Table of Contents
Basic Equipment
Advanced River Tracing
Where to Buy Equipment in Taiwan
The Basics: 3 Essential Pieces of Equipment For Every Trace
In Taiwan, the community consensus is that every person going river tracing should at least carry with them three pieces of essential river tracing equipment: a climbing helmet, a pair of river tracing shoes, and a personal floatation device or “PFD”.
If you are going exploring or visiting difficult to access wilderness areas, you should bring a full set of technical river tracing gear and be prepared to self-rescue.
Climbing Helmet
A helmet helps to protect your head from falling rocks and other potential impacts during the trace. Helmets should be certified to either EN or UIAA standards (EN-12492 or UIAA-106), the global standards for climbing helmets.
Personal Floatation Device aka “PFD”
PFDs add buoyancy, reduce evaporative cooling by blocking the wind, and help to lock in body heat while in the water. The added buoyancy is especially beneficial when swimming through gorges with ropes or heavy packs.
Type III or Type V PDFs, the same kind that are used for whitewater kayaking, are preferred since their designs are less obstructive around the shoulder and allow for a fuller range of motion.
Recently, inflatable PDFs have become popular for multi-day first descents. They offer the advantage of reduced weight and packability, but need to be protected from abrasion by being worn on the inside of a rain shell.
Felt-soled Waders (aka River Tracing Shoes)
Felt-soled waders are the only choice for river tracing in Taiwan. They are cheap, safe, and offer unbeatable traction on wet or moss-covered rock. The uppers are generally made from neoprene which keeps your feet warm and protects your ankles.
The majority of creeks in Taiwan feature shaded narrow gorges where algae grows at a rapid pace, making rubber-soled shoes (even Vibrams) dangerously slippery and generally ineffective.
A basic pair of felt-soled waders costs between 20-50 USD. Take a look at the river tracing shoes section below for specific brand recommendations.
Planning a River Tracing Expedition?
If you going on an expedition, you will want to take additional equipment in addition to the basics listed above. You will need to have clothing that is effective at retaining body heat while wet, technical gear for securing traverses, climbs, and for rescuing teammates from water hazards, and a set of bivouac gear to get through the night.
Being fully prepared to face the various challenges that are likely to occur while river tracing will make you feel more confident and allow you to keep a cool head when dealing with each one. Also, it will allow for more flexibility in your trip schedule which will increase your the safety factor.
Technical River Tracing Gear List
- Helmet
- Whistle
- Water Clothing
- River Tracing Shoes
- Gloves
- Personal Floatation Device (PDF)
- Bags: Waterproof Bag / Canyoning Bag
- Throw Bag
- Water Rescue Knife
- Tarp
- Cooking Gear: Stove, Pot, Isobutane
- Harness
- Static Rope
- Dive Mask
Clothing Systems
Keeping Warm in the Water
River tracing requires continuously moving through cold creek water.
Creeks with shaded gorges or with consecutive swimming sections (e.g. the popular Sanzhan South River in Hualien or Zhakong Creek in Wulai) contain water that is unexpectedly, and potentially, unbearably cold. Even during the summer, these gorges can quickly drain your body heat. Each submersion will flushed your clothing with fresh cold water, making heat-retention both difficult and crucial.
Prolonged immersion in cold water combined with continuous physical exertion can quickly induce hypothermia. It’s easier to make mistakes when cold or hypothermic. These mistakes can be deadly when traversing Taiwan’s talus-filled creeks, where river hazards, such as hydraulics and siphons are common.
Clothing Systems for River Tracing
There are generally three clothing systems for body-heat management while river tracing: Power Stretch fleece, DWR-coated Finetrack hybrid layers, and neoprene.
Power Stretch
Polartec Power Stretch is commonly used as water clothing and is favored by the older generations of river tracers. Worn as a base layer underneath rain jackets and rain pants, it dries relatively quickly and soon begins to insulate once outside of the water. Rain gear serves to combat additional heat loss due to wind.
Finetrack
Finetrack specializes in designing and producing equipment specifically for river tracing. The company produces DWR-coated hybrid insulating layers for river tracing and canyoning. They do not absorb much water when submerged, and are quick to dry upon leaving the water. The water-resistant outer layer is hybrid of fleece and neoprene, while the inner layer is fast-drying and helps to keep the skin feeling dry while the outer layer is still drying.
Neoprene (Wetsuit)
Neoprene is the material that diving and surfing wetsuits are made out of. It has the greatest ability to insulate when submerged in water. The major disadvantages of neoprene is that it does not dry nearly as quickly as fleece or Finetrack’s hybrid layers and isn’t very breathable.
