Long ride to Finnish line
Tony Ilmoni heard the terrifying sound of ice cracking. Suddenly the steep, snowy peaks were drained of beauty. The early, crisp air had given way to unrelenting heat, turning this frozen wasteland to a melting death trap.
Tony Ilmoni at the dangerous Muzart Glacier, where huge ice blocks covered with sand and stone melt during the day. |
"Ice melting, rocks falling. It was dangerous. I started to feel the danger in every bone of my body. But we had to go on," he later wrote about the glacier crossing, which was expected to take three days. It took five days, and the crew ran out of food.
The incident happened on an epic horseback journey that began as a joke between two Finnish friends, Ilmoni and Kristian Nyman, 62.
These two Nordic senior citizens are making a 6,000-kilometer trek through Central Asia, re-tracing the route of Colonel Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, a former President of Finland, who rode from Osh, Kyrgyzstan to Beijing 100 years ago.
Then a commander with the Russian Imperial Army, Mannerheim set off to collect military intelligence for the Czar under the guise of a scientific mission. Russia had planned to invade China.
Ilmoni (left) and Kristian Nyman, both of Finland, are traveling from Kyrgyzstan to Beijing on horseback. |
Last month, Ilmoni, a journalist and former Helsinki restaurateur, and Nyman, a Finnish equestrian champion, arrived in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, in China's western frontier, ending another leg of their 18-month expedition, dubbed "Mannerheim's Way".
After three years of planning, Ilmoni and Nyman began the trip in August last year, with six horses and a crew of five, including one local guide. They discovered the mountainous beauty and nomadic traditions of Kyrgyzstan before arriving at Irkeshtam pass and crossing into Kashgar, China.
The second part of the expedition began six months later, again in Kashgar, and will follow the ancient merchant's route of the Silk Road, reaching Beijing in January next year.
Ilmoni spoke to the China Daily from his Urumqi hotel in Xinjiang, where he was grateful for the relative luxuries of a bed, hot shower, telephone and Internet access. Yet, the previous month's dance with fate on the glacier was fresh on his mind.
Ilmoni said the craggy peak was once famous for its steps, carved from ice. But the foreboding expanse had long been closed. His crew was the first to make the crossing in over 50 years.
"This part was particularly heavy and very steep but we were determined," he said. "Our purpose was to try to see if we could do it like this guy Mannerheim was doing it.
"If you imagine an enormous waterfall that is frozen, covered with sand and stone blocks, and then you have to climb on that. It is not only high, but also dangerous because in the western parts of China it is 30 or 35 degrees in the daytime, then minus (zero) at night, so in the daytime it starts to melt.
"So you hear a crack while you're walking because it is melting."
After two days' rest, he reunited with his trusty steed and was back on the trail. At night, the crew pitch tents or take advantage of local accommodation, such as the yurt.
Prior to the trip, Ilmoni ran the popular Tony's Deli in his country's capital, and is married to Sikke, the host of a high-rating TV cooking show. Nyman, a seasoned rider of some 50 years, is a former president of the Equestrian Federation of Finland, winning both event and cross-country riding titles.
Mannerheim, once voted "the greatest Finn of all time", was commander-in-chief of the Finnish forces before serving as the country's president between 1944 and 1946.
As a younger man, he spent 30 years in Russia, serving as commander in the Russian Imperial Army. In 1906, he was chosen by Czar Nicholas II to undertake a secret reconnaissance mission. While the official objective was scientific, Russia in fact planned to split China in half. Mannerheim's descriptions of the people and their environment were later compiled in a military report.
The 21st century take on Mannerheim's Way was conceived as an exercise in comparing today's Asia with the experience of the original explorer, but also, says Ilmoni, to celebrate its, "true essence".
The idea first arose in 2000, when a group of Chinese academics visited Finland to study Mannerheim's material, according to Juha Pentikainen, a Helsinki University professor.
"One hundred years ago when Mannerheim did this trip, China was weak and the reason a lot of foreign agents were in China was to see how they could get a slice. Today, China is strong, and it is interesting to study the differences in attitudes and see how China has changed," Ilmoni says.
"In the rural areas, very little has changed according to how I see it, but then again in cities and bigger towns there are big, big differences.
A market scene in China's western frontier, where many villagers lead a largely traditional life. |
"For instance, in Urumqi, it is metropolitan. But when you go out 20 or 30 kilometers from the borders you are taken back in time.
"From a tourist point of view, it is very picturesque and charming, but very unequal. It is very interesting and it is a privilege to see how people live."
In more remote parts of the country, the men went for long stretches with no hint of civilization. Arriving in villages and cities along the way, they were greeted with, "amazement, curiosity (and) a lot of genuine hospitality".
Often, crowds gathered and stared in bewilderment, or community leaders would be fetched to invite them to a welcoming banquet - on occasion with plentiful supply of vodka.
"A pleasant surprise is how generous people are out there. People who have little, they share what they have," Ilmoni says.
"The more eastbound we come, people are going to get more surprised, not about us being Westerners but because we are Westerners on horses."
While trying situations have tested their patience, harsh conditions have seen them call on inner reserves of courage. Ilmoni and Nyman used to ski together but had not seen each other in years before embarking on this adventure.
"You know that person from earlier on, but when you live with someone... you get to see them warts and all. You have to adjust, you have to accept certain oddities," Ilmoni says.
"In its way, it is like a marriage because you're so close all the time."
The next stage takes the team to Turpan, about 200 kilometers east of Urumqi. Then they head north, arriving in August at Yumen, Gansu Province. Three months later, they come to Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, following the Yellow River southeast to Zhengzhou of Henan Province, then northbound to the capital.
A film documentary, as well as a radio series and book in several languages on the modern experience will be completed next year.
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(China Daily 06/20/2007 page19)
