Category Archives: Mountains
The Fight and the Turn Right – Amne Machin
Funnelling into us, the winds arrive coming straight down from the mountains. There is snow too, mere bits of it at first, and the body instinctively draws comfort. Heat in the mountains for me is a hobgoblin that drains and saps me, creating a seething monster. The cold lights up the entire system giving the mind and body new energy and renewed hope. Amne Machin is just beyond. Continue reading
Yak ‘Beauty’ and a Switch – Mountains’ Tales
We awake with a shudder to mountain cold and the realization that something has changed overnight regarding our ‘team’. Clear air with a hint of blue in the sky as dawn gives way to day waits…. while by the fire … Continue reading
Amne Machin White and A Travelling Circus
Our two yak stand still in the blowing white snow; around them there is nothing to suggest a specific time-period and looking at their ice-encrusted wool I imagine a time long ago when gas-spewing, noise machines on wheels hadn’t yet … Continue reading
Amne Machin – A Rush of White and a Kora
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
The Jewel of the Heights
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
Ghosts and ‘Ka’ (Snow)
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
Further, Higher
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
The Sun and Wind in Golok
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
Golok – The Journey To….
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