Snow Cross 2010 & Extreme Offroad Conference on 6 th & 7 th

[aamir567]

Dear Members & Friends of IJC

With the grace of Allah Almighty, the Snow Cross 2010 & Extreme Off-road Conference was held at Nathiagali on February, 6-7. The event was organised by the Islamabad Jeep Club and attended by 4x4 Engaged ( Lahore ), Muzaffarabad Jeep Club ( Muzaffarabad ), Pakistan Land Rover Club & Offroaders Unlimited ( Abbotabad ). Over 46 offroaders from the 5 participating clubs attended the event on around 19 vehicles. Following heavy snowfall on Friday and Saturday the attendees had to overcome challenges posed by snow and ice on the steep climb to Greens Hotel Nathiagali, which not only tested their driving and recovery skills but also highlighted the spirit of team work and cooperation amoungst the seasoned offroaders.
The roads leading upto Greens Hotel were covered by upto 2.5 feet of snow and attendees had to drive up the slippery slopes using snow chains, with some road clearing equipment showing up very late in the day.

The Extreme 4x4 conference featured presentations from the Presidents of the 5 attending Clubs as well as a speech from the chief guest, Mr. Nazir Abbassi - Nazim Nathiagali. Participants at the conference highlighted offroading and extreme motorsport as a healthy alternative for the people and youth of Pakistan who are greatly affected by prevailing environment of terrorism which is stifling sports and entertainment activities. Participants also emphasized the need to recognize and promote offroading and extreme motorsport in Pakistan at the official level.
Mr. Nazir Abbassi appreciated the efforts of the attendees to organise and attend such a challenging event and highlighted the need to promote tourist activities in Nathiagali and Galliat areas which are amongst the most scenic hillstations in the coutry with virtually no law and order risks.

Thanx

IJC , 4x4 Engaged , MJC , Pakistan Land Rover Club , Offroaders Unlimited

[ehsankiani]

Sounds like a lot of fun Aamir bhai. Lovely group photo as well. Would love to see some pictures here.
Ehsan

[suhaib]

786

[ehsankiani]

Beautiful shot sir.. Lovely..
Ehsan

[suhaib]

The IJC team got together at Embassy Lodge Islamabad at 9:00pm and left for Nathiagali via Abbotabad.

[suhaib]

[suhaib]

In my books, BlackOp was the IJC Man of the Event for being the first IJC team member to reach Greens and all else aside, for his leading role in the exquisite BBQ dinner. Credit also to his sidekick.

[suhaib]

Asad Bhai's Mitsubishi Pajero IO turned out to be the surprise Machine of the Event with amazing ice grip and excellent 4x4 performance....

[suhaib]

[suhaib]

[suhaib]

[ehsankiani]

Lovely shots.. Keep them rolling.
Ehsan

[suhaib]

Well, it was all smooth sailing until we hit the first climb on the road up to Greens Hotel. Here the Cotec Land Cruiser, which did not have snow chains but had a ton of eatables for the BBQ was found skidding and sliding at that infamous T-Junction. There is a also bit of 4x4 history here from the Pre-IJCeous period... a story for later.

[tlcfj40]

Salam to all!
@shahbab
Man u have stolen my thoughts and put them in words.

Like always it was a smashing event. The best thing about it was the team work shown by all. A brilliant idea by Ihaq was executed by IJC with fantastic team spirit.
It is always a honor to stand and travel beside men with great character and a kind heart. Did regreat me not taking TLC along wont do the same mistake again.

It was great seeing everyone from 4x4 engaged, MJC, Abbotabad club after a long time.
In brief a great way to start the year....
Let Their Be More More N More Offroading.........

[suhaib]

With the diff locks on the TLC would abruptly jump slide sideways, making Rizwan Bhai quite cautious owing to the narrow track and the real prospect of a steep fall to the Main Highway below.

[suhaib]

Nevertheless, I think Rizwan Bahi was confident that the determination of the IJC Marshalls to eat tikka & kabbab at the Greens would ultimately prevail

[suhaib]

And it did... with a little help from some bailcha shovelling, some track scrathing by Rubicon snow chains, gun power from the 1HD diesel and sheer IJC push power. By the way the picture and photography quality are all downhill from here as the light fails, it starts snowing quite hard and the photographer is distracted.... owing to various reasons

[suhaib]

Yup, earlier we did have a fair bit of wicked fun as soon as we could safely stop after hitting the snow....

[suhaib]

[ehsankiani]

Lovely narration Suhaib bhai.. It adds a story to each picture.
Ehsan

[aamir567]

Fews pics from my mobile

[suhaib]

[suhaib]

At this point, we had made it halfway after a good few hours of work but most of the cars were stuck or held up around the T-Junction short of NWFP/Pukhtoonkhwa House! Everything from winches, tow chains, a tractor with snow shovel and obviously sheer manpower was being employed. The cars with snow chains and the lighter bodies were doing better than the others, but traffic was being held back due to heavy snow and some breakdowns.

[aamir567]

Few pics from my mobile

[suhaib]

It was some relief to see a Tractor driving down and clearing some heavy snow off the tracks. Ironically th etractor was registered in Swat.... Also it was a nice surprise to see the very powerful Unimog owned by Mr. Khattak from Offroaders Unlimited Abbotadad.