s father, Tom, that said "Don’t go to Pakistan!"¾ they eventually caught a plane to Katmandu and managed to run "a couple more rivers" in Nepal.

Later, after leaving Nepal, Maoists rebels exploded two powerful bombs at a Coca-Cola plant in Katmandu. An American was among the dead.

Glaccum then traveled through Laos and Thailand on his way back to the United States. And he stopped to rock climb at the beach Railey, Thailand, with friends, before returning to Ketchum for Christmas.

"It was a crazy trip," Glaccum said.

Still, he intends to return to Nepal soon—"If unrest doesn’t stop us."

 

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