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Tags: Mancations / Himalayas / Mt. Everest / Biking / Active Travel / Adventure Sports / → All Tags

Crazy Mancations: Himalayan Sports

There are two types of mancations: there's the lazy slob mancation, usually involving some combination of beer, meat and sports. Then there's the active mancation, which usually involves attempting something you can brag about for the rest of your life--if you live!

Falling in the latter category, the Himalayan Race and Trek is for those who've always wanted to "do" Everest but aren't quite up for the life-threatening climb to the top.

The Himalayan is made up of three distinct bike-and-road races. The Himalayan Stage Race is an 8-day, 100-mile trek through Nepal's forests, mountains and rivers; the Mt. Everest Challenge Marathon winds through isolated forests and small villages around Everest; and the Mt. Everest Bike Rally is an 8-day mountain climb.

All three event take off on November 1, and each one starts and ends at Bagdora Airport in Darjeeling, India.

Related Stories:
· Himalayan Run and Trek [Official Site]
· Himalayas Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Mancations Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Mckaysavage]

Tags: Mountain Biking / India Travel / Himalayas / → All Tags

Mountain Biking in Thin Air: Khanchendzonga

The tiny Indian state of Sikkim is home to the world's third highest peak, Khanchendzonga, and its craggy landscape ranges in elevation from 920 to 28,000 feet. It's probably one of the most ridiculously difficult places in the world to ride a mountain bike. But, man, the things people will do for money.

The Khanchendzonga Mountain Biking Expedition is a ten-day, 370-mile-long course that winds through all of Sikkim's four territories. The prize money totals $25,000.

The event kicked off on March 3 and drew about 60 competitors. Most were from India, but a handful were from other countries, including one from the United States. The race was organized largely to help boost tourism in the region. (They probably could've started by fixing up their website.)

Related Stories:
· Mountain bike expedition gets underway [Yahoo]
· India Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Mountain Biking coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: d ha rm e sh]

Tags: Adventure Travel / Himalayas / → All Tags

Unadventurous Adventures in Nepal

Gone are the days when an expedition to Mount Everest was only for hard-core adventure travelers: We already know you can make cell phone calls there. Now you can book the Classic Everest trek which the British tour company World Expeditions say is "for those who are short on time and do not wish to camp." It's a 12-day climb out of Lukla and seems like a really soft way to see a bit of the Himalayas.

To their credit, they haven't changed their entire program to suit busy businessmen who want a Mount Everest-conquering picture on their office desks. Kayaking along the coastline and interior riverways of Belize sounds a bit more hard-core, and the 31-day trek in Nepal to the Mera and Island Peak mountains is properly billed as being "for the ambitious adventurer". But half their trip blurbs include the phrase "if you're short on time". If they're not careful, adventure travel will become "short on adventure".

Related Stories:
· Where Cell Phones Now Dare to Tread [Jaunted]
· Adventure Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· World Expeditions [Official Site]

[Photo: Dey]

Tags: Mountain Climbing / Himalayas / → All Tags

The Great Mt Everest Who-Dunnit

There is still a big mystery surrounding the first climbers to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Of course, we routinely credit Sir Edmund Hillary as the king of the Himalayas, but many suspect that British climber George Mallory got to the top 29 years earlier.

The reason we can't ask ol' George if he made it or not is that he died in the process. This week US climber Conrad Anker and British pal Leo Houlding climbed Everest Mallory-style, proving that it was technically possible with their 1920s equipment. But it ain't the same as having proof that they got there. If only China Telecom had installed their cell phone mast nearly a century earlier.

Related Stories:
· Hotels in Nepal [HotelChatter]
· Where Cell Phones Now Dare To Tread [Jaunted]
· Everest Mystery Remains [Reuters]

[View of Mt Everest from toilet: apurdam]

Tags: Mountain Climbing / Mountains / Cell Phones / Himalayas / → All Tags

Where Cell Phones Now Dare To Tread

Adventure travel has just got a bit less exciting, after a British guy made the first phone call and sent the first text message from the peak of Mt Everest. In a nice piece of advertising for Motorola, who sponsored the attempt, Rod Baber texted:

One small text for man, one giant leap for mobilekind - thanks Motorola.

And no, he didn't write that himself. He also made a phone call giving pearls of wisdom like "The Himalayas are everywhere", "It's cold" and "I cannot wait to get back".

China Telecom recently installed a mast at the Rongbuk base station, close to the summit, and the ability to use cell phones will obviously aid rescue efforts when climbers get in trouble. But it'll also aid the increase of the kind of unnecessary, obvious text messages people often send when they've got nothing to do. Don't try it yourself unless you're well prepared, though. Taking your gloves off to write the text message would probably get your fingers snap frozen and useless.

Related Stories:
· "I Can't Feel My Toes": Everest Mobile Call [UK Times]
· World's Most Dangerous Airports: Himalayas [Jaunted]

Tags: World's Most Dangerous Airports / Himalayas / Altiports / Nepal Travel / → All Tags

World's Most Dangerous Airports: Lukla Airport, Nepal, LUA

For the next couple of days we are doing a quick fly-over of the world's most dangerous airports. Know a stomach dropping, palm sweat inducing airport we should check out? Send it along.

Since Lukla Nepal is the place most people start their Mount Everest trek, this Himalayan strip gets quite a bit of traffic--mostly to and from Kathmandu.

Sirens inform folks for miles when an airplane is landing here, and as you would suspect, only helicopters and Twin Otter type planes can handle the 2,000 foot, uphill runway that is fenced off at the end, to protect you from the edge of a mountain cliff.

As for take off?

When you take off, you go downhill and then the runway just disappears into the valley down below. If you don't get enough speed, you drop until you get lift and then hopefully get back up again.

Wind and weather cause plenty of delays here, however, there is usually plenty to drink around the airport, just in case you need to pass the time or get up the gumption to get on your flight.

Yeti Airlines is one of the few commercial airlines you can book through to get to LUA.

Click Here to check out a small craft landing at Lukla.

[Photo: Dave & Marks trip]

Related Stories:
· World's Most Dangerous Airports [Jaunted]
· Luka Airport [Google Maps]

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