Saturday 28 / December / 2024
A snowstorm engulfed 17 adrenaline junkies who had travelled from Arabia to test their mettle against the elements in modified 4X4 vehicles. It turns out that falling ice and snowed-over rivers were nothing these dune-bashing veterans couldn’t solve with shovels, patience, and Omani biryani.
Draped in warm clothes, almost resembling Eskimos, and equipped with specially designed 4X4 vehicles, a group of 17 adventure enthusiasts from the elites of Arabia were watching the snow swirl around them. Familiar with the challenges and triumphs of desert crossings and dune bashing, they had travelled half-way around the world for a chance at a new kind of off-road experience in the snow-covered mountains of Iceland.
“We were 13 Omanis, and four others joined us from the Emirates. When we got to Iceland and were preparing for the exciting journey ahead, they gave us a presentation on the rules of driving in the snow and other related details,” said Faisal Al Raisi, a member of the expedition. But, the day they were supposed to head into the wilds, a severe snowstorm warning was issued, and most skiing and sightseeing groups cancelled their excursions for the day.
“In that situation, it was recommended by the guide that we too pause our ambitious journey until the storm subsided, but we had flown over 10,000 kilometres and wanted to make sure that we experienced the off road snow adventure, and so we made a risky decision and said that we would go,” Faisal explained.
“An interesting thing I noticed was that in Iceland you are not allowed to even take your cars off road unless the tyres are modified and elevated to suit the requirement, otherwise you put your car in the risk of getting stuck in the snow,” he added.
The group had hired ‘Arctic Trucks,’ a vehicle modification company that specialises in carrying out expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic regions to outfit them and guide them. Between their upgraded vehicles and the more than 18 years of experience dune bashing in the deserts of the Arabian Gulf, there was no way a little snowstorm was going to hinder their journey or put a damper on their enthusiasm.
They set off into the white swirl, which quickly turned into a white wall. As they drove through the off road snow track, they noticed that everything around them was white, and there weren’t any landmarks in sight. It gave the eerie feeling that no matter how much they drove, everything around them remained at a standstill. But the worst was yet to come.
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“Suddenly, after driving for 20 kilometres, we were in the middle of a storm and couldn’t see a thing beyond a metre ahead of us, it was all white, the broken snow from the ground was flying all around us accompanied by strong winds. That’s when we decided to drive almost bumper to bumper to keep track of where we were going and to be together. The visibility was terrible,” said Hani Zubair, another adventurer who was with the group.
The storm cleared, and the group found themselves infront of a raging river. There was no way around it. They were going to have to cross it.
“We were really excited to cross that river because it was the only river in the area, but with the high elevation as a result of snow piling up on both sides, our cars sort of fell into the river; that was a lot of fun,” Hani added.
Through rivers, hills, and mountains of snow, the group reached their destination: a little cottage surrounded by natural hot springs. Many of the group members plunged into the hot springs, but some stayed back in the cottage for fear that once they got out of the relaxing hot waters into the negative-three-degree temperature, they would freeze.
“We stayed in the warmth of the cottage all night with the blizzard roaring outside, and in the morning we had to dig through the snow to open the door, because the height of the house was seven metres and the accumulated snow was up to four metres high. Soon after, we were asked to leave the area as another storm was predicted,” he further added.
The group started driving back towards their base at nine in the morning, but after an hour, they turned back. The route had become too risky and the leader could not find a safe passage. They agreed to try again after five o’clock that evening.
A desert crossing isn’t complete without Arabian biryani, and with time to kill and a suitcase full of spices he’d brought from Oman, the cook of the group headed into the kitchen, emerging with a platter of steaming biryani large enough to feed everyone in the cottage. The concerned-looking guide learned that another storm was on its way; the route was only going to become more treacherous.
So at four in the afternoon, they moved out again, heading back towards the raging river. But by the time they arrived, the river had disappeared under a thick blanket of snow. “We have faced similar situations in the desert a few times and so it wasn’t a great deal for us — we pulled out our shovels and started digging. We used our cars to create a path through the snow. That took us three hours, but it was a massive experience,” said Khalid Al Wahaibi, another member.
These Arabian adventurers made it back before the second storm hit, and over the days that followed, they spent their time exploring other natural wonders, from the volcanic geysers of the Blue Lagoon to the Northern Lights. But the main purpose of their trip, testing themselves as drivers in this wintery environ, was never far from their minds.
There had been challenges when it came to driving through the dunes of ice, but at the end of their journey, they all agreed that the desert had prepared them well, and was a bit more enjoyable than the slippery, wet snow routes. “Driving in the snow is difficult because of the cold, but it’s also boring because the surface is flat unlike the desert, and slippery too.
Dune bashing is more fun, you can really test your skills in the sand dunes,” Al Wahaibi added. They had pitted the skills they learned in their untamed, home-town deserts against the harsh walls of bitingly cold snow in this remote land. And when it was all said and done: They came, they saw, they conquered.
