|
| |
|
| |
07. TRAVEL |
| |
Adventure
Racing in Paradise
HIMALAYAN EXPLORATION RACE 2005 |
| |
 |
| |
by
Keith Noyes, Race Director, Seyon Asia
The Kullu Valley - “the valley of the gods.” As I travel
its length, breadth and vertical relief, I am blown away by the beauty
and the limitless potential for great adventure racing! Can it really
be true that no one has organized and adventure race in this paradise
previously? |
| |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
Irvinder,
my host from Snowland Tours & Travel, assures me that while
the Kullu Valley is the site of thriving heli-ski, trekking,
white water rafting, bike touring and paragliding activities,
no one as ever put together a multi-sport event that encompasses
all of the scenic wonders of the area.
Since designing adventure-race courses is both my work and my
passion, I feel like a painter who has just been given the world’s
most beautiful canvas with which to work. Often it is hard work
linking up the different elements that would make for a nice
course in a seamless fashion, but everything just comes together
so easily here. A beautiful hiking trail leads to the perfect
place to transition to exciting mountain biking, which in turn
leads to great stream trekking and on to adrenaline-charged
rapids.
All along the way there are hidden gems: a beautiful temple
in the middle of nowhere, a remote hill-tribe village, a stand
of virgin forest, apple orchards, a sudden view of a glaciated
Himalayan mountain or a thundering waterfall.
After several days of looking around, it is clear that my real
problem is that I am spoiled for choice. How can I justify using
this beautiful trail but not that one? How can I combine all
of the wonderful elements to give an overall impression of the
Kullu Valley to the adrenaline junkies who will join the race?
|
|
After a few more
days of walking around, the outline of a course plan begins
to form in my head. The logistics are a bit audacious, but Irvinder
says that he is up to the challenge. He also secures the full
support of Himachal Pradesh Tourism, which is keen to showcase
their beautiful land in a new and unique way. All together,
upwards of 100 people will be drafted in to support the race,
including police, medical, rafting guides, and international
rope safety specialists.
Over 2 days and 120 km, the resulting course combines much of
what I have found special about the Kullu Valley. Broadly speaking
this can be divided into three unique features: nature, lifestyle
and spirituality. The nature part speaks for itself and provides
the physical backdrop for the adrenaline sports. Hiking through
alpine meadows and through jagged canyons, biking through old
growth forests and down ridge-trails, 15km of white-water rafting
on a wild section of the Beas River never developed for commercial
rafting previously, and vertigo-inducing abseils off steep cliffs
are but some of the pleasures.
It is the other two elements that differentiates this race and
makes it not just a sporting event, but also a cultural exploration.
It is the felling of climbing a steep hill feeling sorry for
oneself only to come upon an old man, unbowed, carrying a huge
basket of apples to his beautiful hillside home. Or the feeling
of biking |
|
|
into a village
and meeting children who are fascinated by the sight of lycra-clad
adults on bicycles with more gears than they could have thought possible.
Or watching villagers collecting firewood on hillsides that I wouldn’t
dare to set foot on without a safety line.
Then there is the spiritualism that pervades the region. I cannot
evenbegin to describe the sense of wonder at some of the remote and
beautiful temples I have witnessed, or the respect I have for the
people who dutifully make the pilgrimage to these temples to circumnavigate
them three times and pay respect to their gods. The adventure racers
will also have to respect the temples and will be required to take
off their shoes and circle each temple they encounter three times.
And finally there is one spiritual element that adds quite a bit of
adventure to the race – cows. Yes, cows can be found roaming
freely almost everywhere and they certainly add an element of excitement
when you come around a corner on your bicycle at 40 kph and come face
to derriere with a cow. But cows are an ageless part of Indian culture
and as much a part of the essence of adventure racing in India as
the rafting or the ropes.
For those who are statistically inclined, the race disciplines and
various course statistics are summarized below. The statistics that
I didn’t keep however, would be equally interesting. These include
how many different trails have been tried, how many rapids have been
run and rerun to test for safety, how many times the rope elements
have been stress-tested, how many hours have been lost to extricating
jeeps from mud holes, how many smiling “namastes” I’ve
spoken as I wandered through off-the-beaten-track villages.
Needless to say, our expectations for this race are lofty. We will
not be content for people to simply say “good race” at the
end; rather we hope that they will look back at their exploration
race in the valley of the gods as one of the great adventures of their
lives. If we achieve this, certainly it will also be beneficial for
our own karma! |
| |
|
|
|
|
