From icy encounters to legendary descents and essential gear picks, here’s what’s making waves today.

• 🧊 Paddling With Icebergs (Video)
• Greatest Whitewater Descents — Tsangpo Expedition, Tibet
• 🧭 5 Best Compasses For Paddlers
• And More…

— Paddling Magazine Newsletter Editors

In this video, a group of instructors from Online Sea Kayaking give us a 360-degree view of the experience of paddling with icebergs.

In February 2002, in the dead of the Himalayan winter, seven of the world’s top extreme kayakers attempted to paddle Tibet’s Tsangpo River, one of the most remote and deepest river gorges on Earth, three times deeper and eight times steeper than the Grand Canyon. The team included Steve Fisher from South Africa, Mike Abbott of New Zealand, Allan Ellard of England, Dustin Knapp of Oregon, twin brothers Johnnie and Willie Kern from Vermont, and expedition leader Scott Lindgren of California.

Like most old skills, there’s something deeply satisfying about getting where you want to go with the humble compass. Even with all our available tech gadgetry, the compass endures as an essential analog outdoor tool. From kayak-specific models to versatile backcountry options, these reliable tools will help keep you on course wherever your adventures lead. Here are our top picks to get you where you're going.

The International Whitewater Hall of Fame (IWHoF) will welcome its newest class of inductees on May 2, 2026, during a ceremony at the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, bringing together paddlers and river advocates for an evening celebrating the whitewater’s most influential figures.