All For Some Adventure

By Asmita Sarkar | December 15, 2017

Traveling 300 km in temperatures of -30 degrees on a dog sled in the Arctic Pole is not an activity for the faint-hearted. It is also not an activity likely to be associated with Indians, who hail from all the way near the tropics. Nothing, however, can be farther from truth.

A bunch of Indian enthusiasts applied for the Fjällräven Polar 2018 and a handful even became the most-voted applicants. They already have the other pre-requisites — oodles of confidence and courage. From each of the 10 regions listed for the event, two candidates — one with the maximum number of votes and the other picked by the jury — will get to participate in the expedition, which involves 20 participants from various countries traversing the snow-covered terrain from Signaldalen in Norway to Väkkäräjärvi in Sweden, with four stops in between. The six-day expedition starts on April 9, 2018.

The final votes are in, and Niyog from Kerala, who was endorsed by Malayalam superstar Salmaan Dalquer, became not only the most-voted in the “World” region but across all regions. The jury is still out about the second participants from each region.

Other Indian hopefuls in the running, who are now waiting for the jury’s word, include Esha Mehta from Antwerp, Belgium. She already has some experience of minimal living and surviving in tough conditions. “Two years ago, I participated in the Clipper Round The World Race, and that’s when I started getting hooked on to outdoor and adventure-centric activities,” the 24-year-old alumnus of King’s College, London, told Little India. Mehta is talking about the around-the-world yacht race in which anyone can take part.

Mehta is not the only one passionate about roughing it out under harsh conditions, who was keen to participate in this arduous journey. Most eager candidates seem to be ordinary people with extraordinary experiences, including expeditions involving extreme conditions. So none of these applicants made an impromptu decision while entering their names for the polar journey.

The Swedish outdoor equipment company Fjällräven, or Arctic Fox, has been fanning this fire for adventure enthusiasts to make it their journey of lifetime since 2012. The participants get all they need to weather the long journey in the Arctic Pole — training, equipment and more than 200 Alaskan and Siberian Huskies.

These participants are, of course, no rookies. They have a sustained interest in outdoor sports. Weathering the freezing Arctic temperatures will be another feather in their cap.

Surviving in sub-zero temperatures requires a different set of skills altogether. Which is why the Swedish company trains the chosen participants on simple hacks on how to survive the duress of the weather, how to pitch a tent and take care of the dogs.

The journey is a test of “endurance and skills to survive in the wilderness,” says Vijay Kumar SG. The Karnataka-born former engineer has been living in Singapore for the last 16 years. Kumar, 36, quit his job last year to start a travel company that focuses on trekking. He has already trekked to the Mera Peak in Nepal, which is around 6,500m above sea level and has summited two of the seven highest mountains in the world — Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Mount Elbrus in Russia.

“I have also been hiking regularly around all South-East Asian mountains, like the mountains in Malaysia and the volcanoes in Indonesia,” he tells Little India.

Another Indian man eager to join the group is Biman Roy, who hails from the interiors of West Bengal. He has been living in Sweden for almost three years now. His experience with adventure activities also goes back as long. In December 2014, he hiked up 5 km from sea level in a mountain range called Langtang in Nepal. “In summer of 2016, I walked from Pompeii, a snuck town near Naples in Italy to Mount Vesuvius,” the 28-year-old PhD scholar at Linköping University says, talking about how the route does not have a hike path, and one can only go there by bus. “So I decided to trek towards the direction of Mount Vesuvius from Pompeii and I did not have a set route map for the trek. After sweating it out for four hours under the sweltering sun, I managed to make it to the top.”

Roy, who was placed 34th in the Nordic East region, says he will try again to participate in the event if he does not make it this time.

That Indians are no less passionate about the outdoors is further shown by the fact that Fjällräven Polar has seen entries from 220 Indians this year, ranging from 21 to 56 years old.

Dr. Parag Shah, a 56-year-old surgeon from Mumbai, has undertaken treks to the Everest Base Camp and the frozen Chadar river in the Zanskar region of Ladakh. He may appear to be past his prime, but his indomitable spirit has prompted him to try and make it to one of the Poles. His reason is simple: “If not now, when.” Shah says that it was the mid-life crisis that made him take up outdoor sports seriously.

Shah, who was ranked 14th in the World category with 2,437 votes, is, however, disappointed with the online voting system. “Most votes I got were a result of the physical meetings that I had with people, and I had to coax them to vote for me,” he says, adding that he does not have the energy to go through a similar process all over again.

The organizers are, however, keen to see participation from various countries. “This year we want to broaden the platform for applications to Fjällräven Polar,” Andreas Cederlund, the event manager of Fjällräven Polar, says, adding that they want more people from more countries to be able to apply. “This means that small countries that have two seats to Polar will have to stand back in order to give more countries the possibility to compete for spots,” he says. “We also believe that we can gain more interest in some countries by grouping them together, especially for countries with classic rivalry.”

The event is divided into 10 voting categories according to geographical region, including one marked as “World.” Jayaraj Gedela, a 21-year-old medical student from Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh, is ranked at the 10th spot in this category. Gadela has hitchhiked throughout India in various weather conditions, and believes that “humans have lost their survival instinct.” He usually travels alone on a shoe-string budget and is prepared to push his boundaries. “To prepare for the race, I am consistently watching my weight as that will help him adapt to the freezing temperatures,” he says.

Being a diehard adventure aficionado helps. Deepak Kamath, a 48-year-old finance executive from Mangalore, calls himself “an adventurer at heart.” During the last two decades, Kamath has undertaken cycling and motorcycling trips in different terrains in India, as well as in Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Kenya and Yugoslavia as part of the World Cycling Expedition. He has just returned from a trans-Siberian motorcycle odyssey. But right now, the Arctic journey plays on his mind. “It will be a great experience for me,” he says. “The thrill of the Arctic wilderness and dogs will only add to the adventure quotient.”

Even if he is not able to make it this time, the adventurist is already planning something bigger in the coming years. “I have accomplished what I have, purely by my determination to ensure that the adventure is done in its true spirit,” he says. “I would not chase votes again, never.”