Rickshaw Run Himalaya/Monsoon Edition

by Willy Volk on

Oh, how I wish the heavens would align so I could participate in this summer’s Rickshaw Run: the Himalaya/Monsoon Edition. Beginning on June 23, racers will traverse 2000 miles of road — described as “average, bad, terrible and non-existent depending on where you go” — through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and China. And that’s just the first leg.

Organized by the brilliantly-named Institute of Adventure Research (a.k.a., Tom Morgan), the 2-week-long contest is a charity event disguised as an adventure race. On Day One, racers spend the day “playing cricket and acquainting ourselves with the rickshaws, each other and no doubt some gin and tonics.” Subsequently, teams launch from the start line (this year, Calcutta) and travel the length of the mighty Himalayan range — passing through mountains, forest, jungles, wild plains, and “just about everything India can through at you and your almost useless vehicle” — toward the finish line, using any route they like. There are optional checkpoints along the way, but who has time to stop when your 150cc vehicle travels at only 34 miles per hour?

Why a rickshaw? With only 3 wheels and half a horse power, Morgan argues that the rickshaw is more fun than any other vehicle on the planet. Amusingly, he claims the Rickshaw is “undoubtedly the ultimate long distance, off road machine, despite being designed for short distances on road.”

If you *think* you might want to enter, watch some of the clips from last year’s race, and then read up on the rules. If you’re looking for a teammate, please contact me.

Bringing Books to the Nepalese

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s always nice to return a little bit back to a country which gave so much to you–especially if it is a third world country.

For the most part, however, we simply tool through as travelers, soaking up the local beaches and mountains and then moving on.

Occasionally, a traveler stops and looks around and wonders what he or she can do to help. According to a recent article in the LA Times, this is exactly what happened to Toni Neubauer, the president of the Myths and Mountains travel agency. After visiting Nepal with with clients, Neubauer noticed that the country suffered from a shortage of books as well as the ability to read them.

As a result, she launched a nonprofit organization to help out with the situation. READ, or Rural Education and Development, aims to bring books and knowledge into the hands of Nepalese by embracing the following mission statement: “To empower communities by increasing literacy and access to education through the creation, advancement and leveraging of a replicable library-based model for sustainable economic development.”

Sounds pretty cool to me. Want to get involved and help out the wonderful people of Nepal? Click here.

Safer Everest Rescues with Unmanned Chopper

by Justin Glow on

I can’t ever imagine climbing Mt. Everest myself, but that hasn’t stopped me from living vicariously through John Krakauer in his book, Into Thin Air, one of my all-time favorites. The dangers of climbing the world’s tallest mountain are unparalleled; the 2006 climbing season alone saw the deaths of fifteen people — that’s one in every ten successful summits.

New Zealand based organization, Everest Rescue Trust, is looking to make climbing Everest a little bit safer by building an unmanned helicopter capable of rescuing the injured from the mountain’s high elevation and extreme terrain. The organization’s “goodwill ambassador” is none other than Mark Inglis, the first and only double amputee to climb Everest and star of the amazing Discovery Channel show, Everest: Beyond the Limit, which featured a group of climbers as they made their 2006 bid for the summit. Mark, along with a few other members of the group, stirred up controversy for the decision to forgo a rescue attempt on an injured, dying climber they found on their decent. “If you’re above 8,000 meters, and you can’t walk, you can’t live,” he told a reporter in a television interview for the Everest helicopter project.

Even if the project is successful, it won’t be the first time a helicopter has been to the top of Mt. Everest. On May 14th, 2005, a Eurocopter (with pilot) flew to the the summit and briefly landed just long enough to give it a world record for the highest take off ever — one that’s impossible to beat, unless another mountain mysteriously grows taller than Everest in the next few million years.

So wait, why can’t one of these Eurocopters rescue someone? In short, the winds on Everest are far too dangerous and unpredictable at high elevations — so much so that any attempt to land in such conditions is a huge risk for the pilot. This is where the unmanned chopper idea really shines. With the pilot controlling the helicopter from the safety of base camp, the only risk in a rescue attempt is damage to the machine.

The success of this project could mean a lot for the safety of future Everest mountaineers, but it could also mean an influx of even more inexperienced climbers, whose lack of experience and skill is often replaced with money in the bank. Some say the recent rise in Everest’s amateur climber population is responsible for the growing number of deaths.

What might potentially save the climber could, in fact, end up killing him or her.

[via Engadget]

See Nepal’s Beautiful… Machu Picchu?

by Dave Luna on

Neil mentioned how Nepal is once again safe to visit after the signing of a recent peace accord. Great, great news! However, it seems one Nepalese company became a little rusty marketing the country to outsiders during the dangerous hiatus.

A Royal Nepal Airlines advertisement depicted a gorgeous, mountaintop ruin with a slogan reading “Have you seen Nepal?” Sounds like an effective ad, right? Wrong. The sanctuary shown was actually Machu Picchu, and for those playing at home, it’s worth noting that Machu Picchu is a little over 10,000 miles away in Peru. Whoops.

The airline had no idea about the mistake until a Peruvian traveler happened upon the advert in an airline office. Upon learning about the oversight, Royal Nepal Airlines pulled the posters and fired a manager. Peruvian authorities heard about the error and questioned the airline via the country’s embassy. The embarrassed company apologized, and all is now well. Though, I wish the two groups had talked over the issue because I would love to see a Peruvian advertisement featuring Mt. Everest.

All of this confusion reminds me of a great T-shirt featuring the Union Flag with the underlining text: “Greece.”

Nepal Safe Again for Tourists

by Neil Woodburn on

With the recent peace accord signed by Maoist rebels this last November, Nepal is once again safe to visit.

The ten year battle claimed 13,000 lives and transformed one of my very favorite exotic locations into a scary place where the death toll and kidnap spree increasingly included tourists. In fact, when Michael Palin and his film crew passed through the region filming Himalaya, they witnessed the kidnapping of a British army officer and his Nepalese colleges by Maoist rebels.

This was so very hard to imagine looking back on my travels through the region in 1995. The Nepalese were such warm, smiling people that are caretakers of a magical mountain kingdom awash with Himalayan beauty. How such a place turned violent is beyond me. And yet it did.

Fortunately, providing that the rebels can be trusted, the end is finally here and Nepal can return to being its gracious self. In celebration, the LA Times has published a great introductory article for those who might be considering a visit. The writer, Susan Spano, spent a week dining, shopping and exploring Katmandu without a single mishap. Her only venture outside the capital, however, was for a breathtaking airplane tour of Mt. Everest.

While I applaud her efforts at being amongst the first tourists to return, the real beauty of Nepal reveals itself while trekking along its amazing Maoist-free mountains.

So, do yourself and all the mountain villagers who haven’t seen tourists in ten years a favor; get yourself to Nepal and explore, explore, explore.