En Route

I am going to India to snowboard. When I tell people this, I always get the same response: "what? You can do that there? They have snow?” Yes, they have snow- the Himalayas. I realize I'm not going to India for India. I’m not going to see the typical sights. I’m not trying to fit an entire country into 6 weeks. That’s just not possible. Instead, I’m chasing adventure at a spot unlike any other in the world. When it comes down to it, I was looking for more than resort snowboarding. I’ve snowboarded since I was 9, and was instantly hooked. Thus began my adrenaline addiction.

So now I’m about to go deep into the Himalayas to a tiny town built around a military base that happens to have the longest or highest gondola in the world. I’m not sure which. Regardless of its title, it is impressive. This gondola drops you off at 14,000 ft with over 5,000 vertical feet of alpine bowls stretching in either direction for miles. That’s where my splitboard comes in handy. I have a snowboard that splits right down the middle into skis. You heard right. The bindings slide on and off these special attachments that allow me to switch from riding to a telemark ski setup. This way I can traverse long distances to access powder-filled bowls. This place has been referred to as heli-boarding without the helicopter.

When it comes down to it, I just got fed up with paying close to $100 a day to ski at a resort with thousands of other people. As the saying goes, there are no friends on a powder day. Well, you can imagine the lack of courtesy that goes along with hundreds of powder-hungry, vertically-frustrated strangers that all have to share the same few runs.

The other option to access steep powder is heli-boarding. Well, not an option for me.

So option 3, what I’m doing. It’s not like I’m the first to do something like this, it’s just a little far away from Hawaii. 56-hours-of-traveling, far away. Game on.

I’m a little nervous. Going instantly from humid Hawaii with thick, oxygen-rich air to cold, dry, 14,000-foot Himalayan Mountains will no doubt be a shock. I’ve done a little strength training and cardio exercises, which will help, but I’m sure I will be gasping for air as I’m climbing up these mountains.

Though I am not sightseeing, I look forward to getting to know this small village area. I haven’t heard much about this place where I am going, but I’m sure I will see a whole type of people and life. I know there is great snow much closer to me than India, but that’s actually part of what’s attracting me to this place- the fact that it is somewhere far and exotic.

At the moment I am in Chicago airport for 6 hours. It’s grey and cold outside. I couldn’t imagine living here at all. Airports are always interesting. You see all types of people. Some that stare off into space with their mouths open, some that immediately avert there eyes when you make eye contact, the loud person on the cell phone, the business men with two cell phones on their belt.

That’s it for now, I’ll try to update this thing when I can. At least once a week.

-Riley