Author Archives: JeffFuchs

About JeffFuchs

Bio Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post and Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine. Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai. Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research. Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes. His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures. He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.

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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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