Read More: Canyoning Clothing Comparison: Power Stretch vs Finetrack vs Neoprene
River Tracing Footwear
Most mountaineering stores in Taiwan sell felt-bottom waders, the river tracing shoe of choice. Make sure you get the version that is just felt, not the studded-felt sole. Studs are meant to add traction when fishing, but can negatively impact the traction of felt on smooth rock. High tops are better than ankle boots for the additional protection and warmth that they offer.
Recommended Shoes for River Tracing
Montbell makes an excellent split-toed felt-bottom river tracing shoe that is only sold in Japan. For a made-in-Taiwan option, check out the Yongyue brand.
Montbell river tracing shoes
Yongyue river tracing shoes
Bag Systems for River Tracing
There are two popular bag systems used in river tracing. One option is a carrying a large dry bag backpack. This option is usually cheaper, but it comes with the downside of having to store wet gear and dry gear together inside. If you happen to have a lot of wet gear, this negates the benefits of carrying a dry bag. The more ideal option is using a large self-draining canyoning backpack and using a separate dry bag to isolate dry gear. The advantage of using a canyoning backpack is that wet items can be securely stored outside of the dry bag, and dry items will continue to remain dry.
Single large dry bag
For day trips and non-technical river traces, a single large dry bag is a simple and economical solution.
Self-draining backpack + dry bag(s)
Hanchor makes the Xeno bag displayed above. Canyoning bags from Rodcle or any other company are also common options.
Recommended Dry Bags
Shawa: Shawa makes reliable and cheap dry bags available in Taiwan through the Shawa web store. Sizes range from 5L-30L and include backpack style options.
Barhar: a Chinese company, makes large capacity dry bags.
Recommended Canyoning Bags
Rodcle, Hanchor and Barhar all make self-draining canyoning backpacks.
Throw Bag
Teams should be prepared to rescue teammates from drowning without endangering the rescuers by carrying a throw rope and being versed in its usage.
Water Rescue Knife
A rescue knife is an essential piece of kit when working with ropes in water. Entanglement hazards are life-threatening situations which may result in drowning if a rescue knife is not readily available and the user is not trained in self-rescue.
Recommended Rescue Knives: CKRT Bear Claw water rescue knife
Tarp
Tarps are lightweight and have multiple uses. Aside from being the best option for emergency shelters, they can help to protect fires or be used to warm hypothermic bodies and stabilize parts of injured persons bodies in a rescue scenario. Tarps also fare better than tents when it comes to dealing with condensation in humid river valleys.
Cooking Gear
Lightweight pots and isobutane stoves are crucial for saving weight and space. They offer the convenience of being able to warm up water on demand without having to get a fire going and help when lighting fires on wet days.
Harness & Climbing Gear
Exploratory river tracing routes require climbing gear to secure traverses and climbs. Each member of a team should be equipped to create anchors, redirects, belay, ascend, and descend rope systems.
Static Rope
Static rope is more durable than dynamic rope and is used for setting up a line for ascending and descending when climbing around obstacles.
Dive Mask
Dive masks are useful for exploring pools and retrieving lost gear.
Buying Equipment for River Tracing and Canyoning in Taiwan
Most river tracing equipment can be bought at any of Taiwan’s numerous mountaineering stores or online at a number of web stores.
The Shawa Canyoning store is essentially a one-stop shop which sells climbing hardware, bolting supplies, cheap wetsuits, rain gear, dry kegs, rope bags, Rodcle bags, a variety of descenders suitable for use in flowing water.
Concordia is a large importer of rope access and climbing gear.
Also of note, The Canyon Torchlight Resource Agency sells descenders and locally designed canyoning ropes with comparable specs to Glacier Black and CE4Y. Ropesmith sells wear-resistant and heat-resistant canyoning ropes made with a 100% kevlar sheath and polyester core.
Mountaineering Shops in Taipei:
Taipei Shan Shui 台北山水 [GPS]
For general mountaineering gear; located just outside of Taipei Main Station.
Ting San Iou 登山友 [GPS]
For ropes and technical gear; located next door to Taipei Shan Shui.
Keepon Outdoor 登山補給站
For a larger selection of ultralight packs, and general mountaineering gear; located in Wanhua District. [GPS]
Online Stores:
Shawa Canyoning
Sells Rodcle bags and locally made hardware
Concordia
Official importer of CE4Y ropes and canyoning equipment
Canyon Torchlight Resource Agency
Ultralight canyoning ropes designed in Taiwan