The Expedition 

In the early fall of 2003 a team consisting of 2-5 members will try to cross the desolate wilderness. After the last experience in 2002 on the Kerriya route we are convinced that bicycles are the best mode of transport for the escapade.

Start will be from Qiemo and the first days will be cycling in the outskirts of the Taklamakan desert. The first obstacles we'll face is the sandy and sometimes muddy river valleys leading up into the Altun Shan mountains. Another difficulty is the path finding which sometimes creates lots of problems. The whole area is full of small tracksof which many leads into dead end valleys.

The high passes over the multiple mountain ranges in the area are at approximately 5500 meters of altitude and it's absolutely necessary we're well acclimatized before trying this part out. After having crossed the last pass, the lands drops marginally down to the Tibetan high plateau. We are now on The Chang Tang and have 450 - 600 km of roadless country ahead of us.

We count on reaching the settlement of Shuanghu 3-5 weeks later and this is the place where we finally can buy some more provisions. Depending on the choice of route from here, we'll have approximately 10 days of cycling before we reach central Tibet and the provincial capital of Lhasa.