Adventure tourism is a type of tourism related with unusual tours to exotic natural places with non-traditional means of transport. It includes camp expeditions, hunt, fishing, yacht tours, trips to abandoned places,sunk ships or extinct volcanoes. It is getting more and more popular, professionals try to organize it as good as possible, using practically unexplored routes. They choose regions which combine several touristic possibilities so that tourists can always travel without any limitations.

Speaking of such "multifunctional" regions one has to mention first of all the region of Ural, extending from the Arctic Ocean to Ural River, located between the West and the East of Russia. Due to such advantageous geographical location this region has much to offer. It has various parts so it can be divided in three main subregions:

• Northern Ural
• Middle Ural
• Southern Ural

The territory of Northern Ural is situated in taiga zone, it is all cevered with forests.Forest is a treasure of the region.

The most populat type of adventure tourism in Ural is the water one, which includes rafting and kayaking. There are many reasons of it, but the main one is that Ural is a very "water" region. Such big amount of rivers, lakes and streams is hard to be found in any other part of Russia. Every amateur will find something for oneself. 

What is rafting? The word "rafting" comes from the word "raft", one of the means of water transporation. The raft is very comfortable and easy to use. You can choose you own grade of rafting and enjoy the travel without any problems. During this water travel you will feel yourself a real pathfinder and explorer. Beside usual rafts, there are many other means of rafting such as catamaran, which is considered to be more professional one. Water tourism helps to get closer to nature and learn more about the local flora and fauna. For example, one can enjoy the view of huge rocks and stones, a typical element of Ural landscape. During the rafting you will always have time for halt and sightseeing as there are also many ancinet cathedrals and churces situated on the shores of the rivers. This is one of the unique features of rafting in this area - its richness of historical, architectural and event routes. Rafting on river Berezovaya, for example, you may also visit some villages, where dissidents Old Believers used to dwell. Rafting on river Kolva, you can see famous Diviya Cave ( Wonder Cave), the biggest one in Perm region, admire churches of the 17th century and visit sacred places of Cherdin'. If you enjoy fishing, rafting will give you such opportunity. In the rivers of Northern Ural are some rare species of fish such as grayling and taimen. On the shore you can go to the forest, where one will easily fing great variety of berries (blackberry, blueberry, wild strawberry, cranberries) and mushrooms ( milk mushrooms, chanterelles, orange-cap boletus).

The next exciting way of travelling is hiking. The routes are held in Ural Mountains and very with the level of complexity. Hikings will give you an opportunity to visit the highest and picturesque tops of Ural, see the most remote corners of Ural mountain ridge. Among the most popular hiking tours one can mention plateau Man'-Pupi-Ner, the places of GULAG camps, the crossing of Dyatlov and the mountain Otorten, natural park of Vishera, mountain ridge of Kvarkush and trips to taiga.

On the shores of Vishera one can find karstic caves where icy outgrowths form in the period of spring, and also go for a ride by catamaran. The route passes through the most beautiful places with rocks,caves and grottos, which you can visit with the instructors or by yourself. You will get as well the skills of driving the catamaran and the initial preparation of "water" tourist.

 Northern Ural is famous for its mountains which are the prefect place for cycle touring. it is a good phusical training, extreme and long distances. The most favourite route for tourists is a tour in mountain ridge Kvarkush. Kvarkush is a mountain plateau, 60 km long. It is interesting for its climate peculiarity - it has all climatic zones: from taiga to tundra. It is  like a travel to northern tundra per one hour. You will find all character features of tundra here : eternal snowflakes, northern deer, pygmean trees.There are also wonderful waterfalls at the river Zhigalan. Fans of traditional medicine come here to ger the Gold Root, legendary plant, well-known for its healing qualities.

One can also find combined tours which allow to have more experience and impressions as they combine several kinds of active tourism : hiking, fishing and water tourism.

