Author Archives: JeffFuchs
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 4 – The Smell of the Pass
Baima’s empty valleys and snow shards stare at us. We have left Benzilan behind and ‘Ngawa the Machine’ is no longer with us. Mountain air now thankfully dominates the heat infested valleys and the lethargy that heat brought, gives way … Continue reading
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 3 – A Route of Stone and Ngawa’s Wife
Heat and its lethargy inducing powers have long played havoc with my own senses and perspectives. I am not alone in this feeling. Exiting our safe cool forests, and descending into the hot valleys, I feel the itch of impatience … Continue reading
A Tea Lover’s Blog Post about Jalamteas November 7th Tea Event
Rare stories and rarer tea with Jeff Fuchs here. An evening of Jalamteas presenting a new model of Subscribing for rare teas.
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 2 – Sandalwood and Heat
What is eternally rivetting about the mountains is their ability to hold traces of what has come before on their surfaces, while simultaneously holding unimaginable power. Tucked away, under forest cover, within valleys, and particularly on the stone, the trails … Continue reading
The Journey to Sho’La Pass – Part 1 – Horsemen Are Always Late…
Songjè the horseman is late. It isn’t unusual for this part of the world, but still the same, it is something that burrows its way into me. For moments it seems as though his absence will delay the entire expedition. … Continue reading
Expedition: Shangri-La to sacred Sho’La Pass Begins
A team of five of us begin the trek from Shangri-La to the sacred 4,815 metre Sho’La Pass tomorrow via an old trade route that wanders along the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers.
The Lion and the Descent – The Sacred Lakes in the Heights – Part lll of lll
Morning comes with smoke and the sounds of “pops” on my sleeping bag. The smoke is from our still-burning fire which Ngawa kept burning all night. Aniè has slept only intermittently and Ngawa worried about our old lion so he … Continue reading
The Lost Route, Found – The Sacred Lakes in the Heights – Part ll
When a memory of a memory inevitably isn’t quite what one expected there is a kind of exasperation, a kind of disbelief that one cannot actually recall a place, a feeling, or even a person. It is hard to acknowledge … Continue reading
Memory of a Memory – The Sacred Lakes in the Heights Part l
*This article will appear in Mandarin on North Face’s Quyeba.com adventure website in the coming week as part of our collaboration A seventy-year-old medicine man, two remote sacred lakes, and a journey Legends, like the people who carry the memory of … Continue reading
Sacred Lakes Expedition – The Night-Before Departure
Picking up supplies today for the upcoming journey, I asked our resident elder Aniè – who will be leading the group – what I needed to pick up. His words were in very clear order: “Whisky, butter, tsampa, and pork … Continue reading