Destinations > Mongolian G4 Recce

Issue: October 2008

Words by Robert Pepper Photos by Nick Dimbleby and Robert Pepper

For most of us, a 4WD is a means to an adventurous end. For a very few, that end is Land Rover's G4 Challenge.

Adventure is many things to many people. For some it's a driving challenge, others get their rush climbing, kayaking, mountain biking or some other adrenalin-charged activity. But whatever your preferred pastime, you'd always enjoy it more in the midst of spectacular countryside, away from everyone else, and more often than not you'll need teamwork combined with navigation skills to even make a start.
That's what Land Rover's G4 Challenge is about. This year, eighteen countries will run trials to select two men and two women to represent their country in the international selections, where just one man and woman team from each nation will go forward to the final. While physical fitness and sporting competence is obviously a key to success, the winners are those that combine those talents with intelligence. The 2006 Australian representative Alina McMasters told us that success lies in working as a team to complement each other's strengths, mental focus, planning what you do and how and thinking outside the box. For example, how do you move a full jerrycan up a slope without touching or dragging it?
All this makes the G4 Challenge one of the world's premier adventure events, and for that you need a premier location, so in 2009 those eighteen two-person teams will converge on Mongolia, where they will compete over twenty-five days in contests of driving skills, navigation and adventure trials. Setting up an event of this nature is a huge undertaking, and Overlander joined the official recce team to see firsthand what goes into the making of the G4 Challenge.
We started by flying to Dalandzdag in the south, about 200km north of the Chinese border. Waiting for us at the airport were two Freelanders and two Discoverys, which we drove to the first base camp. In Mongolia, 95% of the roads are unpaved, but the dirt roads aren't like the average Aussie dirt road. Theirs are more like our tracks, just wheel tracks over the grassland, not the graded highways we'd call a dirt road. The photos show the terrain, and don't think we're just showing the smaller roads either. That's what it's like unless you're on a main arterial route in which case think our dirt roads, but less well maintained and with much more erratic traffic.
There's another difference too - 'grassland'. Not a term you'd associate with our outback, but in Mongolia that's what they have. Literally, flat grasslands as far as the eye can see, and in Mongolia that's a long way. The air, and sky is as clear and fresh as I have ever had the pleasure of breathing, probably something to do with the elevation, which is between 1500 and 2500 metres above sea level. Or the complete lack of industry outside the capital. Whatever it is, the feeling of sheer open space is like nothing I have ever felt before.
You'd need to fly to get the same panoramic view, so it feels odd to get the same sense of expansive earth while driving. Sure, Australia has the space too, but there's always a shimmering heatwave in the outback, or vegetation blocking the view. Mongolia doesn't have much in the way of trees where we travelled, because while we enjoyed a pleasant 25-35 degrees during our stay, it drops to a rather uncomfortable -30 or lower during winter. Hence, there's mostly just grass and it's not a place for the agoraphobic. But for those that appreciate natural beauty, it's 1500m plus closer to heaven. Imagine driving across the sea and you start to get the idea.
Mongolia isn't just prairie land though, there's a fair amount of the usual geographic features like mountains, rivers and gorges. The mountain ranges look (and this should be read as a distinct positive) so sharply defined it's like they were computer generated and projected onto your retina. One of the campsites we stayed at has to be one of the finest in which I've pitched a tent. Imagine an expanse of sheer green gently sloping downhill, next to pristine mountain ranges, which are briefly parted by a dry riverbed snaking out and away, to quite possibly infinity. Sheer magic. Australia is no less beautiful, but it's a different kind of beauty, a harsher, redder, more apparently ancient beauty than the expansively clean, sparse elegance of Mongolia. Put it this way, if you love Australia's scenery you'll be awed by Mongolia.
Why Mongolia? Because the team wanted somewhere well and truly remote, away from tourists, but with enough variation for all the activities that make up the G4. Well, they chose well. We did not see a single tourist for our entire drive, just the locals who'd bowl up when we camped, offering gifts. If you want to feel like a real explorer, try Mongolia - it's the world's most sparsely populated nation and feels like it.

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Navigation is actually quite easy as although the maps aren't accurate you just enter the coordinates on a GPS receiver and spear off down a likely looking track, and if that veers off, take another one when you can. Competitors will need to be doing this, and they'll have new Land Rovers in which to do it. The roads are easy to drive, certainly very little need for low range or wheel placement, but they're interesting enough and ideal for a touring journey.
Aside from navigating from place to place, competitors will also be tasked with a number of adventure trials, and we had a chance to sample a few. Dune boarding is snowboarding but on the sand, and it's about as easy. I gave it a shot and actually managed a perfect stance first time. Just a pity I only achieved it while inverted during the first of two major barrel rolls. Good sport though, even if climbing the dune for another go isn't. In a similar vein there is mountain boarding; an oversize skateboard with mud tyres. The inevitable pain factor after the inevitable fall restricted enjoyment, but still a blast.
Then there's the mountain biking, and Mongolia certainly has some hills for that. On my ride we cruised an easy 15km or so away from camp down hill, and could at all times look back and see the tents. But my favourite was the kite-powered buggy, which really makes kite flying interesting. I loved the way we'd be driving top 4WDs across pretty-as-a-picture terrain, and then we'd stop, pull the toys out and have a crack at those too just for fun. Could it get any better? Well, when the others were driving the Freebies and Discos I would jump in a support Defender and drive that. Once I chose the tucker truck and while marvelling at yet another vista, John, the chef, whipped out some gourmet snacks and we munched on those while discussing the meaning of a Real Car. Yep, it did get better (for the record, Defenders and Porsche 911s are Real Cars).
Of course, the recce isn't a holiday. We were largely exploring as we travelled, and using the gear to test suitability of the locations. Another factor was access for the large G4 contingent, and always a thought about the effect on the environment. There will be a lot of people in a fragile environment, so it's good to see Land Rover are very careful to observe the Tread Lightly principles.
Yep, no short walks with a long shovel on this trip, absolutely everything is carried out and absolutely no off-track driving permitted bar the dunes. Continuing with the environment theme, the competition is carbon-offset; the UK-produced cars are already for the first 74000km, and they calculate the rest of the impact. Offsetting means funding renewable energy projects and the like to equalise the carbon emissions of whatever you're offsetting. Read more at http://www.climatecare.org/
Carbon offsets will however be the furthest thing from the minds of the major beneficiaries of the G4 Challenge, and that's the people the International Red Cross support in Mongolia. In the last eight years Mongolia has had some harsh winters - and we're talking harsh by their standards, down to -50 or so - and that wiped out many herds. So the nomadic herdsmen migrated to the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to try to find work. Difficult in a country where people are only employed if they can afford to put right wrongs like broken dishes and so forth. You can imagine the problems a former mechanic for the Soviets had with finding a job. Mongolia is scenery-rich but cash-poor, and that's evident everywhere you look.
The Red Cross helps the disadvantaged by providing financial support, social work, child care, job hunting and youth activities. The eighteen G4 Challenge countries are required to raise money for the Red Cross, and Land Rover are aiming for in excess of AU$2m over the next two Challenges. They also recently provided 60 Defenders to the organisation across the world, and the '09 event prize is a new Land Rover for the Red Cross in the winning team's country. But the victors won't walk away empty-handed either. If our recce experience is just a taste, they'll have a full meal of one of the world's premier adventure competitions. The 4WD will be supplied, but they'll need to bring their own sense of adventure
For more information, log onto: www.landroverg4challenge.com

 

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