Exploration
Watch Nouria Newman take on some of the world’s hardest rivers in Patagonia
Last February Nouria Newman, Ben Stookesberry and Erik Boomer headed into the Chilean wilderness for an incredible adventure of first descents and real big water.
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Chilean Patagonia has countless wild rivers that have yet to be kayaked. Beyond mind-bogglingly huge volumes of water surging through these epic water-ways, the region’s notoriously fierce and swift-changing weather systems make for even more uncertain passage.
Epic water and epic scenery
© Erik Boomer
This was just the sort of adventure world-champion French paddler Nouria Newman and accomplished American expedition kayakers Ben Stookesberry and Erik Boomer were looking to find. For over two months, the team kayaked nine rivers, garnering four first descents and the second human-powered descent of the Pasqua, one of Patagonia’s largest rivers and toughest stretches of white-water. They accomplished more river exploration in Patagonia than had been done over the previous decade.
Erik, Ben and Nouria
© Erik Boomer
“The conditions in Patagonia are a bit crazy – they change really, really fast,” says Newman. “One minute it’s sunny, and the next thing you know, it’s pouring rain or you’re up in the snow. We were very lucky with the weather. But even when we got lucky, it’s not really friendly.”
The team’s goal was to complete the “triple crown” of Patagonian kayaking – the Baker, Bravo, and Pasqua, which had been attempted in 2017 by a team led Evan Garcia.
Getting to the remote rivers was no easy feat
© Erik Boomer
Newman’s team added the challenging Ano Nuevo as well. Getting around by car, bus, ferry and river boat, the team decided to explore other rivers they encountered on their way. “We figured most likely, we were going to get skunked on one or two of the rivers. So, we just decided to take our time,” says Newman.
The team portaged – or carried their boats weighing up to 100lbs (45kg) when filled with gear – up and down gruelling terrain to scout the rivers for more than a hundred miles (160km).
The team portaged over difficult terrain
© Erik Boomer
“The portaging was really miserable,” says Newman. “On the Pascua, we joked that every single river we’ve done so far has trained us for portaging.” On the Pasqua, they had to bushwhack off trail for 54 miles (87km).
Patagonian perfection
© Erik Boomer
It was on this river that Newman and Stookesberry (Boomer had to depart the expedition early) were pushed to their limits: “You look at those rapids, and you think, ‘Oh! I have never seen something quite that big before! If I’d be there in my kayak, I would just be destroyed. There’s no way I’ll survive this.’”
Big volume rivers
© Erik Boomer
Even Stookesberry, who has paddled the most remote and dangerous rivers across the globe, was rattled and thought they should give up. Newman convinced him to give it a shot. “I told him, ‘Ben, if the Pascua were not scary, and easy, we wouldn't know about it. We’ll at least go to the beginning of the canyon. And if we hike out, we hike out from there.” They were successful, thanks in part to Newman’s determination.
They were successful thanks to Nouria's determination
© Erik Boomer
Newman began kayaking at age five in her home village of La Plagne, France, where kids join sports clubs at an early age and are put into competitions. At the time, there was only one other girl in the kayaking club, but she was ten years older than Newman. Newman’s parents were not sold on the sport for their daughter. They argued that because she could not swim, she could not become a kayaker. Newman quickly learned to swim and was granted permission to join the kayaking club, an early indicator of her tenacity.
She excelled at international competitions from 2007 to 2017. In 2013, she was the extreme kayaking world champion. At the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Championships, she won a gold in 2014 and a silver in 2013. But the pressures of competing stopped being satisfying.
Nouria Newman in Patagonia
© Erik Boomer
"I think I had reached my limit of it,” recalls Newman, who has a degree in journalism and political science. “I got injured, and I never really came back from injury, so I didn’t have the results. I was doing the same races over and over. I was getting burned out.”
This led Newman to set off on her own exploratory adventures, including a solo missions in the Himalaya in 2018 and 2019. “I think I just needed time by myself,” says Newman. “It turns out it wasn’t the best idea in the world.” As with any adventure, a few things went wrong – getting stopped by the police and the extreme altitude were a few challenges she confronted. Then, in August 2019, she went to Tibet to explore three rivers.
14 min
Solo kayaking in the Himalayas
Follow kayaker Nouria Newman's vlog as she embarks on a treacherous solo expedition in the Himalayas.
“Nouria is an extremely confident and aggressive paddler who is among the best in the world in terms of skill, gender not withstanding,” says Stookesberry, who was named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year twice. "But what makes her a great expedition paddler is her appetite for the multifaceted challenges of exploratory kayaking – mountaineering and climbing with a kayak on your shoulder and cultural immersion into the logistics and languages. It’s not enough just to want to kayak breathtaking rivers, you have to love all the other stuff to really have that passion for the totality of the adventure that breeds success on unexplored rivers.”
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