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.
Amye Maqen (Amne Machin, Anye Machin) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amne_Machin), the stout, the muscular, and for much of time, the utterly hidden from the outside world…our first glimpse of it is of a snow capped wonder that appears far closer than it is. There … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, Amne Machin, ancient salt road, buddhism, China travel, circumambulation, expedtion, Golog, Golok, Himalayan Trade, Jeff Fuchs, kora, Mado, Mountain, Nam Chu, Nomad, normadic traders, Qinghai, Qinghai travel, Qinghai trekking, sacred mountains, sacred mountains of Tibet, Salt, Tea, tibetan sacred mountains, tibetan trade route, Tibetan trade routes, Tsalam, Xiadawu
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South China Morning Post – May 2011 Ottawa Magazine: Q&A with Jeff Fuchs – April 2011 Article in Kyoto Journal Article in Outpost Article in The Teamporium Article in Silk Road Foundation Newsletter Interview with Wild China Interview with GoKunming … Continue reading →
At first it is a glimmer, nothing more than a reflection that I think might be there. Shimmering heat already ripples in the morning air blurring my sightlines. Michael’s eyes are creased studying the same spectre that I see…he is … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, Amye Maqen, ancient nomadic salt road, ancient salt road, China travel, Gyoring Lake, Jeff Fuchs, Jeff Fuchs expedition, Jiang, Lhasa, Ma Chu, Mado, Madoi, Maduo, Ngachu, Ngoring Lake, Nomads, Qinghai, Qinghai trekking, Salt, Salt lake, Salt Road, Salt Route, Sichuan, Tea Horse Road, Tibetan, Tibetan trade routes, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Trade, Tsa, Tsam Tso, Wild Tibetan Ass, Yak, Yellow River
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We are hunting a ghost, ghosts in fact it seems. The Salt Route that hasn’t been documented, this Tsalam that I have dreamt about and that we now seek is becoming akin to chasing vapours, or trying to track windblown … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, ancient nomadic salt road, ancient trade route, Himalayan Trade, Honkor, Jeff Fuchs, Mado, Nomads, Nyi Chu, Nyi River, Qinghai, Salt, Salt Road, Salt Route, salt trade, Sichuan, Tea Horse Road, Tibetan Plateau, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Tibetans, Tsalam
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We have moved further southwest near Da Re (Darlag), from Maqen towards the badland-borders with Sichuan province, less than one hundred kilometres from Serthar. We’ve arrived to a town that sits squeezed along the Yellow River wedged in between auburn … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, Amne Machin, ancient nomadic salt route, caterpillar fungus, Da Re, Darlag, Golog, Golok, Jeff Fuchs, Maqen, Nomads, Qinghai, sacred mountains, Salt Road, Serthar, Tsalam, Yellow River
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WildChina is a premium, sustainable travel company based in Beijing. Started in 2000 by Mei Zhang, a native of Yunnan Province and a Harvard MBA, WildChina offers distinctive, ecologically sensitive journeys to all corners of China. This is the first … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Media
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Tagged award, Explorer, Explorer of the Year, Jeff Fuchs, Mei Zhang, photographer, sustainable travel, Wild China, Wild China Explorer of the year, writer
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Sun (neema in Tibetan) blasts into the day as we wake to a reckless blue sky and a wind that hums. Snow capped peaks shimmer on the horizon and wind whips smoke and sand into mini-tornadoes. Morning Glory at 3700 … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged ancient trade route, Expedition, Golog, Golok, Himalayan salt, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, lados, Maqen, monastery, muleteers, prayer flags, Salt, Salt Road, Tibetan Plateau, tibetan trade route, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, trade routes, Yellow River
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Before anything happens on our expedition, one has to actually get one’s body to the site– and this journey is often an adventure in itself. Michael will be following me a day later in Golok while I organize, coordinate and … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, Amne Machin, ancient trade route, caterpillar fungus, Expedition, Golog, Golok, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Maqen, nomadic, nomadic salt road, Nomads, Qinghai, Tibetan, tibetan trade route, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Xining
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Time is always the great and constant editor and time winds down to the actual departure date of the Salt Road (Tsalam) journey. One can prepare gear, the body and the mind but that first blast of wind in the … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations
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Tagged Amdo, China travel, exploration, Golog, Golok, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Qinghai, Salt, Salt Road, Salt Route, Tibet, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Trade, Traders, trekking, Tsa, Tsalam, wolf
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