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09LKH Smile
Ser 4
Shredding
dunes
Looking for some adrenaline-pumping northern
exposure? Karl de Mesa suggests getting a speed
fix down some mountains of sand in Laoag.
THE CRESCENT DUNE
I’m standing
on didn’t look that high from down
below. From the top, however, it
appears positively steep and sheer, and
something that could easily result in
my face and torso getting stuck in three
feet of sand, making me look like an
ostrich in the throes of a silly seizure as
my feet tread the air.
Where I am is 488km north of
Manila, in the outskirts of Laoag, Ilocos
Norte, where we have come to shred
some sand dunes.
For some years now, Laoag and the
Laoag Eco-Adventure Development
Movement or LEAD
(tel: +63 919
8735516/908 8853669; www.
leadmovement.org)
have been
garnering attention as purveyors
of Ilocos Norte sandboarding.
Sandboarding in a tropical country like
the Philippines? We just had to try this
one out to believe it.
Sandboarding is a bit like
snowboarding in the sense that you’re
sliding on and through material that
can loosely be defined as solid. The
similarity ends there, however. The
sands up here are warm in the morning
and scorching by the afternoon.
Sunburn, dehydration, and the way the
sands fill and weigh down your shoes
are all factors to consider.
A sandboarding session that lasts
for most of the day costs PHP2,500
for a group of four or a minimum of two
people, inclusive of transportation via
a 4×4 rover from Laoag to the La Paz
Sand Dunes and back.
Sand-sational
The origins of sandboarding are in the
Middle East, home to some amazing
shredding locations and quite possibly
the birthplace of the sport. In Egypt,
there’s weighty evidence to suggest
that the ancestors of today’s surfer boys
and thrashers rode down the dunes on
planks of wood and pottery. How’s that
for the original Lords of Dogtown?
No waves? No problem —
hit the sand instead.
Riding 4x4 vehicles along the
sloping dunes is part of the fun.
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