Page 38 - RADC 2016

Approaching camp
Arriving at a high alpine valley the air is noticeably cooler and thankfully there are fewer mosquitos. Dotted all around the valley are gers – the traditional Mongolian round felt walled tents where the herdsmen and their families live.
Next morning everyone’s very excited
– we’re going to be allocated a horse that will be our only means of travel for the next couple of weeks.
“You’re not serious?” is my reaction as I’m presented with a knackered grey-haired mare. I try to protest but the horseman just looks a little offended at my rejection.
Mounting up, I then dig my heels into her side to get her to move. Instead she decides to sit down and role on her side trapping my leg. “Help!” my leg’s trapped but everybody else is too busy laughing. Eventually a horseman pulls the horse off me. I get up, red faced – fortunately the only injury I have is to my pride. “Ok there’s nothing safe about that horse if it pulls a stunt like that while I’m coming down a ravine” I say to the horseman. He doesn’t speak any English but he seems to get the gist and wonders off to fetch me a more respectable ride.
We set off and have been riding for an hour when the skies start to darken. We press on and start to climb up the steep valley side. It’s midday and one of the horsemen decides that now would be a good time to stop and have lunch. We secure our horses and sit down to eat beneath some crags.
There’s a rumble of thunder and I decide that it’s time to get the waterproofs on. Looking around, everyone else is doing likewise, apart from one member of our group who’s also responsible for providing the weather forecast. He’s wearing a thin
felt jacket, white jodhpurs and knee high riding boots and looks for the entire world like he’s going to enter dressage rather than ride through mountainous terrain. “High pressure readings on the barometer – didn’t think it was going to rain today” he says. Ah, schoolboy error I think as the hail begins to come down.
There’s a ash of lightning and one of the horses bolts. A couple of the other horses take off after it at full gallop. Our two horsemen quickly jump onto their horses and give chase. “Err, now what?”
Namarjin Valley
Dusk over the Altai
Taking refuge in a ger from a thunderstorm
36 RADC BULLETIN 2016
ADVENTUROUS TRAINING