Economic Observer reporter Wang Yajie

When the car was shaking and almost nauseous, I didn't regret spending money to go into the mountains.

The red taillights of the front car are not far away. The rock walls on both sides are approaching, and stones of different sizes are scattered on the road surface. The wheels pressed over, and the body swayed with the cabin. Just as it stabilized, it was the next pit. The wind came straight in, and the dust also came in.

This is Longmen Grand Canyon in Zhaitang Town, Mentougou, Beijing. I sat in a North Star UTV driven by my family and followed the convoy towards the depths of the canyon.

Usually when taking a car, I always hope the road surface can be smoother. This time, I came all the way from the city to pay for a bumpy road.

The gravel, ruts, and turns on the road took up all my attention, and the things I had been thinking about before departure had temporarily lost their place.

One

I am not unfamiliar with off-road driving.

Previously, when traveling to Xinjiang with family and friends, preparation work often had to be done several days in advance. Oil, materials, and vehicle condition all need to be considered item by item. After entering the vast wilderness and Gobi Desert, it may not be possible to find supplies for hundreds of kilometers, and the phone signal may be lost for a long time. Car sinking and tire blowout are issues that need to be considered before departure.

That kind of vastness is worth a long journey.

But for people who usually work and live in Beijing, freeing up holidays and organizing fleets is already a considerable cost.

What attracts me to Longmen Grand Canyon is precisely the distance. It is over 100 kilometers away from downtown Beijing, departing in the morning and returning in the evening. No need to prepare a hardcore off-road vehicle first, nor do you need to prepare supplies for a few days of wilderness life.

After arriving at a canyon UTV off-road crossing club, risk notification and safety training still need to be completed one by one. Wear helmets, goggles, and dust covers, and the coach instructs everyone to fasten their four point seat belts.

UTV is a side by side all terrain vehicle with a steering wheel, different from ATV (four wheeled motorcycle) that uses handlebars for control. Sitting in this car, there is an open roll cage beside you, without a fully enclosed compartment like a family car. The throttle, brakes, and steering wheel are easy to recognize, but the road ahead cannot be easily handled with city driving experience.

The coach repeatedly instructed that there is no mobile phone signal on a large section of the canyon, and communication must rely on walkie talkies. It is not allowed to leave the formation without authorization. When encountering large potholes and rockfall sections, it is necessary to slow down.

Entering the 'frontline sky', the sky suddenly narrows down. The sunlight illuminates the high rock walls, while the low ones remain in shadow. The car in front turned over a mountain and was quickly blocked, with a red flag emerging from the front of the field of view.

The picture shows the Jingxi Canyon. Reported by Wang Yajie from the Economic Observer.

When crossing Xinjiang, drivers often look far ahead and drive forward; The line of sight here is cut off by the rock wall, and the driver needs to deal with the road in front of them.

The gravel hit the chassis, causing the car body to shake continuously. The suspension absorbs some of the impact, while the rest is still transmitted to the body. I don't have the energy to think about unhappy things, nor do I have the time to take pictures of every scenery.

Two

The concern that consumers should not worry about, when it comes to business operators, is all about specific accounts.

A club staff member explained that the purchase cost of an imported North Star UTV is over 200000 yuan. The continuous consumption of vehicles on gravel roads requires inspection, maintenance, and replacement of tires, shock absorbers, and transmission components.

Every impact I feel in the cockpit is also consuming the equipment of this business.

In addition, there are fuel, coach salaries, insurance, and consumables for protective gear, as well as venue costs for cooperation with the village collective. Far away from the urban area, it saves the high rent of commercial storefronts, but does not make business lighter.

According to the package information provided by the club, the price of a 15 kilometer double car route is approximately 500 to 600 yuan, and the price of a 25 to 30 kilometer route is approximately 900 to 1000 yuan. Longer crossings have other arrangements and require advance booking.

The above-mentioned staff said that the main customer group of the club is urban office workers aged 25 to 40, mostly accompanied by couples and friends, followed by corporate team building. Many people do not have off-road skills and only decide to experience the canyon and fleet through short videos.

Short routes are the easiest to facilitate the first purchase. The staff mentioned above stated that the easiest customers to attract may not necessarily be able to sustain the entire store.

Many people have experienced it once, taken photos, and completed their curiosity about off-road driving. The staff mentioned above stated that it is difficult to achieve stable profits solely through short distance check-in orders, and a deeper penetration and group business with higher average customer value are also needed.

For him, the bumps in the canyon are both a selling point and a cost. Short videos can quickly convey the former, while the latter needs to be slowly collected in each order.

Three

A part of the business is still in the hands of the weather.

The above-mentioned staff said that the suitable operating period in the local area is mainly from April to October, and the winter is too cold, so it is basically closed. After the rain, the road conditions may deteriorate and there may be risks of rockfall and flash floods, requiring the suspension of orders. When encountering forest fire prevention and control measures, some lines also need to be adjusted or closed.

There is less passenger flow on weekdays, and orders are concentrated on weekends and statutory holidays. A rain falling during the holiday season may cause the operator to lose the income they had hoped to use to make up for the weak days.

We cannot simply copy the safety measures of indoor projects here.

Losing my phone signal means I can't receive work messages temporarily. For the leading coach, it means a reduction in communication methods and a need to pay more attention to the team's condition. A car left behind, whether it was parked for photography or a malfunction, cannot wait for tourists to come and explain themselves.

The formation, walkie talkie, and pre departure inspection are all components of this service. They have not eliminated the risks in the wild, but are striving to enable people who are new to off-road driving to enter the valley under organized and caring conditions.

Halfway through, I stopped to rest, took off my helmet, and the sound of the engine subsided before I could hear the wind and distant bird songs again.

The phone still has no signal.

I have experienced this state in Xinjiang before. That time, there was a long journey and preparation ahead. Now, the urban area of Beijing is only one or two hours' drive away from me, and the convoy will return along the predetermined route. You can still go home at night.

The most attractive part of suburban off-road driving may be within this distance. It preserves the difficulty of real mountain roads, requiring people to drive carefully, and compresses the travel time to a range that can accommodate weekends.

It cannot replace long-distance travel. For those who do not have a full vacation and are not planning to keep a car for a long time, it provides another way to get closer to the mountains.

After running the scheduled 30 kilometer route and returning to the starting point, my face and arms were covered in a layer of dust. The discomfort brought by the bumpy journey still lingers, but my mind is not as crowded as it was when I set off.

This road is very uncomfortable to walk. It was precisely this discomfort that gave weight to this consumption.

On the way back to the city, the road was leveled again, and the unfinished matters were still there. At least for this day, I just need to manage the few meters of road in front of me.

The picture shows an off-road vehicle. Reported by Wang Yajie from the Economic Observer.

(Author Wang Yajie)