Bianca Dias is expectedly sporty, fit and feminine. Her soft demeanour could easily fool you but talking to her gives you a sense of her grit and determination to make femininity her strength and never a weakness. Narrating her journey, Bianca shares, “I was always into adventure and started going for hikes in school. I was 12 years old when I went with the Goa Hiking Association on a five-day camp. Later, at 14, I did a fifteen days Himalayan trek and that had me hooked for life. My dream was to join the armed forces but soon realized that women were usually given desk jobs and nothing more adventurous. That didn’t cut it with me and so I let go of that desire.”
She went on to complete her diploma in Civil Engineering but continued her association with Goa Hiking Association. Juggling her civil engineering job, she went on to do her basic course in Mountaineering with Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi in 2006 and obtained an A grade certification and followed with an advance course in 2009. In her first expedition in 2007, Bianca was selected by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation to be part of an all women team on a month long trek to Mount Jaonli in Uttarakhand. In 2015, she led an All India Women’s team to Mount Bhagyarathi 3 in the Gangotri basin. A visibly chuffed Bianca says, “That was a super challenge. I found a new route to climb that peak which was decided on the trail. I had to contour this trail using Google maps and despite being a smaller peak, it was technically challenging. To me, cracking these technical challenges and pushing my limit helps me improve and fine tune my skills.” Amongst her other mind numbing accolades, she recently climbed through frozen waterfalls in the biting cold of minus 20 degrees in Kaza, Himachal Pradesh.
Adds Bianca, “Being out in nature builds discipline and respect, making you more confident in dealing with vagaries and challenges. We are a mere speck in this universe and if we understand this significance, it goes far in building character.” This prompted her to start Off Trail Adventure in 2009 to organize adventure activities and inject an adventure-loving dose to Goa’s youth. She rues, “Goans don’t explore enough despite having natural forests and hills around us. Unless you experience it, you won’t know the value of it, let alone wanting to preserve it. Parents don’t allow children to be adventurous.” She continues, “I had a very supportive family. There is nothing to rival sports in providing life skills and shaping you as a person.”
Off Trail Adventure, since inception has organized a minimum of nearly 20 local hikes and camps every year. They also conduct other activities like rock climbing and rappelling down waterfalls. Citing the importance of safety, Bianca says, “We have to ensure proper checks and regulations to ensure complete safety of our activities. I believe that if I get someone to sign a declaration form before an activity, it is my team’s duty to explain and instil confidence that we are fully equipped. The easiest is to ban an activity once a mishap happens. However, if we first install safety systems in place, these mishaps will be rare, if at all.” It’s no surprise that she added another facet by completing her high altitude first aid certification in 2016.
Presently, Off Trail has diversified into conducting summer camps for students and for younger children too. They approach colleges and schools directly to inculcate a healthy outdoor culture. On all these camps, they undertake cleaning drives and ensure they leave the place spotless. They have also conducted camps and rock climbing sessions for the Navy and Coast Guard. She adds, “One of the heartening instances was when a parent recently wanted to organize a trek for her ten year old son’s birthday. Such requests make me so happy.”
Through her experience, Bianca is enthralled by the opportunity that Goa provides. She says, “I’ve been doing so many treks and try and find new routes each time yet there is so much more to explore in Goa. It is sad that despite our rich biodiversity, Goa doesn’t have a declared biodiversity hotspot. It used to make me mad to see how mining has destroyed so many areas in Goa. You can see the earth literally crying. We have to be more responsible and preserve our environment. Development doesn’t mean devastation.”
When asked what she’d do if hypothetically she was to get funding from the state, Bianca is quick to suggest, “We could have a Goa team to scale Everest. We are ready!” She also adds, “From a tourism perspective, I would love to introduce Sport Climbing to Goa. In fact, climbing is now an official Olympic sport and we have the infrastructure to encourage it. It’s time we set a Goa Adventure Academy. So many of us are ready to join hands with the government.”
Ideas aren’t a problem, neither is the will to implement. As Oprah Winfrey said, “The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.” Bianca’s got that right.