For true extreme people exist extreme tours held in hard conditions. Extreme tours can include various types of active tourism and the most complicated routes. You will have many opportunities to experience your strength and staying power. A real extreme route is a trip to the mountain ridge of Chuvala, 920 metres high. Its top is very gentle, which makes it look like table. The name " Chuval" comes from Mansi word "choval", which means stove. It really looks looks like stove and its rock is rich in iron, that's why it is called sometimes Iron mountain.

For many people Russia is associated first of all with winter and winter kinds of activities. Northern Ural is a severe region, which makes the winter recreation more special.As a rule, winter starts in the end of October and one can even see the first snow in the lasr days of September. The winter is very frosty and the temperature 40 degrees below zero is not a rare thing. January and February is a period of snowy winter, snowstorms and blizzards are vey often. The level of snow can reach 2 metres.

It all has strong influenece on the possibilities of tourism, as one always needs a warm room to be in.It is also very difficult to get somewhere beacuse of bad weather conditions. But such weather has its own risky peculiarity : any ski trip or winter snowmobile tour can turn into a real extreme tour, especially considering the fact, that tours are often held in remote and practically devoid of inhabitants.

There are some places in Ural with amazing and very powerful energy, full of ystery and secrets.One of such places is the plateau Man'-Pupu-Ner. It is famous for the effect of airing , a real nature miracle. This nature monument became the finalist and the winner of All-Russian competition " 7 Wonders of Russia ". Only imagine : there are seven stone pillars 42 metres high on a plane tableland, what can be compared with a building of 17 storeys.

The second interesting place is the mountain Ottorten, the picturesque site of Ural, located beside the sacred mountains of indigenous Mansi people Kholat-Syakhil and Ottorten.

Full of mysticism the crossing of Dyatlov has attracted hunters for adventures and investigators of paranormal and abnormal effects for many years for many years.Somebody come here to see one of the most mysterious and strange places of Ural and honour the memory of the tourist group of Igor' Dyatlov, who died here in tragic circumstances in 1959. Someone find here an opportunity to learn about the Mansi culture, lsiten to their legends, get closer to their everyday life. There are also people who travel simply to see the virgin nature and meet wild animals on the road to Ottorten.

If you're fond of skiing, then special ski trips are just for you. For example, travel agency " Club of Adventurers "offers such wonderful trip as " Ski March to Taiga ", where you will be able to see all the breathtakong views and  test yourself in wild conditions, including skiing along the frozen river Burtimka, sleeping in tent and even visiting the real Russian bathhouse.

One of the must-to-do routes is an itinerary to the mountain Konzhakovsky Stone. It is an original tourist mecca of the region of Sverdlovsk. Every year ten or even hundred of tourists travel to the slopes of Konzhak to see the beauty of Northern Ural and make an ascent of the top of the region Sverdlovsk.

If you are a fan of adventures in Robert Stevenson's style, than such thing as treasure seeking will appeal to you. Treasure seeking is a kind of tourism where everything is possible, including the find of treasures.You can find historical relics or simply get involved in the exciting process of investigation.

Northern Ural is a very perspective place for archeological tourism, treasure, coin and antique seeking. On the shores of Ural river Vishera used to be many villages before the 20th century. The river was an important trade and transport way. In the beginning of the 20th century the troops of White Army also dwelled here. This historical background creates perfect conditions for treasure seeking. What is more, only four villages from ten are inhabited so nobody and nothing can prevent you from seeking.

If you decided to travel in this way, here is the list of average prices of different kinds of tourism:

• rafting ( 2 days) - 6 200 rubles ( 214 $ )
• cycling ( 4 days ) - 9 500 rubles ( 327 $ )
• ski trip ( 5 days ) - 14 500 rubles ( 500 $ )
• summer expedition to the crossing of Dyatlov ( 7 days ) - 15 500 rubles ( 534 $ )
• ascent to Konzhakovsky Stone ( 3 days ) - 8 500 rubles ( 293 $ )

sources:

http://nordural.ru/ , http://x-adventure.ru/index.php , http://www.uraltravel.com/index.php

 Alexandra Dibizheva