High Atlas Adventures: Rock, Wind, and Resilience

SUICIDAL BEGINNINGS: KINNAUR AND SPITI We are in Kinnaur valley, near the Tibetan border, and all our surroundings are painted in a vivid electric green of foliage. We are in a land of deep valleys and oriental tradition; light rains sweeping across us on our the first few tentative days of pedalling in this world unknown to us. Even though we travel light our muscles regularly complain about the steep sections we have to cover daily. However, they are not t

Seeing firelight and smelling turf smoke from the valley below your pace picks up, knowing other teams have already arrived at the bothy and soon the table will be filled with innumerable bottles of whisky, whiskey (I’ve been reliably informed that the spelling makes a huge amount of difference – one signifies Scottish origin, the other Irish), grappa, eau de vie, myrto, gin, wine, beer and enough food for a Himalayan expedition. I had the good fortune, years ago, of spending Hogmanay in a