'The Financially Feasible Five'

-
Not so long back, I used to dream of climbing the highest mountains of all the seven continents on earth...'the seven summits'. But it did not take me long to realize that, getting the fund is always much more difficult than actually climbing any of the seven!

Back in 2004, my good friend Haukur Parelius of Iceland (www.mountainfriends.com) made a very interesting comment. Back then, he had already climbed 5 out of the 7 and he called them the ' Financially Feasible Five'! Take Everest and Vinsson Massif out of the dream project, and it becomes a lot more feasible indeed! He did inspire me that day and even to this day, I have not given up my dream.

But, let's accept the fact that, for an average Indian citizen, it still is very 'financially challenging proposition'!

But I have always welcomed challenges in my life, I think they are fun anyway. I don't have to do a speed record. I can take my whole life to reach the summits of these 'famous five' and thats exactly what I am going to do!

In 2005, I hiked up Kilimanjaro. It was a great experience indeed! Now this year, in 2008, I am all set to hike up Mt Elbrus. But this will not be just a tourist visit for me, because I have commited myself to yet another crazy thing; I will be taking part in speed climbing race!!! Blimey!

Atleast, If I get AMS, I won't have to blame any one else, but me!

For more info on this unique and crazy race you can log on to: www.elbrusspeedclimb.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Across The Sahara on a Bicycle

-
Image
Across The Sahara on a Bicycle Between the things we get And the things we celebrate Flows a desert                            Lest we forget. #SaharaQuartet Background: My Africa My first exposure to the real Africa in 2005 after climbing Kilimanjaro. Scanned from slide. On top of Kilimanjaro in 2005 with a copy of Tathyakendra magazine. Scanned from slide I first visited Africa (Tanzania to be specific) in 2005. I hiked Kilimanjaro and came back home. It was just a tourist thing I did. But in spite of being wrapped up in an itinerary and a travel package of all things touristy; something very curious happened. I got even more inquisitive about Africa. I wanted to go back to Africa. Not as a tourist, but as a drifting wanderer, living an ever curious life. But for that I had to wait a good seven years. In 2011, while I was exploring the barriers of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Indian Himalaya; I realised that one of my Himalayan heroes H.W.T
Read more

Trans Africa on a bicycle: solo: a tribute to H.W.Tilman

-
Image
[A solo bicycle journey from the Equator to Tropic of Capricorn and from East Coast (Indian Ocean) to West Coast (Atlantic Ocean) through the African continent]  H.W.Tilman’s journey across Africa along the equator on a bicycle back in 1932-33; inspired me to get out there and begin my very own Trans African  bicycle adventure. Instead of retracing or repeating Tilman’s route I however preferred a route of my own. I would start from the Equator in Kenya and finish near the Tropic of Capricorn. Instead of heading down south in a straight line (as the road network would permit of course); I decided to touch the east coast of the African continent in Dar Es Salam. By doing so my route got an added value of East Coast to West Coast traverse along with the primary goal of Equator to Capricorn journey. My route would take me through the Kenyan Highlands, Great Rift Valley, the Masaai Steppe, Foothills of Mt Kenya, Mt Meru and Mt Kilimanjaro, The Usambara Mountains, Coas
Read more

To the Mountains of the Moon: A Journey from Fiction to Facts

-
Image
In 1937, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay chronicled the adventures of a Bengali boy named Shankar. This novel was named 'Chander Pahar' (English: 'Mountains of the Moon', as the fiction refers to a range of mountains and not a single standing mountain). 'Chander Pahar' went on to become one of the most loved adventure stories in the Bengali literature. In his lifetime, Bibhutibhushan wrote 16 novels and over 200 short stories. Interestingly, even though most of Bibhutibhushan's works were largely set in rural Bengal; in this particular novel the writer chose the setting of 1909 Africa. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950) In the story 'Chander Pahar', our protagonist Shankar gets a lucky break to go out from his little riverside village in Bengal to work for the Uganda Railway. Thus begun his sudden and long journey from the mundane to the extraordinary. A roller coaster ride through adventures involving the infamous man eating lions of Tsav
Read more